Grand Rapids, MI — The Acton Institute's 2002 Homiletics Award concluded May 30, 2002, with the announcement of the winning entries. This year's competition included sixty-five entrants from over 40 different colleges, seminaries, and universities. Participants prepared and preached a sermon based on Deuteronomy 25:13—16: “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and just weight you shall have, a full and just measure you shall have; that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God.”
Peter Sim, a Master of Divinity student at Westminster Theological Seminary in California, was awarded first place and $2000 for his sermon. Rolf Geyling, who is working toward a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, won second place and $1000. Third place and $500 was awarded to Nathaniel Carter, an M.A. student biblical exegesis at Wheaton College. Additionally, honorable mentions were awarded to Alan Baughcum (pursuing an M.Div. at Wesley Theological Seminary) and J. Wesley White (pursuing an M.Div. at Mid-America Reformed Seminary).
This year's panel of distinguished judges included Fr. Robert Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute; Dr. Harold O.J. Brown, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary; Rev. Duane Kelderman, Vice-president of Calvin Theological Seminary; Fr. John Michael Beers of the Annecy Institute; and Dr. Haddon W. Robinson, Professor of Homiletics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
The annual homiletics award is designed to recognize and promote outstanding achievement in effective Christian preaching. It is one of the Acton Institute's many programs designed to assist future religious leaders in developing an understanding of the relationship between morality and the marketplace and becoming articulate proponents of a free and virtuous society.