2022-2023 Interns

WOW

Anyways, this month was great! I had a great time :)

I got a bunch of small water shooter things from church, and I blasted a confetti canon off the cat walk to celebrate the dream team!

I taught on a student night about grace, and I used the story of David and Bathsheba. I used this story because it isn't a typical grace story. I illustrated how even though David had done such terrible things, he was not only allowed to live, but he was allowed to continue as king of Israel! Yes he was punished, but not to the extent that he and all of us truly deserve. I didn't have a microphone so I took extra care to keep everyone's attention. 

Also for student night.. I GOT TO SING IN THE STUDENT WORSHIP BAND!!! It was so much fun and I haven't done music on stage in a long while so it was very refreshing for me :) We unfortunately didn't have many students on stage, but we had a student rhythm section and they did great!

For the weekends, I got to host some stage games where I got to stomp on stage and be loud and crazy and it was a lot of fun! I also gave a message about being wise with the internet as we are to be wise in the world to avoid self-destructive sin. I also gave a message about how our failures don't change Jesus' love for us. I was given the story of Peter being reinstated by Jesus to lead the church. I highlighted how Peter denied Jesus three times and yet Jesus still wanted him. I also brought up the story of when I lied to my dad and he showed me grace.

In the internship class, I got to give a presentation about the most valuable thing I'm taking away from this entire experience which is writing and giving messages. I talked about using humor, biblical stories, and the art of pause to let ideas sink in and to get the message across. I also talked about how I enjoy writing and giving messages so much because it's different from what I'm used to doing on stage which is performing. Instead of acting and performing on stage, I get to be myself. I wrote a message for the presentation, and I got to speak a bit about my testimony. I gave out a paper with a galaxy, and it had blank labels on it. I used this to allow everyone to visualize the priorities in their life because that's how I used to visualize it. I made everyone take out their phones at the end to schedule/block out time for God. I stressed the importance of drawing from the eternal source and intentionally prioritizing the one who matters most.

God is moving in my life. He continues to show me grace, and he gives me joy! I'm very blessed to be where I am, and though the future is uncertain and only getting closer, I'm excited for whatever is to come!

Thanks for being such a blessing in my life. You truly are wonderful, and I'm so thankful to be sharing my experience with you.

Hello everyone!

March was such a wonderful month! I recently got back from visiting my sister on a cruise which was out of this world! Or at least out of this country.

I'd been preparing the student band for their first performance this month, and unfortunately because of the last minute opportunity to visit my sister, I couldn't perform with them or see them perform. I've been asking people about it today and they've all told me great things about how one of the vocal students led one of the songs a little bit while another student hopped on stage to sing and I'm just so glad to hear that it went well! I'm excited for the future of this new aspect of student ministries!

Ummmmmm what else happened? I know I taught at least once or twice but I gotta check my notes.

Oh yeah! I got to visit the Oregon campus with Daniel for student night which was awesome, nostalgic, and also awesome! I also got to give a message about remembering what Jesus did for us and that He is still working in our lives constantly giving us grace and mercy. It was really cool to use my favorite new artform at my previous campus. Random side note, I'm giving a presentation today about the artform of writing and giving a message which I'm excited about!

 I also gave a message over the following weekend about the same subject. I used the analogy of our relationship with our parents to better illustrate our relationship with God. I showed them how He feels when we do good versus when we mess up, and I used scripture to show how He treats us in either situation. I also showed them that God has a plan for us better than we could possibly imagine, and I love that scripture because I've experienced it! He always has better than what I could possibly want for myself.

 I gave another message early in the month about the parable of the builders during the weekend. I talked about peer pressure and how to overcome it with Christ as the firm foundation of our lives. I talked about Matthew 6:33 so they would be able to better see the importance of making God our focus because I've experienced loosing focus on Him and it's terrible.

