Intern Update

So it’s July and we are as crazy as ever. As I type this Tanner is trying to get me out of his seat, but in all seriousness we have learned a lot. We’ve all learned how to organize, but mostly we have learned how to serve others with a cheerful heart. Today we went on a prayer walk that taught me personally that God doesn’t care about your “prayer position,” but just that you talk to Him and share what’s on your heart. CIY Move is coming up, and we are all really excited, since we are partially in charge of planning our small group time. All the interns and Matt plan on Move being a life-changing, relationship-growing experience (with each other and God!). We are already brainstorming ideas about how to improve Student Ministry next year! But I can’t forget the best part of the summer so far, TIM DUNN”S CAMP! Camp taught me that no matter what age you are you can impact the world and others around you. It was awesome to see the kids open their hearts up to us (their counselors) and God’s truth that we were trying to instill in them. One of the things that impacted me the most was the heartfelt worship and honesty you could see on the campers’ faces. This type of worship became contagious and the dynamic of the camp changed from then on. Besides the great experience I had with the campers, I also made some tight friendships with the other counselors. The other counselors are now my friends for life. I miss camp, but I’m ready to take on the rest of my already fantastic summer!!!

- Anna

Hey this is Tanner, these girls are driving me crazy, but I am learning to live with these crazy antics and “prom dress” chats. I really do have a great time every day though. I am learning a lot more from things I didn’t think I would learn from. Like cleaning out closets, and wiping down things dirtier than you can imagine. Doing this work has taught me to be a servant. It’s like I’m really starting to understand that it’s not about me, but that I was called to be a servant to God. This includes being a servant to others. Also, TIM DUNN’S JR.HIGH 1 CAMP, as mentioned earlier in Anna’s paragraph. We spent the whole week as “family members” or counselors at this camp. I went into this camp expecting to help middle school students get one more step along the way in there walk with God. Which definitely happened with many students, but what I didn’t expect was to learn so much about myself from those kids. So for the most part I am really enjoying the internship so far.

- Tanner

As another day of the internship begins, I enter Parkside excited to find out what is going to come my way as soon as I open the door to the office. I open the door every Wednesday and Thursday to see my three fellow interns (Dana, Anna and Tanner) and Matt sitting and chatting as I proceed to almost always be the last one there. I guess I am still getting used to the 9-5 job experience. We started reading this book called Radical by David Platt and we discuss a different chapter every week. So far, I have learned a lot just by reading this book. I am not far in the book but I can’t wait to read more. In the past few weeks I have learned many things about working in an office, as well as learn the responsibilities around the church. From learning how to work a copy machine, to organizing and cleaning different things around the teen center, I have learned a lot about having responsibilities and serving in God’s Kingdom. So far it has been an awesome and fun experience. While Matt was in Haiti we attended, TIM DUNN’S JR.HIGH 1 CAMP!!! I, as well as the other interns, each were counselors in a so called “family.” The theme of the camp was “Grown Up.” We heard many different sermons about knowing your faith, and doing your faith and how to apply God’s word to your life. One of the best nights of camp was the interactive worship night. Kids learned how to worship God in other ways besides just singing, reading the Bible, or praying. It brought a new meaning to the idea of worshiping the Lord. Camp was a great opportunity to reach out to Jr. High students and to serve in God’s Kingdom. It was a life-changing experience that furthered my relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as the relationships with the people around me. So far this camp has been one of the highlights of my summer and I learned a lot about becoming a leader and serving. It was a blast, and I hope to stay in contact with the people that I met there. I have learned so much from working in the church these past few weeks, and working in other students lives. This is more than just a 9-5 job, it is all about glorifying God’s Kingdom and leading people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. I am loving the internship so far and I can’t wait for our next big thing, CIY MOVE! We have just begun planning and it is going to be a great trip! I am excited to see where God leads me and the rest of the team in the next couple months. It has been a great journey so far!

-Katie

It feels like we’ve been here forever. This internship has been a huge blessing for me. I’ve had so many opportunities to grow my faith and grow relationships. We went to Woodland Lakes Christian Camp last week for Tim Dunn’s ‘Grown UP’ Junior High 1 camp. It was a fantastic experience. I had been praying every day leading up to the camp that the counselors would open their hearts to these kids and pour into them. I also prayed that Kurt, our speaker, would just really hit a chord with these kids and that the kids would be broken down so that God may build them back up.

My faith and leadership were challenged in many ways in this camp. I was able to take an active role in my family group. My group was very closed off at first; conversation was hard to get out of the girls. But by the end of the week, we were all as close as can be. The over all sermons were about having an active faith and to ‘know faith…do faith’. As Christians we need to work on having a genuine faith as well as finding a balance within the works we do. The best part of the week for me wasn’t the sermon, paint-balling, the giant swing, or even the worship. The best thing that happened was that I was able to mend my relationship with my brother.

At the beginning of the camp, each camper was asked what they want to get out of the week. My friend was in my brother’s family group and passed on to me what his response to this question was. He said this: “I would really like to deepen my relationship with God, but I would also like to grow closer to my sister. She’s usually really busy and I never really see her. Plus she’s going away to college this year and I’m gonna miss her.” This was the best thing I could ever hear. By the end of the week, my brother and I were finally on good terms. We even had a nice hug/cry session during our interactive worship day during camp. This camp was such a blessing. It did not only answer my prayers about breaking the kids down to be built back up by God, but the counselors as well were broken down and built back up. Also many friendships blossomed from this camp, as well as in this internship. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds!

-Dana