Almlie Funeral Home

I always knew what I wanted to do, but it was one of those things of would I ever get an opportunity to be able to do it?" said Fischer, while sitting at the dining room table of Orlo and Helen Almlie at their rural Lake Lillian farm.Fischer said he knew a banker would never approve the kind of loan he would need to secure cattle, land, equipment and barns. He thought he'd be stuck in a job he didn't like while dreaming of being a cattleman.Almlie — who grew up on a farm but spent 33 years in education before embarking on his passion of being a cattleman — saw a kindred spirit in Fischer."I kind of had, in my head down through the years, that if I can start out somebody in the farming sector, I'll be glad to do it. And that's what I'm doing," said Almlie, who turns 80 this year.In a unique arrangement between non-relatives, both men get what they want.Almlie said he's thrilled his herd will stay together in his home pasture — within eyeshot of his front door — and that a young man will get a chance to farm.Fischer said he gets to live his dream to raise cattle.And it all started with a knock on the door.Aging farmersIt's no secret the average age of America's farmers is increasing.Matt Wohlman, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, said there are "twice as many farmers" over the age of 65 as there are under the age of 35.Considering these are the people charged with feeding a growing world population, those demographics present a "daunting challenge," Wohlman said."We need to get young farmers and young families back to Minnesota," Wohlman said. "Young farmers are the foundation of a successful and thriving rural economy."In some cases it's difficult to bring — and keep — younger generations to the farm because of a lack of community amenities, too few jobs for non-farm spouses, challenges finding affordable health insurance and unreliable internet service.But the biggest challenge for young people who do want to farm is finding...

He has been searching for an appropriate position ever since, replying to more than 500 job postings without success.But Mr. Almlie, despite a sterling education and years of experience, has faced an obstacle that does not exist in most professions: He is a single pastor, in a field where those doing the hiring overwhelmingly prefer married people and, especially, married men with children.Mr. Almlie, 37, has been shocked, he says, at what he calls unfair discrimination, based mainly on irrational fears: that a single pastor cannot counsel a mostly married flock, that he might sow turmoil by flirting with a church member, or that he might be gay. If the job search is hard for single men, it is doubly so for single women who train for the ministry, in part because many evangelical denominations explicitly require a man to lead the congregation.Mr. Almlie, an ordained evangelical minister who lives in Petaluma, Calif., has also had to contend with the argument, which he disputes with scriptural citations of his own, that the Bible calls for married leaders. “Prejudice against single pastors abounds,” Mr. Almlie wrote in articles he posted on a popular Christian blog site in January and February, setting off a wide-ranging debate online on a topic that many said has been largely ignored.Some evangelical churches, in particular, openly exclude single candidates; a recent posting for a pastor by a church on Long Island said it was seeking “a family man whose family will be involved in the ministry life of the church.” Other churches convey the message through code words, like “seeking a Biblical man” (translation: a husband and a provider). “I’ll get an e-mail saying ‘wonderful résumé,’ ” Mr. Almlie said in an interview. “Once I say I’m single, never married, I never hear back.”Federal anti-discrimination law specifically exempts religious groups when they hire a person for ...