In class we've been observing other interns giving their presentations about what they've learned and it's been cool. We also got to watch a video about multiethnic church which was cool. I got to eat snax which was cool. I got to journal which was cool. The bottom line is class was cool this month.

I was in Mexico during the cruise, and while I was hammocking in the ocean, I thought to myself that I was only there for myself. Shortly after that, I met an elderly woman named Hilda who sat in the hammock next to me. We had a wonderful conversation about our lives. She told me about how her husband has a progressing disease that is irreversible. She also told me that her son Diermo was trying to get married but he had lost his job. I got to meet him too on the beach, and I got the opportunity to encourage them. I told them that Jesus loves them and has a plan for them to use their struggles for good. I wasn't there just for myself. Every day I got to say "God bless you" to many people. I got to smile at people. I got to look them in the eyes. There was even an employee who read my "Jesus Loves You" t-shirt and I said it back to him! 

The point is our lives are an opportunity to bring glory to His name, and to live out the scripture of being known by our love. Look out for the people who are lost. Be a light to them in this dark world.

I think one of the least things that we can do for others despite our own negative or mundane feelings is to give someone a smile.

Also... I'M AN UNCLE NOW!!! To celebrate, for the first time in my life, I attempted and landed a backflip :)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Anyways, I got to kick off the month in the absolute best way possible. IGOT TO BAPTIZE !4! OF MY OLD STUDENTS FROM THE OREGON CAMPUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember about a year and a half ago when two of them, Cameron and Trenton, were in my small group. I let Cam talk for a sec, and he called out Trent in the middle of the group saying that he doesn't believe in God. I was like "Dude u don't gotta call 'em out like that!" lololololololololololol. So I told Trent that I'd pray for him and that I was glad he was there. I fast-forward to the day my co-leader Mr. JO FOX and I got to dunk 4 of our students in the tank, and I'm at a loss for words. I don't even lead at Oregon anymore, and the students asked me to be there. It's a profound honor. Christ has overwhelmed my heart. The magnitude of His grace and mercy on me is evident.

I got to teach on a weekend about the parable of the unforgiving official which was really cool! I got a little (a lot) theatrical and dramatic with it by acting out each role on stage, flailing my arms, choking myself, and getting on my knees. I had a lot of fun with that message, but I drove home the very serious and important point that God calls us to show His children the same love and forgiveness that He has given unto us. 

I also got to teach for a student night about wisdom. We talked about wisdom's everlasting quality, and how most other things are temporary. We talked about how life can be easier when we lie, cheat, and steal, but ultimately it diminishes integrity and life's value. What is an easy life worth if it is built upon the sorrows of others? A life without wisdom is no life at all. It's just existence. We loose ourselves when we take shortcuts through life. God did not call us to an easy life. It is through our perseverance and persistence in character through adversity that we are made even more strong and beautiful than we once were. If I'm being super technical, I realize that life still holds infinite worth even tainted by sin and lacking wisdom, but climbing to the top by cheating will leave a person empty and lonely. So maybe I should've left worth out of the conversation all together, what do you think?

I think I'm crazy, and I'm not alone in thinking that fortunately because I like crazy. 

We also had student worship night this month where every student and leader from ever campus comes to Perrysburg and we have a blast! It was fun, I was honestly not feeling the best, but I'm not allowed to be sick so I was just a lil congested. I decided to take it easy, so I helped put away games. As I was putting away games, a student walked out of the auditorium, and I complimented his hair. He said thanks, and asked if I wanted to arm wrestle. I accepted having not arm wrestled since I was a kid, and I beat him twice. He was slightly taller than me and had a similar build, but he was only a sophomore. He shared his unique experience with me, and we paced the church the entire service just talking. I talked to him about some scripture, and I tried to encourage him by helping him to realize how much the positive aspects of his life outweigh the few negative aspects. He wasn't the most social person, and I was glad to give him the opportunity to speak his mind, to entertain his interests, and to share my experience and knowledge.

