2025-2026 Interns

I have many wonderful things to share from this month, and I’m praising God for all of them! I passed my Master of Fine Arts thesis defense on October 2nd, which was a lot of work but also fulfilling. For the last step in finishing my grad program, I submitted my thesis for library publication on October 4th, the same day that kicked off CedarCreek’s 30 year anniversary celebration! Daniel, my fiancé, was there with me when I submitted my thesis, and then we drove to the Perrysburg campus for the Saturday evening 30 year service. It was such a wonderful time of celebration and worship as we praised God for all he’s done in and through CedarCreek and for how he got me through grad school. My degree was officially conferred on October 14th, and I’m so thankful for God’s timing and provision in the process.

On October 17th, Daniel and I took a road trip out to Missouri for a very special celebration weekend with my family. My twin sister, Lindsey, had her white coat ceremony at Mizzou’s veterinary school. During the white coat ceremony, vet students celebrate the conclusion of their classes and the start of their clinical rotation years. They receive white coats to represent their transition from the classroom to the field, and Lindsey asked me to be the one on stage to present her coat to her. I’m so proud of her and was honored to put her coat around her shoulders! I’ve included a photo of me and Daniel with Lindsey, her husband Joey, and my parents Bland and Michelle. Our visits all together are few because of the distance, but this one was extra special as we celebrated Lindsey!

Back at CedarCreek, October began a fun-filled season that’s had me busy and excited. This week, we hosted Halloweekend, a special weekend service with a spooky theme and family fun. We get really excited about Halloweekend around here, not only because it’s fun but also because it's a huge outreach opportunity. Our vision is that the service presents a chance for people to invite their friends and family who may love Halloween but might not be as excited about church. By meeting those individuals where they are and offering a service that connects with them in a unique way, we’re practicing our mission of introducing people to Jesus.

Now, I like Halloween as a concept and aesthetic. I like pumpkins, cute little ghosties, and round fuzzy spiders with googly eyes. I also appreciate gothic vibes with drafty hallways and spluttering candles: Northanger Abbey or Wuthering Heights type of stuff. But I hate being scared, especially jump scares. That’s important for what I’m going to share next.

During Halloweekend preparations, I sat in on a rehearsal of the service in mid-October. The service features a spooky, interactive choose-your-own-adventure video story that guests participate in before the message and worship. And, well... there’s one part (a minor jump scare, to tell the truth!) that had me curled up in my seat at rehearsal saying “NOPE, NOPE!” And if I heard right, I’m pretty sure my supervisor, Marna, was giggling at me! No harm done, Marna, I was laughing at myself too! But that’s exactly our aim for Halloweekend: that everyone at the services can laugh, have some fun, and hopefully let their guard down in the process so they can encounter Jesus.

As fun as Halloweekend was, I’m even more excited about our next series for the month of November. It’s called At the Movies! During these services, our lead pastor Ben teaches with a video message that walks through a movie, highlighting themes like identity, purpose, and healing. We intend At the Movies as another invite opportunity for the movie lovers in people’s lives. These services use films to help people hear truth about God and learn what a relationship with him looks like. It’s an intentional effort to form connections with people who don’t know Jesus yet or who are searching for a church.

At the Movies preparations have been a blast for me because I’ve been involved in some “super-secret” behind the scenes tasks. Part of the fun of At the Movies is that most people (even the majority of CedarCreek staff) don’t know what the featured movies are until the services! I’m one of the few who do know because I was asked to help review first and second cuts of the video messages. No spoilers, but I think the lineup is a wonderful blend of films that genuinely invite people to think about their journey with God as something that heals and transforms. Some of the messages have convicted me about the work God needs to do in my life, and I pray that those who experience At the Movies would be receptive to his work in their lives, too.

