2023-2024 Interns

Here I am again writing another blog wondering how yet another month has passed. This month has been a busy one to say the least! It is currently Easter weekend and we have been hard at work preparing for services this entire month. We have our first Easter service in just a couple hours and I am so looking forward to witnessing all of the work that God will do over this special weekend. One of my favorite ways that our team prepares for Easter is praying over the building. This past Wednesday after staff meeting our pburg team took the time to pray over the entire building. I was able to pray over almost every single auditorium seat for all of the many people that would sit in and experience the service. I also have the privilege to be part of the worship team again this Easter and to see service from that perspective. I am looking forward to spending the weekend with the band/production team as it is always so much fun. A weekend with the band consists of playing games in between services, laughing all weekend, and of course being able to worship as one big team/family. This past week I was also able to celebrate my 20th birthday on Good Friday with my friends and family. My day was packed full with going out to eat at some of my favorite places, (First Watch for breakfast, and Texas Roadhouse for dinner) painting home decor with Cole’s Mom and sisters, attending the Good Friday service, eating yummy desserts, playing games, opening presents, and spending quality time with my favorite people. I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for me! It is crazy to me that I am no longer a teen, but I am looking forward to my twenties! I hope you all have/had a wonderful Easter weekend! As always, I love and appreciate each and every one of you so much more than you know! 

Love, 

Berkley

Hello again! Another amazing month in the books! I was so glad that the sun decided to come out a little this month. I never take nice sunny days for granted especially since Ohio winters are always so gray! The random days full of sunshine and warmth perfectly describe this month for me. In the midst of the business and chaos there have been so many moments where I found myself just appreciating all of God's glory and the many opportunities he has given me this month. February around the church is always a blast with Preach Off. This was my first year on stage for Preach Off and it was such a fun opportunity to see it from a behind the scenes perspective! One of the things that I love most about our church is how we will do “anything short of sin to bring people closer to Christ”. If you did not know already super bowl weekend used to be one of Cedar Creeks lowest attended weekends of the year. Our church realized this and decided to take part in some fun super bowl festivities which is where Preach Off came from. Not only has this brought new faces and families into our church but it continues to be one of our regular attenders favorite weekends/events. The energy around the church during Preach Off never fails to amaze me. Between the soft pretzel stand, blow ups for the kids to play with, Toledo's mascots walking through the halls of the church, and the actual preaching itself this easily was one of my favorite weekends of the internship so far. To continue the fun our internship class plus some other staff took a trip to Indianapolis this past weekend! We visited Traders Point Church, went to a For King and Country concert, and also a Pacers game! It was such an eventful and fun weekend. I always love being able to check out other churches and Traders Point was such an amazing church and they were so welcoming to our group. We were able to experience a service, take a tour of their building, and meet with lots of their teams to share about each of our churches. My favorite part of the weekend was being able to meet with their amazing worship team to be able to talk through some tips for team bonding and building, as well as how to manage the overall well being of our worship team! This month Cole and I also decided to make the drive to Grand Rapids Michigan to see Elevation Worship. I had already seen them once before and am planning to see them again for the third time in the summer! They are probably my favorite worship band and I could truly see them over and over again! I am nearing the end of my internship and it absolutely blows my mind. This has been such an amazing experience and I am so looking forward to what the next few months have in store. As always I appreciate all of you more than you know! I couldn't have done this without each and every one of you! 

Much Love, 

Berkley

Time is absolutely flying! I cannot believe January is already over … it feels like Christmas was just yesterday! After being so busy with Christmas services it was nice to have a couple weeks off of work for the internship! Even though I had tons of time off I kept myself very busy! I had the privilege to ring in the new year by going to Passion Conference 2024 with my lifegroup! This was such a great way to start the year off. If you do not already know Passion is a conference held every year in Atlanta Georgia for students between the ages of 18 and 25! This was a three day long conference where 55,000 students and group leaders from around the world gathered to “call on heaven”. The week was filled with worship led by Brandon Lake, Phil Whickham, David Crowder, Brooke Ligertwood, and so many more. We also heard from so many amazing speakers. This trip was by far my favorite part of the month. It was so amazing to set out time to be able to focus on God and to worship him. Being in the middle of the floor at the Mercedes Benz Stadium surrounded by so many people sharing the love for God crying out to him was an experience that I will never forget! We are already making plans for next year and I absolutely cannot wait! I finished the month off by traveling to the remaining campuses that I had not yet been able to sing at. I spent 2 weeks with the Whitehouse crew, and am currently over at Findlay this weekend hanging out with them! As I wrap up traveling to campuses I am able to reflect on our church as a whole. It has been so amazing to see how each and every campus is so different but yet we are all one church. I cannot wait to see what the month of February has in store and I am so looking forward to Preach Off! As always, thank you ALL for your unwavering love and support. I appreciate you all more than you know! 