I'm also now a mentor in the Mountain Mentors program! It's a program where I get to mentor a student at monthly events or at our own meeting times if we choose, and then we get to go hiking in the mountains during a trip in the summer! I got paired with an 8th grader named Ian, he's been coming to my groups on Wednesday nights, and it's been a lot of fun! I'm praying that God will work in him to make him into a man of God. 

I also got to go on a trip to NASHVILLE!!! It was absolutely crazy! I got to spend more time getting closer to some of the other interns, I got to experience amazing personal worship at Crosspoint church, I got to witness a lot of baptisms, I got to explore downtown, I got to sing and dance on a karaoke stage, I got to dance and cheer for every person that was on that stage, I got to dance with strangers in front of live bands, I got to dance with strangers in front of someone singing karaoke, I got to eat plenty of gorgeously delicious food, I got to meet up with a friend from home who happened to be going to NASHVILLE at the same time as me, I got to clap for a lot of people for very minor reasons in unexpected public settings, I got to receive a short melody from God saying 'have your way in me,' I got to tan, I got to build some credit on my credit card, and I got to have some really great intellectual conversations. 

I'm beyond thankful for all of this. I thank God, and I thank you. 

JANUARY!!!

Wild month wild month. 

I got to help with starting a student worship band! Still in beginning stages but praying it goes somewhere great! We had students come in to talk and jam. It was neat :)

For our first student night of the month, we had a carnival with a dart board with balloons and challenges and prizes which was a lot of fun! I think the students really enjoyed it. For our second student night, we had a lot of games and challenges where each grade competed against each other. I was watching students upstairs during that time, but it looked intense. During the third student night, we spent most of our time with our groups, and the middle schoolers and high schoolers had separate messages about what truly defines them. During our group time, I had the opportunity to speak to the 8th grade guys about how I used to think of myself in a very negative and worthless way. I talked to them about how I came to realize that Jesus truly does love us more than anything else, and that everything He says we are is true. We had a snow day the next week, and it was really nice to have some time to relax and get some schoolwork done/be with my friends and family.

Middle school weekends were great! I gave a message about God using Samuel to anoint the new king to replace King Saul. I used the story to illustrate how it didn't matter how big and strong a person is, but what really matters is their heart. I used this to show them that they don't have to compare themselves to others, and that God uniquely made them to do what only they can do. I also gave another message about the parable of the vineyard workers. I showed them how the landowner is Jesus, we are the workers, the vineyard is the world or the kingdom of heaven, and the denarius is our salvation. I explained how some people have been working in the vineyard their whole life or have grown up in church while others come to Christ later in life, but He gives us each the same gift of salvation because He loves us more than He loves Himself. We also hit rock hard stale marshmallows with a plastic baseball bat :)

In class we've been going through a book called Amplified Leadership, and it's been interesting to learn more about what it means to be a leader. One of the best things I learned so far is more about the importance of going out of your way to intentionally take interest in others to know who you're leading. It's a simple thing to do, but it takes a selfless effort to execute.

The coolest thing that happened this month was our overnight Maumee Bay retreat. We spent half the day and the whole night by ourselves with God. He took me for a wild fun adventure out in nature. I was mostly practicing obedience and discernment in listening to Him lead me through the day. I kept trying to revisit the past, but He had other plans. I prayed a ton, read more scripture, swam, got dirty, freestyle worshiped, wrote music, and reflected a lot. It was a great experience and I'm very thankful to have been a part of it.

God bless you all! KEEP GOING! It's tough, but in the end it's more worth it than we will ever truly realize.

DECEMBERRRRR!

Christmas, New Years, and time off of work and school!

What a wonderful month! Where do you think I should start? Honestly I don't know.

Well.. I had the opportunity to speak on student night and on the weekend.