I’ve had another fun task as we prepare for At the Movies. Every weekend of At the Movies features movie-themed trivia slides in the auditorium before services start. I was asked to brainstorm and write unique trivia for each weekend, and that task was so much fun! I don’t consider myself a movie expert by any means, but after reading some articles, I was able to create lots of fun questions that any casual movie watcher would enjoy answering. Here are a couple of the questions I wrote for Week 1 of At the Movies, which are going live this upcoming weekend:

What was Stitch’s alien experiment number in Lilo and Stitch?

a.      Experiment 262

b.     Experiment 535

c.      Experiment 808

d.     Experiment 626

In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, how many characters are in the Fellowship?

a.      7

b.     8

c.      9

d.     10

I wrote over 25 questions for At the Movies, which was just one way I’ve applied my creativity and writing to the mission here at CedarCreek. If you’re local and haven’t checked out At the Movies yet, I’d love to see you there! First services are this weekend, November 1st-2nd!

Prayer Requests:

• Praise that God carried me through the end of my thesis and Master of Fine Arts degree!

• For this exciting invite season with At the Movies at CedarCreek, that God would use the services to bring people to Jesus and transform lives.

• That me and the rest of my intern class would keep leaning in and growing in the ways God has for each of us.

• For diligence and encouragement among the Service Programming team as we are full steam ahead in this outreach service season.

As always, thank you for reading my update and for praying over me! You’re a blessing to me, and I appreciate you!

I’m writing this update sitting in a van with my five fellow interns and CedarCreek staff members. We’re on our way back from a weekend in Chicago on the annual intern trip, and it’s been a whole lot of fun! I’m devoting this month’s update to sharing all the amazing things we did together.

We left the Perrysburg campus on Saturday, September 27th at 8:30am under a beautiful sunny sky. The entire drive out west was filled with lively conversation. At one point, one of the interns brought up Cedar Point, a roller coaster park in Ohio, and so began an important mission. The interns decided that we’d coordinate all six of our crazy schedules to figure out a day to visit Cedar Point together. It took about a half hour, but when we finally found a day, we all celebrated with cheers! It was a great bonding moment for us as interns and really set the tone for the rest of the trip.

Our first stop in Chicago was my favorite of the entire trip: Wrigley Field! Anyone who knows me knows I love baseball, and I was “geeking out” over being in such a historic ballpark. To make it even better, we got to watch one of the most iconic baseball rivalries as the Cubs hosted the St. Louis Cardinals. And yes, you’ll see in the picture that I’m wearing a Cardinals jersey. My fiancé, Daniel, is a Cards fan, so of course I wanted to cheer for them! It was a beautiful day and a great ball game! After leaving Wrigley to the sound of “Go Cubs Go” (the Cardinals lost, but I still had a blast!), we headed downtown to explore, sightsee, and try some Chicago pizza before settling in at our hotel for the night.

On Sunday, we visited Willow Creek Community Church, a church that means a lot to the story of CedarCreek. This church was where the founding pastor of CedarCreek got inspired to plant a church in Ohio that would be on mission to reach the unchurched and spiritually restless and introduce them to Jesus. Willow was the largest church I’ve ever seen! The building had multiple wings and was the size of a shopping mall! It had two auditoriums, with one fully dedicated to a Spanish-speaking church service. We got to watch the Spanish-speaking worship team rehearse, which was amazing! My favorite part about Willow Creek was the wing fully dedicated to serving those in need in and around Chicago. It had a grocery store section where families could get the groceries they needed (all free of charge), a clothing boutique with garments all less than $10, and even a space dedicated to fixing up cars for single mothers. I was really touched by Willow’s heart for serving their community for the sake of the kingdom of God.