With Love, 

Berkley

I just want to start off by saying I hope everyone had such a Merry Christmas and some fun bringing in the New Year! If I am being honest this past month has probably been my favorite so far! Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. Between all of the get-togethers with loved ones, the lights at the zoo, the music, and all of the other things that the holiday season has to offer I was feeling extra spirited this year. This past month has been the busiest month yet. I started off the month by hosting the Perrysburg staff Christmas party which was a blast. I love everyone on our team so it was so fun to eat, laugh, and play games together. The highlight though for me this month was Christmas services. This was the first year that I had actually been on stage at Perrysburg. The band at Perrysburg is like my second family so to be able to have the opportunity to spend some extra bonding time with them was so fulfilling! Though the prep for Christmas services took a lot of time and effort I had absolutely so much fun. Over all 8 of our Christmas services I was just blown away by the amount of people that walked through our doors at just the Perrysburg campus alone. After putting so much time into preparing for these services it was such a great feeling getting to put on the service and witness the work that God was doing through each and every service. My favorite part of Christmas services every year though is singing Silent Night all together as a church. Hearing everyone in the auditorium lift their voices to our Heavenly Father is always such a special moment. This year having the ability to be on stage and see and hear this happen from a different perspective was absolutely breathtaking. I thought I would share with you all one of my favorite stories from one of the services. My Mom just took on the assistant principal position at the school that she had been teaching at for the past 20 plus years. This has been both a blessing and a challenge for her as it is brand new. My Mom, being the person she is, used her position to her advantage and sent out a mass email inviting her entire school staff team … yes the ENTIRE staff to one of the Friday services. Unexpectedly a huge amount of her staff including the assistant superintendent and his whole family agreed to attend. This alone was so inspiring and I truly am so proud of my Mom for going out of her way to invite everyone she works with to experience a Christmas service even though not everyone believes in God. As you all know towards the end of the message Ben walks everyone through a salvation prayer and asks those who have prayed that prayer for the first time to raise their hands and acknowledge that that day was now one of the biggest days of their lives … their spiritual birthday. The best part of what my Mom did was one of the families that she invited raised their hands. The Dad raised his hand and shortly after the entire family followed. This story of just this family alone completely filled my heart. Without that invite from my Mom this family might not have ever found God like they did at that service that Friday. This is just one story of hands raised out of so many that we saw across all of our campuses. God is so good and he constantly reminds us of how good he really is. I hope this story brought you joy and inspired you like it did me. Again, I hope you all had such an amazing holiday!

Until next time,  

Berkley

Hi everyone! I hope you all had such a great Thanksgiving with your families! I know for me I was looking forward to the week of Thanksgiving all month long. The older I get the more appreciation I have for the holiday. I just love having time off to hang out with the people I love most while eating good food and watching football. I am obviously disappointed that the buckeyes lost but the anticipation that grows throughout the game every year is always fun and exciting! Not only was this month busy due to the holiday season arriving but this has also been a very busy month for me within the internship. To start the month off I was able to take a day trip with my supervisor Nate, Hector (the other Perrysburg arts intern), and Brandon Bliss (one of the production apprentices). We all were able to skip out on some usual meetings and take a trip to Sweetwater. For those of you that dont know Sweetwater is one of the largest retailers for all things music based out of Fort Wayne Indiana. Though I don't play any instruments it was so fun to be able to walk around the building and explore while looking at all of the different gear that they sell. If you remember from my October blog us interns were able to travel to 3 of the 6 campuses. This month we were able to travel to the remaining 3 campuses which included my home campus Perrysburg as well as the South Toledo, and Findlay campuses. This again was so much fun being able to travel to campuses that I do not normally attend. I was able to meet some new people at these campuses and hear some stories about each campus which was amazing. My favorite part about touring these three campuses was seeing each of their lobby decorations for At The Movies! I think out of all of the campuses Findlay’s Mario World decor was my favorite! They had their lobby completely decked out. This month I also have had the opportunity to sing at South Toledo for 2 weekends. I used to sing at the South Toledo campus fairly often and it is truly my second home (next to Perrysburg of course)! It has been so amazing having the opportunity to hop back over there for a little while and to serve with some of my favorite people. I love how both Perrysburg and South Toledo are such different campuses when it comes to the feel of the campus and the diversity but yet they both feel like home to me! Lastly, we had our 90 day reviews. 90 day reviews are check-ins with Lauren Snyder (our director), Nate, and Jenny (my amazing mentor). Within these reviews we reflect on the internship experience thus far. We have the opportunity to celebrate individual progress as well as come up with future goals and highlight areas that we could continue to grow in. I cannot believe how quickly those 90 days went by. It is insane to think that I only have around 5 months left in the internship. May will be here before I know it so I am doing my best to cherish this season of life and appreciate all of the many things that I have learned. I just wanted to extend a huge thank you to each and everyone of you for your unwavering love and support. 