I got to give a message to students about stress and worry. I told them about how when I was their age I was worried about what I would do for a career. Though I still don't know, I no longer worry about it even though life keeps moving fast. I told them more about why I don't worry about it by talking about the birds described in Mathew. God feeds them and takes care of them, and He does even more for us. I also reassured the students that God knows His plan for us, and that it is a plan that was made for our good because what God wants for us is better than what we want for ourselves. I talked about how He called us to do great things, and that He works for the good of those who love Him. I also added the detail in Mathew that shows how worrying robs us of what God has for us by wasting our time. My goal was to help the students to realize that they can trust God with their troubles so that they can focus on the greatness that awaits them.

For the weekend, I spoke to students about the Christmas story. We talked about its various details, but pointed each one to Jesus. Everything that happened during that time was in response to Jesus coming to earth to be with us, so that He could grow up and die for our sins, so that we could one day go be with Him. Even the negative parts of the story, like King Hared ordering all of those children to be killed, was in response to Jesus. He is the center.

We had a Christmas party for student night with turkey bowling (bowling with turkey), cookie decorating(decorating cookie), and an ugly Christmas sweater contest(best ugliest Christmas sweater). It was fun :) 

I don't believe I've shared this with you wonderful people yet, but during the Christmas party, I was speaking to a friend who's been supporting me in prayer. He asked me what the best part of the internship has been so far, and I told him about Terry deciding to get baptized. If you don't know about Terry, I wrote about him in a previous blog, and if I didn't, you are welcome to ask me about him at reubenh@cedarcreek.tv. I told my friend that it was amazing because we don't always get to see the seeds that we plant grow. Most of the time, we plant seeds and trust that God is doing something great through us. After the night was over, Daniel(my supervisor) came up to me, and told me that there are three students from the Oregon campus that want ME to baptize them. !HALLELUJAH! God HAS moved through ME! This is my highest honor yet! For so long I've wanted to be used by God to change someone's life for Jesus. At least one person. That was a thought I had as a teenager. As time has gone on, I've realized that God has been using me in ways I can't even see. When He lets me see, I'm overwhelmed. I have come from seeing no purpose to my life, to being a part of changing lives forever even if I don't see it. GLORY TO GOD!!!

We didn't have student ministries for the second half of the month, but for Christmas services, I got to serve in kids ministries. It was awesome! There was one service where I got to be with toddlers! One of the kids fell asleep in my arms. I found that if you act like something simple is amazing, they also think it's amazing. I love seeing them light up! 

There was another service where I got to be with preschoolers, and it was a blast! We played hide and seek, dinosaurs, ring toss, Jenga, tag, and we had a preschool service. I enjoyed being chased by the kids in tag and acting terrified. 

Most of the time I was serving in elementary. It was great to throw fake snowballs, pick up m&ms with chopsticks, play intense foosball, draw and color, and play ninja. I noticed specific students would take a liking to me and sit next to me during the service. We danced and flashed flashlights to show the light we shine as Christ followers. It was exhausting, but very fun!

You're doing more than you realize, and if you don't see the fruit anywhere else in your life right now, I'm writing this to show you that your faithfulness to Jesus has benefited me greatly! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! God has great things for us this year! Let's work hard and level up! God bless you!

Hello wonderful people! This is crazy.

What a month! At the start of the month, we did a mini At The Movies series for the students on the weekends and on some of the student nights. The students on the weekend had a great experience with learning about God in a way that we don't always do. For our first student night, we had an activity where teams of students built spaghetti marshmallow towers. We also tried something different with student nights where we split the middle schoolers and the high schoolers, so both groups had a different speaker with a similar message.

I spoke for middle schoolers on our first student night of the month in our series called Wonder, and we discussed the importance of having a trust in Jesus as the foundation of our faith as opposed to building our foundation on ideas that we have heard about our faith or on theology alone. When we think we know it all, we can leave ourselves vulnerable to being crushed or highly discouraged by people who challenge our views or who believe different ideas. It can get us to question our faith which is a good thing, but unless we seek the answers, we can get stuck in a destructive place of doubt and fear. If we instead ultimately build the foundation of our faith on Jesus and His unending love for us, and we build our trust in Him, we will be unshaken. We can be challenged and our ideas can be changed, but Jesus will still be the base of our foundation. If we are faced with questions about our faith, it's important to seek the answers, but we will be able to trust God in our times of doubt when Jesus is our foundation.

