"A large number of churches hire youth pastors or workers to support their ministry for adolescents and young adults. An empirical exploration of whether and how youth pastors influence youth attitudes toward the church and denomination remains to be done, however. This study, using a nationwide youth survey data set, attempts to fill this research gap. The results affirm hiring a youth pastor or worker is an effective way to develop and maintain quality programs in the church, which in turn induce youth to remain faithful to the denomination. This study also confirms a positive link between caring pastorship and youths' attitudes toward the church, although it is far from obvious that most youth pastors successfully adopt relational ministry."