Thank you for putting Jimmy Draper’s article in a recent issue of The Christian Index. It is nice for a change to see someone standing up for young ministers like myself. I am a 29-year-old bi-vocational pastor. I have been a US/C-2 missionary and a church planter in West Virginia. Even though I have had these experiences, as well as many others, many of the “older” ministers look upon me and other “youthful” ministers as children. So many times their actions remind me of W.C. Fields famous line, “Go away from me kid; you bother me.”

Many times we younger pastors get overlooked for ministry positions and opportunities. Some people ask, “Where are the youth?” We are right here trying to obey God’s calling in our lives, yet as a whole, the SBC is ignoring us. Too many times I have seen young people get burned out and leave the SBC, because they were sick and tired of being treated as substandard ministers.

Wake up churches! Wake up fellow ministers! Unless we open the door of opportunity to the youthful, we will lose our Generation X’ers, and Net Generation. Older preachers, be like Paul and embrace us younger ministers. We would love to be able to be involved in the SBC. So many times in my personal experiences, I have been hurt by being “inexperienced” that I feel could have been avoided if someone would have been a mentor towards me.

The bottom line is this: If you want to see my generation and younger generations become more committed in the SBC, then make us feel wanted. Remember the great pearl of wisdom the Preacher penned, “For two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NKJV).