Something interesting that we've been trying is related to making first impressions. I've been doing more of that during student nights, and it's mostly been me standing outside with lightsabers, a onesie, and a disco ball acting crazy. I got to invite my best friend to a student night to help with guest services, and we got to spend time outside making first impressions for the students which was really cool.

We haven't had a lot of internship classes this month, but one of the ones we had recently was interesting. We had to take the enneagram test before the class, and in class there was a panel of people who represented most of the enneagram numbers. They shared their experiences related to their dominant personality traits, and I thought it was hilarious when they were talking about the number that I got on my test. They also stressed the importance of using this as a way of helping us to better understand ourselves instead of using it to categorize and judge people which I appreciated. The number I got was 9, which is supposed to be the Adaptive Peacemaker. I like to do what other people like to do most of the time, and I aim to do as much as I can to keep the peace in every situation. I'm very content and chill most of the time, so I have little to no enemies in my life. I have had people ask for me to give them some of my peace or even some of my energy at times, and so when they brought up that idea in class, I burst out laughing. I felt like I was reading a book about myself and how other people look at me. They even talked about a time when the person representing the 9 burst out with people holding them back as they tried to defend someone who was being verbally attacked. The panel discussed how that incident was very unexpected and happened only once in 20 years. I resonate with this because I feel a passion and a fire inside of me to take great measures to fight off anything that threatens the peace, but those circumstances are thankfully very rare.

Another fun thing that we did this month was on our last student night of the month, we put on Christmas movies and bought tons of Costco pizza. We spent most of the night doing activities and watching movies, but I was able to give a message for the last few minutes of our time together. We're moving into a new series called Messy Christmas, and I got to talk about how Christmas isn't always sunshine and rainbows for everyone. It can be stressful and difficult for people during Christmas, and I was able to parallel that with how messy the very first Christmas was. I gave the students a lot of crazy messy details about the Christmas story, but what I focused on in all of the mess was The good news that the angel brought the shepherds. The angel brought 'good news' for 'all people,' and it is that Jesus is here to save us. I told the students about how Jesus, fully God and all powerful, gave up His power to be with us. I then explained how He grew up and died for us so that we could one day be with Him so that we can experience eternal life as opposed to eternal death. I talked about His great love for us, and I pointed out that He shows up in the mess. We can read His word to see how He dealt with the mess, and we can pray/talk to Him about our struggles and trust that He will bring us through.

The internship has been going great!

In my personal life, I was able to go up north for a week and hike/hunt/not hunt/be cold and get away from everything which was wonderful. Another recent development is that I was going to pick up my friend on Saturday night, and I saw a train in the distance starting to move. I ran to go check it out, and it looked cooler up close. I then had the impulse to run as fast as I could in the pitch black night to see if I could match the speed of the train. While looking at the train instead of looking at what was in front of me, I caught a wire to the knee, and fell flat on my face into a pile of fist sized rocks. My face doesn't look the best, but I feel better. I'd greatly appreciate prayer for healing right now. Moral of the story- when you take your eyes off of what God has in store for you to focus on temporary pleasure, you might just find yourself flat on your face. Don't worry I'm not going to show you my face.

Thank you all for your selfless support! God bless you, and keep showing His love to others! Use what He gave you to bless those around you. 

Hello everyone! What a month! I've survived so far :)

At the start of the month, I gave a message to middle schoolers about bullying. I explained how in Ephesians, Paul writes about lifting others up with our words and how we are all God's masterpiece. We also talked about how Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and we also talked about being slow to speak so that we don't unknowingly or accidentally hurt anyone's feelings. 

