The 2014 Elevating Preaching conference will be held at Duke Divinity School on Sept. 22 in Goodson Chapel. The annual event offers pastors and seminary students an opportunity to learn from their colleagues by listening to a variety of sermons and engaging in dialogue about preaching.

This theme of this year’s event is “Preaching Hope.” Featured preachers will be: the Rev. Susan Sparks, pastor of Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City, and the Rev. Dr. Howard John Wesley, senior pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va. Richard Lischer, the James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor of Preaching at Duke Divinity School, and Nora Tisdale, the Clement-Muehl Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School, will present lectures.

The annual conference is hosted by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC) and a CBFNC partner school, which this year is Duke Divinity School.

“I look forward to this conference every year,” said Professor Curtis Freeman, director of the Baptist House of Studies and research professor of theology and Baptist studies at Duke. “It has played a significant role in elevating the preaching of pastors who’ve attended. We’re delighted to be the host institution this year.”

To learn more and register for the conference, visit the Elevating Preaching website.