Western Seminary and the churches' need for ministers

There are wild fluctuations between our plea for ministers and the fear of "over-producing" ministerial candidates. Ministers and others are caught between the need to motivate young men to consider the ministry and at the same time keep a weather eye on the "vacancies" so that there can be movement of ministers within the denomination, thus preventing stagnation. The cycles of apparent need and seeming oversupply are short-lived. In fact, a matriculating student may find the cry shifting from the one extreme to the other during his three years of seminary preparation.