Millennial/Gen Z Network is "revolutionary," provides resources, community, refreshment for young ministry leaders

Sam Bunnell, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Henrietta, first connected with the Millennial/Gen Z Network, also known as The Pastor’s Common, in August 2024, by attending a Preaching Lab advertised on Texas Baptists’ social media. 

“I did not know what The Pastor's Common was [at the time], but I saw a post on social media and I thought, ‘Oh, Texas Baptists is putting on a preaching lab, and it's in Dallas, that's not too far [from Henrietta]. I can get down there and go see it,” explained Bunnell. 

While there, Bunnell learned a new technique for how to tell stories in sermons, and met The Pastor’s Common leaders David Miranda and David Foster, director of Millennial/Gen Z Network at Texas Baptists, and “just hit it off with those guys.” 

The next month, Bunnell attended a retreat hosted by The Pastor’s Common at First Baptist Church Richardson, where he met Joseph Adams, pastor of First Baptist Church in Mt. Pleasant and now-Texas Baptists first vice president. He said they bonded over doing small-town ministry. 

“I was like, ‘Wow, I have actually made a genuine friend here today!’” said Bunnell. “[The Pastor’s Common] just became life-giving to me.” 

Bunnell said he “fell in love with [The Pastor’s Common] pretty fast.” 

“I'm a pastor's kid, and I’ve been in ministry my whole life, and been around all different types of Baptist life and all this stuff, and never found the community and the help [I’ve found with The Pastor’s Common],” said Bunnell.

The Pastor’s Common is a Texas Baptists ministry dedicated to providing opportunities for emerging ministry leaders to be heard, resourced and find community, launched in 2019 by then-Texas Baptists staff member David Miranda in collaboration with pastors David Foster, Jordan Villanueva and Abraham Quiñones. 

Foster stepped into the director role for the Millennial/Gen Z Network in March 2025. He said leading The Pastor’s Common has shown him that “the future of pastoral leadership in Texas Baptists is not brittle, but thoughtful, resilient and quietly hopeful.” 

“These leaders are humble, collaborative and deeply rooted in the local church. They value cooperation, learning from one another and staying present in their communities rather than opting out when ministry gets hard,” said Foster.

Bunnell said The Pastor’s Common has become very meaningful in his ministry. 

“Those guys have become friends. They're guys that I call or text when I'm having a bad day. They're guys that I’ve asked to pray for me, and they asked me to pray for them. It is a true family,” said Bunnell. 

Refreshed by The Pastor’s Common retreats 

The genesis of involvement with The Pastor’s Common for Izzy Mendez, co-pastor at Alamo Community Church, downtown San Antonio, was at a gathering at the 2021 Texas Baptists Annual Meeting in Galveston. 

“I've been involved in Texas Baptists life for, I want to say, 15 years now… [and] I'm a product of Texas Baptists, but finding places for younger ministers outside of BSM is kind of hard to do. So when I heard about this network for Millennial and Gen Z pastors, I was like, ‘How do I get involved? What can I do to help?’” explained Mendez.

Mendez said having “intentionally carved out time for hanging out and spending time together,” and hearing from “seasoned pastors or ministry leaders” at The Pastor’s Common retreats has been refreshing. 

“That carved out time where we have two days or so, somewhere else, where we're getting poured into, and then we're also pouring into one another and getting to spend time together… I think those [times] have been really refreshing,” said Mendez. 

Mendez said he was most impacted by a retreat hosted by The Pastor’s Common that emphasized prayer, where he was challenged to “anchor your ministry in prayer.” 

“That reminder from seasoned pastors and ministry leaders caused me to think about, ‘How do I think about this in my own day-to-day life and ministry? What does it look like for me just to abide in God's presence? What are some practical tools that I can use to do that?’” said Mendez. 

He said anchoring his ministry in prayer has not only impacted him but also his congregation. 

“I encourage my church to operate in this way as well; ‘What areas of my life have I just been focusing on prayer as a means to get something rather than just enjoying God's presence?’” said Mendez. “It's one of those things that you know intrinsically, but to hear them again and to be reminded with a group of peers was really beneficial at that time. It still is today. I use some of those practices now, still, even two years later.”

Finding renewed strength and meaningful community

Israel Villalobos, groups shepherd at Fielder Church Arlington, said he has also been impacted by The Pastor’s Common retreats. He said attending the Sabbath Retreat in October 2024 “refreshed me just by hearing [about Sabbath].” 

“About a year-and-a-half ago, Jason Parades from Fielder Church was speaking on Sabbath, and I remember that workshop refreshed me just by hearing him [and] how he helped us understand Sabbath,” said Villalobos. “It really enriched my soul. It just blessed me, my wife, my family, and whenever I'm needing a refreshment, I go back to those notes.”

Villalobos said The Pastor's Common has “proven to be a timely and dependable network for a new generation of pastors” by “providing much-needed fellowship through authentic relationships… steady encouragement [and] practical resources, particularly valuable for young Texas Baptists pastors.” 

“What's being done [through] The Pastor’s Common is revolutionary,” said Villalobos. “This network stands as a genuinely unifying space where pastors can find renewed strength and meaningful community.”

Mendez said The Pastor’s Common leadership has “done a great job of highlighting and celebrating the diversity among Texas Baptists, particularly in Millennials [and] Gen Z.” 

“It matters a lot to walk into a room and say, ‘Is there anybody that looks like me? Sounds like me? Is thinking like me? Or on the other side of that, who thinks differently?” said Mendez. “[To ask], ‘How do we combine our resources and things to help one another out?’ I think that's been one of the things that I've celebrated a lot and benefited from seeing in our Texas Baptist life. I think it's worth celebrating.” 

Foster said the most encouraging thing about working with the pastors and leaders in The Pastor’s Common is "their desire for faithfulness over flash.” 

“[These leaders] aren’t chasing platforms or shortcuts. They’re asking hard, honest questions about preaching the gospel well, loving their people faithfully and leading with integrity in complicated moments in our culture,” said Foster. 

To learn more about The Pastor’s Common, visit thepastorscommon.com.