Festival of Homiletics

Dear Festival Attendees –

In light of the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to cancel the in-person version of Festival of Homiletics in Atlanta this May. This decision was made with care and concern for your health and safety, as well as that of your faith communities and our speakers. What follows are several important details. Please read them carefully.

If you are currently registered for this year’s Festival, here are your options:

Option 1 – Join us at a possible virtual conference. We are in the process of creating an online version of the Festival that will give you access to the same wonderful preachers and speakers on the schedule for Atlanta. We are working on getting this option live, and will make registration fee adjustments as necessary once the details are in place. We will let you know when this option is ready.

Option 2 – Do nothing. Your registration will be transferred to next year’s Festival of Homiletics in Denver, CO, May 17-21, 2021. If you would like to have your ticket automatically transferred for next year, you need to take no action. This will guarantee your place for next year’s gathering at the current price.

Option 3 – Transfer your ticket to another future attendee. If you know you cannot attend next year, or if it becomes clear that you cannot attend in the future but would like to hold your spot for your church/organization, we will work with you to transfer your ticket to another colleague or friend. Transfers can be made any time between November 1, 2020 and March 24, 2021.

Option 4 – Transfer your registration funds to another transformative preaching opportunity. We have two hands-on preaching offerings for you to choose from: Lisa Cressman’s Sermon Camp, an online preaching course beginning the week of April 20, 2020, and Working Preacher Presents: The Craft of Preaching, scheduled to take place October 5-7, 2020 at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, MN. If you’d like to take this course of action, email faithlead@luthersem.edu with details about which opportunity you’d like to select.

Option 5 – Request a Refund. You may request a refund by email (festival@luthersem.edu). This will cancel your entire order, including the recording package. There is a non-refundable fee of $50. We hope that this would be a last resort for you, as canceling the Festival will have a significant negative impact on our operating budget. However, we understand that the above options might not be possible for you and will process your refund request expediently.

If there is anything else we can do to serve you, please feel free to reach out to festival@luthersem.edu. We also invite you to join the Faith+Lead Learning Lab, a social network created for Christian leaders to connect and share. In a changing church and world, no one has all the answers. But you have some…and a congregation across the country has another…and a lay leader two states over has another. The Faith+Lead Learning Lab is a hub where Christian leaders can come to get ideas, share what’s working, and help each other through what’s not. Get free access now.

You and your communities are in our prayers as we move through these challenging times. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to enliven your preaching and give you the peace of Christ’s promises and hope in the coming days.

Peace, Dawn Alitz – Managing Director, Festival of Homiletics Karoline Lewis – Program Director, Festival of Homiletics

Links for More Information:

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

WHO World Health Organization

Georgia Department of Public Health

Preaching a New Earth: Climate and Creation

Be inspired by God’s Word proclaimed by some of the nation’s finest ministers and teachers. Experience the fellowship of hundreds of preachers. Learn and worship in an atmosphere that is dynamic, friendly, nurturing, and prophetic. Come renew, refresh, and recharge your spirit.

Scripture’s first description of God is as creator. God brought the world into existence and all that makes up the world as we know it. But God realized that caring for creation could never be a sole endeavor. We are charged with that co-tending, and preachers are challenged with imagining and preaching about an ecological God. Our God is committed to, dependent on, and immersed in all the Earth provides, sustains, and yet, needs our help to bring the fullness of God’s creative work to bear. Our God needs our help to speak the truth about where and how God’s Earth groans for renewal, even resurrection, how our very climate changes are God’s cries for help. The 2020 Festival of Homiletics theme invites preachers to imagine their own role in God’s creative work, to be courageous in preaching about God’s creative activity, and to claim boldly our role in caring for God’s creation, when God’s very creation is at stake.