Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research and adviser to www.BuildingChurchLeaders.com, released new research on pastors, which will be published soon in our sister publication, Leadership:

Pastors still believe in the church

Almost all pastors–88 percent–strongly agree that "If I had a friend who wanted to make a difference, I would encourage him or her to do so through their church."

Pastors are investing in developing leaders–but the church may not be doing a good job at this

Among Lifeway's respondents, 67 percent say they "strongly agree" and 26 "somewhat agree" to "I am intentionally investing in leaders who will emerge over the next 10 years." However, those percentages drop (to 52 percent and 26 percent) for "The church does a good job fostering and developing new leaders." Maybe this explains why so many pastors agreed (38 percent strongly, 37 percent somewhat) that "Our church struggles to reach young adults."

Pastors feel they're fulfilling their calling

When asked to respond to ...