Nobody wants a tumbleweed ministry, where people settle in church for a while only to blow away. To do God's work, churches need planted people, and Christlikeness will grow in individuals only when they are rooted in local congregations.

So how can pastors help this generation-mobile, fast-paced, restless-connect to the church? And then, how can they help people put down deeper and deeper roots?

To answer those questions, LEADERSHIP gathered four pastors who face different challenges in assimilation.

Rick Lobs is rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in suburban Geneva, Illinois.

Ray Maldonado pastors Hope Christian Fellowship, an urban and multi-ethnic congregation in Chicago.

Doug Self pastors The Church at Redstone and The Church at Carbondale, located in a mountain valley in Colorado.

Ken Travilla is associate pastor at Wooddale Church in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie.

Leadership: Describe how assimilation feels. Tell us about a group, apart from a congregation, that you've become ...