After we attended the 11am service at Willow, we visited the home of a ministry friend of CedarCreek, Jackie, to learn about the concepts of Working Genius. Working Genius focuses on the desire to love the work we do and truly feel fulfilled and joyful in how we work. Before going to Chicago, each intern took an online assessment that would tell us our two areas of Working Genius. These Geniuses represent both how I work most productively as well as what kind of work feels fulfilling to me. My two Geniuses are Tenacity and Wonder. Tenacity is all about accomplishing tasks and seeing their impact. It’s the final, ground-level phase of work, actually bringing projects to completion. Having Tenacity means I love ending the day with my tasks checked off my to-do list, and I feel satisfied with my work as a result. My second Genius is Wonder, which drives observation and inquiry-based approaches to work. Wonder is the very first phase of work and the biggest-picture approach. Wonder prompts me to ask the “why” questions behind the work I do. I can notice what might need to change or improve, literally asking myself “I wonder if...” as my creativity takes hold of something I notice and imagines different or better ways.

When I found out that Tenacity and Wonder were my Geniuses, I was a bit confused. I thought it was odd that my best work happened both at the ground-level and sky-high phases of work. But Jackie helped me understand that these two Geniuses aren’t in conflict but work beautifully in tandem. Because I dig deeper in Wonder and really ponder the “why” behind the projects I’m working on, I can commit my Tenacity to complete my projects thoroughly in a way that brings me joy and fulfillment. I don’t just get my work done, but I take my time to slow down and really understand the mission and impact of my work and find motivation from doing so. I’ve operated this way for a long time, from my schooling to my internship work, but Jackie and Working Genius finally gave me the words and framework to grasp the way I’m wired. It even made me realize a lot of the negative stories I’ve been telling myself about my inquisitiveness. I sometimes convince myself that my questions don’t matter or that asking them only is an obstacle to progress. Now that I know that that tendency is actually a gift in my ability to work, I am finding a lot of freedom from that negative self-talk I’ve been carrying. I am so thankful that God used this opportunity to show me how He’s uniquely equipped me to join where He is already working in ministry.

Another wonderful result of our Working Genius session was the discovery that all six of the interns had Tenacity as one of our Geniuses. The pairings of Geniuses differed somewhat, but Tenacity was always one of the two for each of us! Since the interns were all gathered on one couch together, Jackie humorously referred to us as “the Tenacity couch,” which is a name we’ve now rolled with and affectionately started to call ourselves! We’ve even designed a custom LEGO build of a green couch in the shape of a T to remind us of the ways that God has brought all of us together through our shared gifting!

Our Chicago trip wrapped up with dinner and a quest for ice cream before we went to bed. I also finished up my thesis manuscript over the weekend, and I found such encouragement from our group as they congratulated me and were genuinely excited for me. We returned to Ohio on Monday, September 29th with a stronger sense of community and a greater appreciation for one another as team members. I’m so grateful for our time together and can’t wait to see how the “Tenacity Couch” continues to pursue God’s calling for our lives!

Prayer Requests:

• For open-handedness with the concluding weeks of my masters degree

• That God would help me surrender stress and uncertainty to Him as I navigate a busy schedule

• For the fall season at CedarCreek, that God would bring those who don’t know Jesus through our doors and that we would introduce them to Him

• That God would inspire and drive my Tenacity and Wonder for His glory and His work

I really appreciate you praying for me! I am so greatly encouraged just knowing that you’re reading my updates. Your care and support are making an impact, so thank you!

What a thrilling whirlwind this month has been! I've finished my fourth week as a Content Development intern at CedarCreek Church. I'm placed in Central Support at the church’s main campus in Perrysburg (a 45-minute drive from my apartment in Findlay). So many great people have welcomed and encouraged me! Their generous welcome has eased my nerves during this new (and intimidating) transition, and I’m very grateful.

So what specific projects does a Content Development intern work on? I was curious about the same thing as I entered my first week excited to begin work. Thankfully, I’m blessed to have a wonderful supervisor, Marna Ward, CedarCreek’s Executive Director of Service Programming. Service Programming is an umbrella term that includes all the elements that combine to create a church service: worship, lighting, videos, spoken transitions, and so many more! A lot of what I’m doing in Content Development involves the creative process behind those specific elements.

