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