1,000-Pastor Survey Behind Leading Lazarus Finds More Than 8 in 10 Considered Leaving Ministry, and Culture, Not Compensation, Was the Main Reason

The Culture Resurrection Index, the 1,000-respondent field study that shaped the new book Leading Lazarus, points to a leadership skill gap seminaries rarely teach.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 8 in 10 U.S. pastors say they have seriously considered leaving vocational ministry in the past five years, and the top reason is culture, not compensation. That is the headline finding from the Culture Resurrection Index (CRI), a 1,000-respondent survey Pastor Jared Fabac commissioned as the foundational research behind his new book, Leading Lazarus: 8 Transformational Frameworks to Resurrect Your Culture (Sept. 6, 2026).

The CRI is not published in the book itself. It was the field study that shaped it. Its purpose was to test whether the eight leadership frameworks Fabac had refined over 20 years of executive leadership addressed the actual pain points pastors face, and it confirmed they do.

"Pastors aren't leaving because they lost their faith. They're leaving because no one taught them how to lead a broken staff, run a hard meeting, or model a healthy culture," said Pastor Jared Fabac. "Seminary trains the sermon. It rarely trains the system."

Additional CRI topline findings:

• 82 percent of pastors have seriously considered leaving vocational ministry in the last five years, and 74 percent of them named culture as the primary reason.
• 63 percent said they had never been trained in a repeatable framework for giving hard feedback.
• 77 percent named "modeling and multiplying culture" as a skill they wish they had learned earlier.

The CRI methodology and dataset are available for review by credentialed journalists. Contact Rachel Grace at RW Publishing.

About Pastor Jared Fabac: Pastor Jared Fabac is the Lead Pastor of One City Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia and a John Maxwell Team certified Speaker, Trainer, and Coach. He is also a GiANT Worldwide Certified Executive Coach. Leading Lazarus is the culmination of the best leadership frameworks he has encountered across 20 years of executive leadership. The book releases September 6, 2026 with national distribution to more than 400 retailers, paired with a free 8-week digital experience at app.leadinglazarus.com. Learn more at leadinglazarus.com.

Media contact: Rachel Grace, RW Publishing, [email protected], 757-760-8676.

Author interviews: Pastor Jared Fabac available by phone, Zoom, or in-studio. Advance review copies of Leading Lazarus available on request.

SOURCE Jared Fabac