I hosted a stage game where students used chopsticks to grab marshmallows and race to grab the most. I also hosted a stage game where students raced to find a Bible verse which was fun. I used to play that game (it's called Sword Drill) at a church camp in Factoryville MI that I have been going to for about 12 years. 

We also had a "Halloween Hoedown" for our first student night where we had apple bobbing, racing to eat donuts on string, pie eating contest, Flitz donuts, and wearing costumes. I also had the students play Sword Drill on a different student night. There was one week where student directors went to a different campus, so Jake, Daniel, and I went to West campus after we set up at Perrysburg. I had a lot of fun teaching middle schoolers, and playing cross net (it's 9 square but with only 4 squares). One thing that I really appreciated about being at west that week was that one of the students was asking about how we can take what we learned and actually apply it and do something about it which definitely inspired me. We also had our student worship night where all campus students came to Perrysburg to play games, run through an inflatable corn maze, eat walking tacos, jump to worship, wear costumes, and to learn about Christ. I was on the parking lot welcome team during the event, and I wore a green morph suit while dancing myself to exhaustion directing cars. I had a lot of fun, and I found the energy to worship with the students. What was really cool about the student worship night was that I sat next to one of my 8th grade students, and to my surprise, he expressed interest in going through Growth Track to learn about where he could serve, and he said he wanted to get baptized! I didn't see him go to growth track yet, but I sent him a card to encourage him to take those next steps! I'm praying that God will move through him, and I'd really appreciate your prayer for him as well.

At the end of the month, I gave a message about the woman at the well. I focused on the fact that Jesus chose her despite her differences and mistakes. I talked about how He wants us to take a posture of being on the lookout for others who are lonely and struggling so that we can encourage them and love them the way Jesus loves us. 

We had a lot of our internship classes cancelled so not much has happened there, but we did have a class about women in leadership which was really interesting.

I went with Daniel on a mini trip to Ida MI to grab some knocker balls (you put on backpack straps that are connected to an oversized inflatable ball that surrounds you so that you can bounce off of anything) that someone was donating to the church, and when we got there, it turned out to be Bill Grassley! (one of my youth leaders from West campus). It was great to see him, and he was giving away a lot of things to make space. He happened to have a pair of headphones that were worn and signed by Michael Phelps. He was talking about them, I mentioned that I have a little brother whos training to be an Olympic swimmer, and he ended up giving the frame to me to gift to him! It was an unbelievably great little trip. 

We also got to visit different campuses to experience their differences. We went to Whitehouse on a Saturday, and I had fun hanging out with and getting to know a small group of students. On Sunday, we started at Oregon Campus which was cool because I got to see some of the kids that I used to lead. After that, we went to West campus where I chose to sit in on the message. Campus pastor Ed was speaking, and he talked about how comfort and convenience are limiting. I've worked on breaking out of my comfort zone for years, but I didn't ever give much thought to convenience. One thing I've been learning more and more is that the best things in life take the most effort. After the message, I had a conversation with Ryan about how I know I can do more for God. A few days before that, someone walked up to me in Walmart asking if I wanted to buy him a mountain dew. I said no and God bless you, and he said whatever. Someone else bought the drink for him, and I felt like I could've been more generous and caring to a stranger. So after being at West campus, I drove to Costco to get gas, and I saw a woman on the street with a cardboard sign. I had the thought to park after getting gas to give her a few dollars, to tell her that Jesus has great things for her, and to tell her about CedarCreek down the street. After I got gas, I had to choose between turning right to go out of my way for this stranger, or turning left to go home. I conveniently turned left, and I even felt the urge to turn around, but I kept going. I felt sorry, and I could've listened to God better by taking action and not hesitating. I'm working on breaking away from sticking to what is convenient so that I can go out of my way to do great things for The Kingdom, and so that I can grow more.

I can't thank you all enough for your prayers and support! I'm excited to see where God takes me next! God bless you!

