In my humble opinion. It does not matter. What matters is the message of the gospel.
I can see where both sides are coming. If I had to lean, I'm leaning towards "old earth creationist" due to the fact that the unit of time being referred to primarily in Genesis is the Yom which can mean a day, a week, a month, years, billions of years, etc.. I'm also one who is not going to dismiss secular science (although the secular science community has not always been honest either) and we can accept the scientific findings/theories based on the age of the earth/universe and still be Christian (whereas YEC's will need to dismiss several secular science viewpoints in order to stick to the 6000 year old theory). As Huge Ross points out "many scientists are reluctant or just completely dismiss any chance of pursuing a spiritual awakening with the words of Jesus due to the fact that their secular scientific believes collide with the YEC's view of Genesis 1-2. They can have their cake and eat it too as I feel the OEC view embraces secular science with many of the findings and still allows for a creator.
These 2 books are highly influential. "How not the read the Bible" will answer so many questions people may have about the "exaggerations" in the Bible and the common attacks on Christianity. The long and short of it - People today do not really understand the culture of the times when these authors write the Bible. Their style of speech, the exaggerated language constructs, etc.. People think the Bible means "literal unicorns" when it's referring most likely to "Oxen". Anyhow, having said this, the first 2 chapters of Genesis are the topic of many debates.
Though I wish YEC's and OEC's (young and old earth creationists) would put aside this (IHMO) petty difference which does nothing but sow unhealthy division. Instead, focus on the same God that we worship.
This is a very good video with scientist Hugh Ross which may help explain old earth creation and answer some very difficult/hard questions that practicing believers/non-believers may have about the creation chapters in Genesis 1 and 2. This is a topic that most non-believers will hit believers with right off the bat.
From a "Matter of Days" by Hugh Ross.
Here's another key point that leans me towards old earth creation.
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The doctrine/message of God/Jesus is more important than the actual length of the days.
Remember that the original Hebrew Text uses "Yom" where you see "days" in the Bible.. Yom can mean minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, centuries, billions of years, etc..
According to this, we are in the 7th day and have been in the 7th day for thousands of years.
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