young & in ministry?

I've recently been reading UMC.org's article about the lack of young people coming into ministry.
[Read story]

What makes for this decline? One answer is presented in a recent New York Times article, featuring some of our colleagues from Candler. [Read this story, registration required]

One possible approach is presented by Melissa Wiginton, a VP at The Fund for Theological Education, in a lecture from 2003. [Read the lecture] We were both at the original presentation which Melissa refers to in this article, and I found it quite compelling. If anyone actually reads our blog :) perhaps you'd like to comment on the interaction between these interacting stories and reports?

Juan, I think this matches up with some of the questions we've been asking about vocation, ordination, ministry, and the church.