Hello everyone! I'm still alive!

I had a wonderfully great September in the internship program, and I pray that you had a wonderful September as well! The more I move forward in the program, the more surprised I am by how beneficial it has been to me as well as how it motivates me to be better in everything I do. I'm surrounded by wonderful leaders who continue to challenge me with greater responsibilities, personal challenges, and challenges to take steps of faith. 

For our first student night of September, we planned an activity called Chaos at the Creek. It basically was a giant outdoor food fight. Daniel (my supervisor and Director of students at the Perrysburg Campus) came up with the idea, and I worked on putting it together. I created a list of the different types of foods I would need, figured it into the budget, and went out to get everything with help from Levi who's assisting our team in activities planning. It also helped that he works at Kroger, so I met him after work. I included a picture of my shopping experience! We also had old food and tons of expired pop to use during the fight, and it definitely turned out to be one of the highlights of my month! It was crazy to watch everyone shower each other with diet coke, watermelon, flour, eggs, pizza, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, cucumbers, hotdogs, olives, grapes, and beans! It was even crazier being in the midst of the chaos! We gave them obscure tasks to complete like pondering reality and drinking diet out of a cucumber, but it eventually transformed into a battlefield of mayhem! 

Another really fun experience for me was when all of our student directors took a trip to Chicago for the Orange Tour! We got to explore the city, sing and laugh in the car, write mean tweets about each other, meet strangers, see a yacht, meet bookstore nuns, I wrote a paper for my African Art history class for the University of Toledo while everyone was asleep, and we learned great things related to student ministries. Here are some of my key takeaways.

1. There is power in the sitting (getting down on someone's level to get personal and showing humility.)

2. Lead with proximity/I am a product of someone who was approximate (making personal connections and following up makes a significant impact.)

3. Turn up the volume on what matters most/as humans we have to choose where to focus since we can only focus on one thing at a time (focus on what is true good and holy.)

4. In a world full of suspicion, take a posture of fascination (see God's endless beauty in EVERYTHING.)

5. Show them your confidence and peace in Jesus (represent your God with the display of your trust and faith in Him.)

6. Never make a statement if you can ask a question instead (get curious about a student's thoughts and show your genuine interest in them.)

7. Doubt isn't toxic to faith, silence is (be willing to question and challenge everything, and it's okay to admit that you don't know the answers.)

8. Lead with empathy, develop it over time, and imagine being in their shoes (love and genuinely care for God's children with a desire to see them thrive.)

9. What do you agree and disagree with what I said? What do you no longer believe that you think I still believe? Why are you here?

I know it's a lot, but it's all great material that I thought was worth writing down. The parentheses are my interpretation/specification for each learning point.

One other wonderful opportunity I had this month was to give a message during the final student night of September. I prepared a message about The Fruit of The Spirit. I started with a story about how I lied to my dad when I was 5 about finishing my food so I could go outside to learn how to play basketball. I used to be an incredibly picky eater, and I didn't eat much for 14 years. I was focused on what I wanted and what I thought was best for me, but I was missing what God wanted for me and what He had for me. I locked my food in the bathroom, my dad found out, but he showed me grace instead of spanking me after I had just lied to his face. I used this to illustrate God's attitude towards us as His children. I talked about how The Holy Spirit works through us to develop The Fruit of The Spirit so that we can experience the best that God has for us, and I made references to various areas of scripture such as the golden rule and 1 Corinthians 13 to illustrate the attributes of love.

I'm really enjoying the opportunity to serve and to develop as a leader and a man. Thank you all so much for your support, stay tuned, and may God continue to bless you!

Hey everyone! Welcome to my first blog post ever! This first month of the internship program has been better than I really expected it to be, and I'm excited to continue learning and developing moving forward.