Marna created a great plan for my internship, so she was able to answer my questions and help me see her vision for where I’ll be getting involved. My internship has a unique but exciting path as I spend blocks of time (about three months each) with different ministry teams. I’ll participate in specific projects while also gaining comprehensive experience in church ministry, from initial brainstorm sessions all the way to executing services on the campus level.

For August through October, I am working closely with the Communications team. My first steps are helping develop and produce the CedarCreek app’s LivingItOut devotional. I’m working with Lori Tuckerman, the Director of Content, who is an amazing teacher eager to help me learn by doing. Lori is showing me how to manage the volunteer team of writers, editors, and proofers who help write some of the devotions. I’m also getting progressively involved with writing and editing/proofing the devotion content each week! In addition to working on the app devotionals, I also got to participate in a special brainstorming project: creative scriptwriting for video elements of this year’s Christmas services! (Yes, we plan that far ahead!)

Since I'll shift to join the Service Programming team in late October, I am currently shadowing in Service Programming to get to know people and familiarize myself with what they do. Every Tuesday morning, I observe service Walk Through, which is the “working draft” of a weekend service done two weeks in advance. In Walk Through, the Service Programming team gets to see all the elements of the service rehearsed, except for the sermon message. The process is more than just a quality control rehearsal. We also ask ourselves about the “why” behind what happens: does every element of the service point people to Jesus and invite them to take their next steps in the journey with Him? If some elements don’t quite do that yet, we revisit the plan and give feedback on what to change to ensure that they do.

Every Tuesday evening, I join alongside many ministry teams for weekend service Run Through. Run Through is a rehearsal of the current week’s service from start to finish, including the message. It is a final look at what is happening in the service and a chance to make last adjustments to programming so the entire experience is at its best. During Run Through, Lori and I take detailed notes on the message content. Afterwards, we develop and send out prompts for the volunteers who will write the LivingItOut devotionals before the end of the week. It was an odd adjustment for me to “spoil” the Sunday sermon for myself, but I’ve been grateful for a new chance to learn from the message and the Bible passages twice. I take away something a little different each time! After all, that’s the beauty of Scripture, there’s always more to learn!

On the topic of always having more to learn, I got to experience a special event during my second week as an intern. The church livestreamed an annual conference called the Global Leadership Summit, which has a mission to help leaders in both churches and businesses grow in various facets of leadership. As someone who doesn’t consider myself a natural leader, I was surprised to find myself encouraged by the Summit speakers as they emphasized that people can lead wherever they are, no matter their role. My favorite speakers from the Summit livestream were Nick Saban and Walker Hayes. Nick Saban showed me that leadership is more about connecting with people than being the best, and Walker Hayes shared his testimony about someone who pointed him to God by loving him like Jesus loves us. Together, they taught me that I can be a good leader simply by demonstrating the love of Jesus as I walk alongside others.

I spent most of the Summit with Marna and Lori, which was so much fun! We watched a lot of speakers together and talked about our takeaways. I’ve included a picture of the three of us from the first day—Marna’s on the left, and Lori’s on the right. They have been to a lot of Summits, so they were excited for me as I experienced “baby’s first Summit!” I am so thankful to have Marna and Lori as mentors who pour into me and encourage me as I grow as a leader and a follower of Jesus. My biggest lesson from the Global Leadership Summit is that I can’t lead with integrity unless I allow Jesus to lead me and have control over my life in every area: schoolwork, the internship, spiritual disciplines, my relationships, and everything in between.

Thank you very much for reading my internship blog, and I am so excited to continue sharing how I get to participate in the work God is doing!

My prayer requests so far:

• For practicing what I've learned from the Global Leadership Summit: surrendering to Jesus' leadership in all areas of my life
• That God would grow my confidence, not in myself, but in how He has equipped me for a purpose
• For wisdom in navigating the delicate balance between the internship, my Masters thesis work, and care for my spiritual, physical, and mental well-being
• Safety in my commute every week