Last week I read an article entitled “Twenty something Entrepreneurs” on BusinessWeek.com. The editors of the website had surveyed the tech landscape to identify some of the industry’s most promising entrepreneurs age 30 and under.
One of the young men, David Ulevitch, 26, used his ingenuity and innovative ideas to develop OpenDNS, which “helps more than 4 million consumers and organizations, including 10,000 schools, block inappropriate Web sites and protect their computers from spam and phishing schemes.” Ulevitch, the company’s CEO, founded the corporation in San Francisco in 2005 and expects revenue to exceed $25.9 billion in 2008.
If young adults can excel in business, sports, politics, and the world of entertainment, they can certainly excel as pastors. In an earlier edition of The Christian Index we presented a commentary on the value of pastor search committees considering men over 50 years of age as prospective pastors. In this issue we want to praise the worth of the young pastor.
Those who balk at the idea of calling a young pastor need to remember that W. A. Criswell was only 34 years of age when he was called to follow the much-beloved George W. Truett as pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.
Interestingly enough, Truett became pastor of the Dallas church when he was only thirty years of age.
Consider the virtues of calling a younger pastor:
Young pastors are likely to have abounding energy. Youth have vitality and enthusiasm that is unparalleled. It is the older generation that is slow to recognize this boundless flow of energy and spirit that could potentially inform and transform a church that has plateaued or been in a tailspin. A young pastor could become the life’s blood of a church that needs a spiritual boost.
Young pastors who have graduated from one of our six Southern Baptist seminaries have been exposed to a far better theological education than their predecessors. Those of us who were in seminary 30-40 years ago were generally exposed to a liberal education that often did more damage than good. If I had preached some of the things I learned in the seminary I would have been guilty of heresy. The last generation of pastors who have graduated from our seminaries have been exposed to sound theology and have been able to study in an atmosphere that promoted not only excellence in academics, but a passion ministry. They have graduated from schools that emphasize “scholarship on fire.”
Many young pastors are teachable and want to grow spiritually and professionally. It is also good for a church to see their pastor and his family grow and develop into all that God wants them to be. In the final analysis churches may have a greater influence on their pastor than he has upon the church. Churches more often make great pastors than pastors succeed in making great churches.
If a church is really interested in reaching today’s culture a younger pastor may be able to effectively develop a ministry that is more applicable to today’s generation. Transitions in a church’s ministry and methodology should always be mutually acceptable and in conformity to God’s Word. For example, no pastor should come into a church with a strategy that is divisive or destructive to the fellowship. However, churches cannot expect to do the same things the same way year after year and get different results.
Young pastors are often idealists. They come into a church with grand dreams and great hopes for a powerful and positive ministry. They have not become jaded and wearied, as Fred Luter says, “by devilish deacons, tricky trustees, cranky choir members, and barbaric business meetings.”
While older pastors may have a wealth of experience, a bank of knowledge, and a life of integrity to offer, most young pastors are
characterized by energy, enthusiasm, and passion. If your church decides to call a young pastor, who knows, you may call to your church the next W. A. Criswell.