KLC Student Leadership Team is Shaping the Future of Preaching

At Truett Seminary, the work of formation is never confined to the classroom. It is cultivated in communities that learn, serve, and create together, and the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching Student Leadership Team (KLC SLT) has become a compelling expression of that vision in recent years. Tasked with embodying the KLC’s mission “to empower preachers at every level to engage a diverse world for the sake of the Gospel,” this group of student leaders has worked to bridge the gap between formal theological training and the lived experience of students at Truett. Rather than simply supporting existing programming, the SLT has asked a more fundamental question "How can the Kyle Lake Center become a space students genuinely desire to inhabit—one that forms both their voice and their vocation?"

Out of that question emerged one of the team’s most creative contributions: Pulpit Poetry. Conceived as a space that is both sacred and experimental, Pulpit Poetry invites students to engage preaching through testimony, spoken word, and poetic expression. It reflects a recognition that formation in preaching is not merely technical or academic, but deeply personal and communal. Through gatherings such as “Reformed: Pulpit Poetry,” centered on themes of transformation, and “Built on purpose, shaping voices of justice,” developed in collaboration with the Truett Black Student Association, the SLT has cultivated environments where students can explore their theological convictions alongside their lived experiences. These events do not replace traditional preaching but expand its horizons, helping students discover how the gospel takes shape in diverse voices and contexts.

At the same time, the SLT has played a vital role in the broader work of the KLC, particularly through its involvement in major conferences such as the African American Preaching Conference, the Hispanic Preaching Conference, and the E.K. Bailey Preaching Celebration. In these settings, their work is often behind the scenes, offering hospitality, coordinating logistics, and ensuring that speakers and guests feel welcomed and cared for. Yet this service is itself formative. It reflects a vision of leadership that is attentive, relational, and oriented toward the flourishing of others. As one student, Ishshah Blanco notes, the team serves as both representatives of the KLC and participants in its mission, using their varied gifts to support a community shaped by diverse preaching and shared purpose.

What distinguishes the SLT, however, is not simply what it does, but how it understands its work. For Anna Johnson, the team’s student leader, the experience has been one of growth in both confidence and calling, shaped by a collaborative environment where students learn from one another and step into leadership with trust and encouragement. Others echo this sentiment, describing the SLT as a space where ideas take tangible form and where students are equipped to cultivate their gifts in service of the Church. Even as the team looks ahead, exploring mentorship opportunities and new forms of engagement, it remains rooted in a simple but significant commitment: to foster a community where preaching is not only taught, but lived, shared, and continually reimagined for the sake of the gospel.