Burned II

Following up on my previous post, Burned:

Today our district had the opportunity to have Al Ells with us for a LAMP training workshop related to credentials and SHAPE. Al heads Leaders that Last Ministries, an organization that "equips Christian leaders to finish well". He has done extensive work recently across the Church of God, especially as it relates to SHAPE.

Here are some statistics (applying to all churches across the U.S.) that he shared with us today:

Within 5 years of graduating from Bible College or Seminary 80% have left the ministry.

The average tenure of a pastor in a church today is only 3 years.

The average tenure of a pastor's ministry career is only 14 years.

Are we getting the message yet?