Next generation pastors are finding the same realities as their predecessors when it comes to building a deepening relationship with God:

Without a meaningful devotional life, the ministries of these influential church leaders in their 30s are dry and lifeless. But the constant and enormous demands of leadership regularly threaten to crowd out their time with God.

"I wonder if other pastors struggle with their devotional lives as much as I do," lamented one pastor. "Sometimes it's rich and real, but often it feels like I'm just going through the motions. There has to be more to it than what I'm experiencing.

"I'm sure God wants my times with him to be much closer and much deeper than they are right now."
These emerging church leaders who are growing in impact across the U.S. long for God to touch their hearts day in and day out, but they resist legalistic demands. They know that misconceptions about connecting with God can dampen the flame of desire, and that the most meaningful relationships are celebrations of affection--not rigidly observed traditions.

"I don't tell my wife I'm going to spend 20 minutes with her doing one thing and then 20 minutes doing something else, and call that a 'relationship,'" says Les Hughes, pastor of Westwood Baptist Church (Alabaster, AL). "It's much more fluid, more varied, and more about understanding and communicating our hearts than going through some arbitrary motions."

"In relationships with people, sometimes I'm talking, and sometimes I'm listening, and sometimes we're just together and nobody is talking. I'm trying to cultivate that kind of relationship with God."

Next generation pastors are deeply committed to God, and they want their ministries to flow out of a heart that is full of God's truth, mercy, and power. Though the fundamental ingredients of Bible reading, reflection, and prayer are common in virtually every model of devotional life, they take widely varied forms.

Noel Heikkinen, pastor of Riverview Church in Holt, MI explains that some of the spiritual disciplines used for centuries simply don't fit his personality: "I'm such an extrovert that solitude can actually become a destructive discipline for me if I'm not careful. When I'm alone with my thoughts and pray too long, my mental process gets tied into a knot and I get stuck. I'm a verbal processor, so any time of solitude must be accompanied immediately by interaction and verbal processing."

From early church fathers to the leaders of the spiritual movement today, the church has a long, rich history of people who pursued God with all their hearts and who  provide an example for others to emulate.

"We stand on the shoulders of great men and women who pursued God with all their hearts," says Brian Howard, pastor of Copperhill Church (Valencia, CA). "They made the Scriptures and prayer central to their lives and their ministries. Who are we to do anything less? The consequences of not making God central are too great--self-reliance, sin, destroying our families, stress, and lost opportunities in ministry.

"We simply must make seeking God the central drive of our lives."

And these leaders can't deny the results of that type of pursuit.

"When I'm in touch with God's heart, I'm a better husband, friend, and minister," says Matt Evans, pastor of Rock Bridge Community Church (Dalton, GA). "It's not about being legalistic. Passion for God produces discipline because I instinctively prioritize what's most valuable to me. When I pursue God, He reveals himself in ways I don't expect. When I open my heart to him and his word, he speaks words of correction, direction, and affirmation."

Pat Springle is a freelance writer for Leadership Network and the president of Baxter Press in Friendswood, Texas. He served on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ for 18 years, 11 as the Texas state director. Before starting his publishing business, Pat was Senior Vice President of Rapha.