2025-2026 Interns

“Don’t make it bigger than it is.”

This quote was spoken by Kali. She is one of our favorite people in the world here. She was the production intern last year, and still works with us a lot. When you’re afraid to fail, you can cause even a small task to seem so big.. don’t let it be.

I started out the month learning producing from Kali which is when we had that conversation. There’s 3 different types of “producers” (Baptism Producer, main Producer, and Show Caller, but more about that some other time). They’re so detailed, but I’ll try my best to give an overview

The “Baptism Producer”, is a role once a month, on baptism weekends. They hold everything regarding baptisms. Because there are so many people and things happening, it’s easiest to funnel everyone through one point, which is the Baptism Producer. They connect with the team and make sure everything goes well.

The “Main Producer” handles things but on a much bigger scale, they handle every aspect of the service (lights, sound, cameras, switching, backstage, computer, as well as communicating with the band and anyone else needed). They make sure everyone has what they need, and hold the service together. 

The first weekend of the month, I learned Baptism Producing, which I will be doing alone for the first time, the first weekend of December! (I’m actually very excited)

It’s so impactful to be able to connect with the baptism team the way we do. You get to speak to the people getting baptized and hear about them, you get to pray with them, build relationships with the volunteers, and be a part of such a big moment for others. 

After that, I had my first weekend learning what it’s like to be a “Main Producer”. It gives you a completely new perspective, even after being in almost every area in the past, it’s actually almost needed to Produce properly, to have experience in every area and to know what it’s like and how it functions. The producer does so much, every weekend to make everything as smooth for the team and guests as possible

November is the month of “At The Movies” (ATM), which is a unique month-long series where we take a look at scenes from movies and tie it together with teachings from the Bible. 

In production, every week we serve for the whole service, only getting a break between services, and our team have the biggest hearts for it. But during At The Movies, the whole sermon is pre-recorded, so we have roughly 40 minutes with nothing to do, so…this year we did something different as a production team! We held something called “Double The Fun Month”! Every week we had a different theme (and I baked something special). We played themed games such as finding hidden ducks, Uno, speed, spoons, duck bowling, and more!

Our themes were:

•Ultimate Uno

•Cereal Killers

•Duck Hunt

•Production Olympics

•Crazy Card Carnival

And to end the month, we had our Double The Fun party! We had pizza, Mario Kart, Uno No Mercy, and lots of fun :)

Last month I told you about our Masterclasses, well.. we had two more!

This month we did watercolor painting with Julie and CrossFit with Libbe 

Here’s some takeaways from each!

Painting with Julie :

-Just like every single one of our paintings were different, we all are different, every single one of us

-Every person had a different, and often worse, perspective of their own than others did, it’s true with ourselves too

-You can’t compare two things that were never meant to be the exact same, none of us ever were

CrossFit with Libbe :

-Every person has a different story, and sometimes it may not look like yours or make sense to you, but it does to them

-Everyone connects with their faith differently. Some connect through art, some connect through fitness

-Find your unique way to connect with your faith and God, and center your days around him that way

In the middle of the month, all of us interns were offered a huge opportunity. We were asked to participate in the filming for our yearly Christmas service. 

Every year our amazing filming team makes videos that play throughout our Christmas services, this year is no different, and I got to be part of it! 

Only two interns were available at that time. Myself and Devin, who is also a production intern, but he is placed at Whitehouse/Central. 

I got to learn how to play Garbage (a card game), meet new people, sit in a vintage steam train for hours, eat some awesome food, and just had a great day. And hey! You might see me in some of our Christmas service :)

So.. you might think “Jess, isn’t production all sitting behind computers and aiming cameras”. Well, you might think that, but it’s a lot more than that truly! We do everything throughout the week to prepare for a weekend, like what you may ask? I’m glad you asked! We send communication to the team for the upcoming weekend, write cards, clean, vacuum, mop, water plants, fix tech issues, reorganize, decorate, or just about anything else that’s needed for the weekend service and the wellbeing of our production team!

And boy, did we have a task this month! One Tuesday, right before Thanksgiving, we didn’t have all the meetings we usually have on Tuesdays, so we took on a task. We had to clean and reorganize.. a lot. We got to drive the golf carts and store them in a different area of the church. Edna fluffed and put lights on the last couple Christmas trees (oh yeah and we had to fluff and light 12 or so trees.. I lost count), while Kali and I went all the way up in the lift to reorganize and clean 15ft up, we were safe I promise!

I think the photo attached is my favorite of all my photos from the month. I love these two girls I work with so much

This month, I would greatly appreciate your prayers for:

- Baptism Producing by myself the first weekend of the month (December 6/7)

- Continuing to lean in, no matter if it’s scary

- Peace during this crazy, yet beautiful Christmas season

This month, my praises are:

- Our growing attendance - many more people are meeting Jesus

- How dedicated our production team is, and putting their all into everything

- The amazing staff and volunteers at this church, who will always catch you if you fail

Verse of the Month:

‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ : “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.””

The month started off with a bang! We celebrated the 30 year anniversary of CedarCreek with an amazing service. I had the opportunity to be in-room and do stationary camera for our celebration, and I am so thankful for it. 

Seeing all of the engagement, all of the original founding members of the church who attended.. I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to experience it all!

While we were in Chicago last month, the interns planned a trip to Cedar Point! 

Unfortunately, one of us, Jadyn wasn’t able to make it and we missed it, but we did the thing!

I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun with a group of people. I’m so thankful for each and every one of them! We got to ride some of the biggest and scariest coasters, play games, and get to know each other! 