Much Love, 

Berkley 

Hi again! We have made it through yet another amazing month! One thing you all have to know about me if you do not already is that I absolutely love the fall season. Something about the weather and all of the fun festivities fall brings is my absolute favorite. This month I soaked up the fall weather as much as possible! I went to the pumpkin patch, painted pumpkins, went to my first red wings game, and went to a halloween party. Cole and I dressed up as Maverick and Penny from Top Gun Maverick! This month I also had the privilege of going to Mexico with one of my best friends and her family to take a break from the busyness of daily life and a break from the chilly weather. I spent the week laying out by the pool, reading books, and spending quality time with great people! This was a true cup filler! Internship wise this month has also been so great! As interns we were able to take a tour of 3 out of the 6 campuses. This was so fun for me especially because I had never been to Oregon or the Whitehouse campus before! It was so cool to see the way that each campus is so unique but so similar at the same time. Learning about different campuses, the diversity of people that attend depending on the area, and seeing different leadership styles throughout the staff at each campus was truly inspiring! To finish off the month I was able to serve in cedarville for all three services of Halloweekend. Serving kids was what I used to do for years before joining the worship team. I had a blast being able to serve with some familiar faces as well as new ones. Seeing the kids in costume all excited to go trick or treating after service was so fun to see! I can’t wait to see what the next few months have in store. At The Movies and Christmas are some of my favorite series of all time! Until then I just wanted to thank you all for your encouragement and investment into my experience. I am so grateful for this opportunity and all of the amazing people within my support circle pushing me through! 

~ Berkley

How am I already writing my September recap blog?! Yet another month just flew right by! This month has been such a blessing! We started off the month with our September staff meeting. This staff meeting was a little different from the others because we actually had the opportunity to tour the Stonebridge building aka the future Findlay campus location. It was so amazing to fill the building with our staff while walking around the church praying for what is to come and dreaming about what God has in store for that specific location! This staff meeting was also super special for me because I had the opportunity to lead worship alongside my supervisor Nate, and Hector the other arts intern at Perrysburg! I always love having the opportunity to be in the same room with all of our staff across all campuses! This meeting was my favorite staff meeting we have had by far! Within that same day we also had our arts team night. This was only our second team night and the only one I had been to! Arts team night is a night where everyone from every arts team across the campuses comes together for dinner, worship, and informational breakout rooms. I had the privilege at team night to meet and learn from Sherretta Ivy, an amazing vocalist who has sung with Elevation Worship and many other well known artists. This truly was such an amazing experience to be able to listen to the knowledge and wisdom that she has. During the month of September I also was able to go spend some time at the West Toledo campus for 2 weeks! I had never been to West before so it was such a great learning experience being able to learn from Ezra (the arts director at West) and to be able to worship with a new group of amazing people! To close off the month I was able to serve at this year's Women's Event where over 600 women gathered at the Pburg campus for a night full of fun! Looking back on this month I am just reminded of the true goodness of God! The way that he continues to work in so many ways even when I am not able to see it at that moment is truly incredible. This month I am feeling extra grateful for this internship, for Cedar Creek, and for all of the life giving relationships that I have built and am continuing to build. None of this would've been possible without all of you so once again THANK YOU! 

~ Berkley

Hi everyone! I cannot believe we are approaching the beginning of September already! The beginning of September will officially mark one month of the internship for me. Time truly does just fly by! This past summer honestly has been my favorite summer yet! If you have not heard already … I got engaged!!! In June my wonderful fiance Cole proposed to me in front of the pond at church which was a total surprise to me! Cedar Creek not only is where we got engaged but it is also where we met! I always joke and say that Cedar Creek is by far the best match maker there is haha! Outside of the internship and getting engaged my summer consisted of hanging out with friends and family, going to concerts, and serving at church! This past summer I served at not one, not two, but three camps! I had the privilege of serving as a worship leader at kids camp, on the activities team for high school camp, and a mix of both activities and leading worship for fusion camp! Pouring into the next generation is something that I have always been so passionate about so I loved having the opportunity to serve at all of these camps and see the way that God worked in so many students' lives! I am so beyond excited to see what God has in store for me next throughout the internship. I feel as though I have already grown and learned so much in just this past month alone! I couldn't have done any of this without you all! I truly cannot say thank you enough for making this possible for me! 

Much love and God bless,

~ Berkley