Last week Pastor Shaun and I traveled to Phoenix for a “vision summit” for our denomination (thanks for allowing us the opportunity). This was an invite-only summit, called by USMB Executive Director Don Morris. The summit was called in response to a need within our family of churches, namely our great lack of up-and-coming pastors, missionaries, and leaders in the church. We discussed why this has become such an urgent issue, and why people aren’t going into vocational ministry. The problem is not exclusive to our denomination, and the reasons ranged from cultural stigma against church leadership and authority (failure of “celebrity” pastors hasn’t helped), to perceived lack of stability in church jobs (economically and relationally), to a simple decrease in church attendance and Christian identification overall (thus decreasing the pool to draw from). Whatever the cause, there is a lack. So the question is, how do we raise more, and what has prevented us from doing so? There were a couple takeaways that stood out to me. First, we have faced a clear institutional problem. Our denomination does not have a seminary (or graduate level ministry training equivalent) that is trusted by our churches. This is something that needs to be addressed, and there was lots of good, honest conversation about this need. Second, it became clear that many churches are doing their own good work in disicpling and training and sending. However, there is not a national strategy that unites us in our leadership development. So, churches are left to network on their own. This can be an effective strategy, but it takes time. And, this summit was actually very profitable toward that end of networking with other pastors and churches, and seeing how they raise leaders. Third, we acknowledged that we have a lack of trust in our denomination, which makes it hard to raise leaders together. The reason for this lack of trust simply comes from the fact that we have a wide range of differences in theology and philosophy of ministry. It can be hard to work together when we don’t know each other, and don’t know what kind of leader might be produced were we to work together. So where do we go from here? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping and praying for three things specifically. First, for increased opportunities to network and work with like-minded pastors and churches – even for further summits like this. Second, for academic institutions that faithfully train faithful ministers. And third, that we at CBC would do our part to raise and send pastors and missionaries. On that last note, hopefully we’ll have more to talk about and celebrate in years ahead!