We went during their “Halloweekends” where they have fog, “jumpscare artists”, haunted houses, and all the Halloween themed things, although we did do our best to avoid most of the scary things. 

I also had the opportunity to help build some of our decorations for our “At The Movies” series. For this series, we have messages which tie movies into Biblical principles and stories, another fun opportunity to see God in every aspect of our lives! 

For At The Movies, we decorate a majority of our building! Half of it (Where the auditorium is located), we decorate as a movie theater. And the other half (Where the kids and students ministries are located), we decorate with a movie theme! The Perrysburg campus’ theme this year is Wizard of OZ!

I was, with Edna and Kali, able to help create the yellow brick road, and the spooky forest! I had to many fun moments with them through the process, and am so grateful I got the opportunity to help them. I also was given “direction” signs to own the creation of, that shows the ways to all of the different areas! 

The main event of the month is…. Halloweekend! Our Halloween themed church service! Where we bring costumes, candy, fun music, spooky stories, and the Bible together! It was truly such a FUN weekend. Part of our service was a custom made “choose your own adventure” segment, where the attendees could choose how the story of the videos went! It was so fun talking with the team and putting in predictions as to what options we thought they would choose! 

I also had the honor of watching my amazing supervisor Edna host the choose your own adventure.. on stage! She did such an amazing job, and as always brought her love for the Lord, and others into everything she does!

So about Halloweekend… At our 8:30am service on Sunday, we had a bit of a oopsie. We had a power surge, and all of our sound in the auditorium went out towards the end of Ben’s message! No mics or instruments. 

Our amazing team adapted as much as possible. Ben projected, team in the sound booth did so much to get it up again. And our band swapped all the instruments with acoustic only minutes before the were supposed to go out and sing. Despite all of the difficulties we had, it was beautiful! Seeing the support and participation from our guests, hearing every person sing and engage was a highlight of the weekend

To end off our month, we had our first “Masterclass” for our intern class! 

You might be asking yourself “what’s a Masterclass?”, I’m so glad you asked! 

We are being given the opportunity to spend a few hours with staff members that we may not otherwise know well, and have them teach us about something they’re passionate about! As well as having time for conversation, and asking lots of questions and sharing what we learned! This class we had the opportunity to go with Jason, and see all he does in event management! He work with a company as a sort of middle-man between a concert venue, and the band that will be performing!

It was so fun to get to know him, learn about what he does outside of the work he does at CedarCreek, and to get out!

This month, I would greatly appreciate your prayers for:

- Allowing myself to try new things, and even fail

- The upcoming holiday season 

- Continuing to learn to lead and connect with others

This month, my praises are:

-Being apart of such an incredible church

-The PB campus staff for showing me nothing but compassion and support!

- The amazing DreamTeam that we have in production, I learn so much from all of th

Verse of the Month:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬ 

During this month, I’ve been making more meaningful connections with other staff members, as well as planning for the coming months.

I’ve taken on more leadership responsibilities on weekends. I’m in charge of our team bonding time, “team time,” on Sunday mornings. Additionally, I’ve been facilitating parts of our pre-service huddle and post-service huddle on Saturday evenings.

I’ve been learning a lot about a specific position called “Switcher.” In this role, I communicate with the camera operators and decide which ones will be shown at which times. I’m confident that I’ll be able to do this independently within the next month.

After conversations with my supervisor, I’ve decided to continue meeting one or two new people every weekend to build connections and become a familiar face for people.

At the end of the month, the interns, along with a few others, took a trip to Chicago! Watch out next week, as I’ll try to get out a newsletter all about our time in Chicago. There’s a lot to cover!

This month, I would greatly appreciate your prayers for:

- Growing in relationships and meeting new people

- Developing my leadership skills while staying true to myself

- Trusting God’s plan for my life

This month, my praises are:

- The relationships I’m developing with all the other amazing interns

- The safe and supportive environment that allows me to try new things, even if I fail at first

- The opportunities I have to grow and learn

Verse of the Month:

1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Hello everyone! I’m excited to share that I’m currently in my fourth week as a Production Intern at the Perrysburg (main) campus of CedarCreek! This has been an incredible experience, especially in just the first month. I can’t wait to see where this adventure takes me!

Global Leadership Summit

During my second week of the internship, I had the privilege of attending the Global Leadership Summit (GLS). It was an amazing experience that provided me with valuable insights and opportunities to connect with my fellow interns.

One of my biggest takeaways from GLS is: 

“Great leadership isn’t defined by the expectations of others; it’s defined by your response”. 

It becomes so easy to base your worth and status as a leader based on what expectations others have, and what they think leadership looks like. But others have no say in what makes you a leader. God is the only one who has a say in that. 

As a Production Intern at the Perrysburg campus, my role is to learn everything involved in organizing a weekend service. This includes operating various equipment such as lights, sounds, cameras, and computers. As well as the work that goes on throughout the week that no one sees, and the crucial relational aspects of this position.

Every week, we attend an intern class where we learn about leadership, teamwork, and effective communication. Within the past few weeks, we’ve been focusing on the importance of asking good questions, particularly those that help us get to know people. I’ve been working with my supervisor to improve my lobby conversation skills and introduce myself to new people. It can be nerve-wracking, but I’m incredibly grateful for having this opportunity in such a safe and supportive environment.

This week, I would appreciate your prayers for:

- Meeting new people and building meaningful connections. 

- Learning my limits and knowing when to say no. 

- Continuing to grow my faith. 

My praises for this month include:

- The warm and welcoming community I’ve found during this new adventure.

- The genuine connections I’ve made with my new coworkers.

- The wonderful supervisor, Edna, who cares deeply for everyone she meets.

Verse of the Month:

Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”