I've been involved in the process of planning out activities for the year for middle school students, setting up and taking down activities for student events, leading small groups for middle school, planning Wednesday student night activities, reading about ministering to middle schoolers, playing games and hosting stage games with middle school students, journaling for the internship class, self-reflecting on all areas of wellbeing, meeting new people, meeting with dream team members, meeting with staff members, meeting with mentors and supervisors, getting to know other interns, and learning more about what this year is going to look like for me.

Years before I became an intern, I was serving at the Oregon campus in student ministries with Isaac Dobson. I wasn't very involved during that time, and I had a lot on my plate. After he left, I started serving with David Hammack. That was when I started getting small opportunities to lead small group to feel what that was like. David would eventually continue to bring up the internship and ask me if I wanted to try it. I was serving more consistently, but still had a lot on my plate at that time. So I didn't want to do the internship, and whenever I talked to him or my brother Noah (who was an intern at the time) about the internship, I never understood what it was or what it would be like. After David left, I started serving with Hannah Callahan. That was when I started to lead small groups consistently, and I loved it. I realized that I was gifted in student ministries, and I loved being able to pour into the students just like I had leaders pouring into me during my childhood. I also served at a church camp in Factoryville Michigan that I had been going to since I was 8 years old, which gave me even more opportunities to lead and serve. 

Eventually, Hannah was talking to me about the internship, but I still didn't know what it was about or what it would be like. My brother Gabe also went through the internship, and seemed to have a positive experience, but I didn't want to just be doing everything they were doing. My mom believed that the internship would be a great opportunity, and she showed me that my experience would be completely different being that all of us were serving in different areas of ministry. I didn't have a job at the time, so I reluctantly decided it was a good time to try it out.

I started this year with a consistent workout plan and a mission, to become the best version of myself, and to become the man that God ultimately made me to be. That meant I would have to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually. I was working out consistently to physically develop, I was spending a lot of time with my friends and family as well as studying at the University of Toledo to mentally develop, and I was serving as a student ministries leader at the Oregon campus to spiritually develop. I seemed to have a decent balance, but I knew I needed more spiritual and leadership development. While I continued to pour into students at Oregon, I wasn't involved in anything that would pour into me as a leader. That was when I realized the value of the internship program, and I eventually told myself that I was never going to have the answer to my questions about the program unless I tried it for myself.

I'm now serving in student ministries at the Perrysburg campus, and after the first month, I've already been able to see how the internship class as well as my leadership role has allowed me to have greater opportunities to grow and develop as a leader and as a man of God. I'm learning more about the different types of Evangelism, equipping other leaders, having a greater wellbeing, preparing a testimony, the importance of telling my story, and preparing a teaching message. I even got to teach a message on stage to middle schoolers about the fruit of the spirit. I prayed about it, and I asked God, "What do you think of my message?" I listened, and then He spoke through my thoughts saying, "Is it your message?" I started to explain to Him how I had taken elements from a message provided to me and added my own talking points and personal story to make it my own message, but then I heard the thought again with the word "your" emphasized. I had an "Ohhhhhhh" moment when I realized that God was trying to show me that I am His child who gets the opportunity to play a part in sharing HIS message with His people. 

One thing I've been working on in my prayer life is asking questions and listening instead of just speaking, because one thing my best friend told me that he took away from a Holy Spirit conference was that prayer is a dialogue and not a monologue just like a conversation. It's been great to hear from The Father and to be encouraged by the words of Jesus, and one thing I want to work on throughout the internship is developing a consistent Bible reading plan. I really don't like reading, but I have a few books to read for the internship, so please pray for me.

I would greatly appreciate prayer for God to continue working in me to make me a better leader and a greater man. I'd also appreciate prayer for my eyes to continue to be opened to new ideas so that I can learn more. I want God to use me in the best ways that allow me to continue growing. 

I can't wait to see what The Lord has for me next in this season. I can't thank you enough for being a part of my journey, and I greatly appreciate all of your encouragement and support!

May God continue to bless you and use you to do great things!