Claudine Michel chairs the department of black studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She edits The Journal of Haitian Studies and co-edited (with Patrick Bellegarde-Smith) two books on Vodou, Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, And Reality (Indiana University Press, 2006) and Invisible Powers: Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

Mozella Gordon Mitchell is professor and chairwoman of religious studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Her expertise includes Afro-Caribbean religions and the history of African-American religion.

Read a Jan. 8, 2005, Resources for American Christianity interview about the state of pastoral leadership.

A national shortage of Protestant clergy is taking its toll on rural congregations, according to a Kansas City Star article published June 11, 2005, by The Washington Post.

Is there a clergy shortage? Yes and no, according to an article by Patricia Chang posted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Because most churches are small but most people go to larger churches, there are fewer opportunities for upward mobility and more jobs that remain vacant because of isolated location and low pay. The institute […]

Read a transcript of a June 30, 2006, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly episode about a shortage of younger people interested in pastoral leadership.

Read a Jan. 23, 2009, interview with Anne Jackson, author of Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic.

Read a Sept. 3, 2009, story about clergy sabbaticals on the Insights into Religion website.

Read an Aug. 1, 2010, New York Times article about the burnout problem and the benefits of taking time off from ministry duties.