Fewer Americans want to become pastors, but young people like Indianapolis native Rev. Jarrod Hubbard are working to close the leadership vacuum inside one of the country's oldest civic institutions.

Why it matters: As the pastor role becomes lower-paid and higher-risk, the U.S. isn't just losing clergy — it's losing a key layer of local support, especially in rural and Black communities.

What they're saying: "The reality is that we're all in this together. If we truly want the world to be a better place, it's going to take everybody," Hubbard, 25, told Axios.

• "The Baptists, the Buddhists, the Pentecostals, the Presbyterians, the Muslims, the Methodists … it's going to have to take everybody from every strand of life to turn the world inside out. Because it's outside in, currently."

State of play: Churches are trying to fill pulpits while older clergy retire, congregations shrink and burnout rises.

• More than 4 in 10 clergy surveyed in fall 2023 said they had seriously considered leaving their congregations since 2020, per data from the Hartford Institute reported by the Associated Press.
• The leadership crunch comes as the U.S. saw 15,000 churches close last year and as a record 29% of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated.
• The share of religiously unaffiliated Hoosiers is 31%.

For Hubbard, the associate pastor of congregational life and administration at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood, the loss of new leaders extends beyond staffing and services.

• "There is a sort of audacity, a sort of resilience, a sort of spirit that comes out of ministries spearheaded by young people," Hubbard said, pointing to the civil rights and feminist movements as examples of young leaders driving change.

Keep reading

Young people may not be flocking to the clergy, but new polling shows an uptick in religious engagement among young men as overall U.S. levels remain near historic lows.

Why it matters: Gen Z still has the highest share of religiously unaffiliated adults in modern history. But small hints of a religious rebound could offer clues about the future of politics and culture wars.

📈 The poll found 42% of young men aged 18 to 29 now say religion is "very important" in their lives — up from 28% just a few years ago.

• The uptick reverses a long-standing gender gap: "One of the truisms in American social science has been" that women were more religious than men, Gallup senior scientist Frank Newport, an author of the report, tells Axios.

Reality check: An Axios review of other recent surveys showed slight increases in reported church attendance among Gen Z men, but little to suggest they're driving a "revival" like the post–World War II religious boom.

Zoom in: Organizations like the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church are turning to collaboration to reach younger audiences and secure the church's future.

• For the past several years, the INUMC has worked alongside the Fuller Youth Institute to help churches make cultural shifts that resonate with the next generation.
• With support from a Lilly Endowment's Thriving Congregations Initiative, they've developed and distributed a set of principles called "Growing Young" designed to empower young people to take an active role in their congregations.
• The next Growing Young cohort runs from August 2026 to November 2027. Up to 20 participating congregations will receive a development experience valued at more than $1,200 at no cost.

Explore the data

🚘 "2OLD4BS" is probably how the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles felt when it rejected that and 700 other vanity plate requests last year. (IndyStar)

🏀 Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White blasted officiating in Wednesday's game against the Phoenix Mercury as "egregious and utterly disrespectful." Caitlin Clark left the game in the third quarter with a back injury. (WISH-TV)

🤖 Former Gov. Eric Holcomb has joined a national effort to help American workers transition to the emerging AI economy.

• Holcomb is leading the organization, called Raise US, alongside former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. (IBJ)

🖼️ An original Bob Ross painting will be auctioned off next week in support of Ball State PBS.

• Known as Mountain Summit, the painting was created by Ross on his show "The Joy of Painting" in Muncie in 1987. (FOX59)

Six local bands will battle for supremacy in the Rathskeller Biergarten this weekend to support Indy's furriest inhabitants.

Driving the news: Friends of Indy Animals is hosting their annual "Unleashed!" battle of the bands event on Sunday evening.

• Participating acts will compete for the Top Dog trophy, and proceeds will support the work at Indianapolis Animal Care Services.

Zoom in: This year's performers include The Good Tired, The Merrps, Antler Airlines, The Josephs and The Chris Baird Trio.

• They'll all try to take down Bruce and the Spillers, who took home both Top Dog and Best in Show at Unleashed! 2025.

If you go: 4-7pm Sunday.

• Tickets start at $25 if purchased before Sunday, and $30 on the day of.
• Kids 10 and under get in free.

More weekend picks

World Cup fever may have taken over the US for the last two weeks, but the beautiful game has been on the minds of a group of Purdue students for the last two semesters.

Slinging the news: A team of five Boilermakers designed and constructed a World Cup-themed pinball machine as a capstone project for their electrical engineering technology program.

• The Purdue students, Hatem Abumadini, Mason Brown, Cody Cox, Ian Means and Devin Tolliver, worked with two mechanical engineering students at Westphalian University of Applied Sciences in Bocholt, Germany.

How it worked: Purdue students handled the electrical and software integration and the German students designed the pinball machine's frame and components.

The latest: Following the machine's completion in April, the students and their faculty advisor, Robert Weissbach, traveled to Germany to present the project.