THOMPSON STATION, Tenn. (BP) - During his third face-to-face meeting with younger Southern Baptist leaders across the nation, James T. Draper Jr., president of LifeWay Christian Resources, said he realizes his generation cannot assume a natural transfer of power will occur like it has within the convention in the past.

"There has always been a need to include younger leaders and to transfer passion and vision to those who come behind us, and that's not always an easy thing to do. It's harder today," Draper told a group at Thompson Station Baptist Church just south of Nashville, Tenn., March 3.

After the younger leaders discussed issues among themselves for a while, some of them asked questions of Draper directly. Kevin Shrum, pastor of Inglewood Baptist Church in Nashville, told Draper his father is Draper's age and part of the generation that helped build "this wonderful behemoth" now known as the Southern Baptist Convention, complete with six seminaries, two mission boards and other entities.

"What he's wanting to do now is give it to me," Shrum said. "I'm deciding whether I want it or not."

Shrum asked Draper to advise younger leaders on what he would do if he were in their position, being offered leadership of a strong convention but unsure of how to make it relevant to their generation.

"I'd take it. Then I'd make the changes I think ought to be made," Draper said. Other younger leaders present at the dialogue in Thompson Station suggested churches consider allowing more young people to participate in SBC annual meetings by blocking off a certain portion of the church's messengers for leaders ages 25 to 35. Often, older church leaders take all of the allotted messenger spots before younger members have a chance to sign up.

Another issue involved mentoring, and one younger leader said he would like to have more opportunities to be mentored by older pastors or convention leaders.