The Intern Tells All
It’s been so much fun to peel back the curtains on the church I grew up in and see what keeps this place running. Now I get to share everything I found out with you!
For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’m Hannah Rose, and I have been interning with the youth under Becky Medley for the past three months.
The Day to Day
Due to construction, all the staff works in the fireside room. Working with everyone in such close quarters was more fun than I ever imagined. Did you know Mark Siebert sings while he works or that Angie has a personal recycling bin with her name on it? What if I told you Danny rarely goes a day without taking his shoes off?
All these things may have come as a shock to you, as they did to me, but one thing that was obvious from the start was how everyone on staff at Westerville Christian Church is incredibly kind and supportive. They all showed me what it means to be a servant. Ministry has its shining moments for sure, but sometimes it looks like scrubbing paint out of the carpets with Angie or moving the baptistry to make room for construction. Most days are spent planning events, arranging volunteers, having meetings, and prepping for the coming Sunday.
The Week to Week
WCStudents are trying to make a culture of youth sitting together in service on Sundays, so every week, I reserve some seats and sit up front in the 9:30a service. This time was a lesson in trust and patience as the first few weeks were spent sitting alone, looking like I had reserved a whole row for myself. However, in the last few weeks, 3-7 middle schoolers have sat with me and worshiped with their friends.
For the 11a service, you could find me upstairs in the venue, either teaching or assisting with the 4th-5th graders. We spent this summer in the Psalms and did a memory verse challenge for the children. One child (Alayna Bussa) memorized 60 verses in Psalms!
We also piloted a rooted group with our middle school lead team. I don’t want to spoil the whole curriculum, but I will tell you I was blown away by quickly these students went all in on this study. It has already taught me so much, and watching these kids learn and grow alongside me has been inspiring. In short, you NEED to be a part of the rooted campaign this September.
The Big Events
Vacation Bible School
Getting ready for VBS was on my to-do list from day one of my internship. The planning and preparation that goes into a week of VBS is immense. From decorations and snacks to volunteers and lessons, there are many little details to get worked out. As an intern, I spent a lot of time prepping backs for volunteers, putting up decorations, making a rewards system for good behavior, and creating thank-you notes for workers. When the first night of VBS started, it was so cool to watch all that hard work come to fruition as children flooded the church, ready to have fun and learn about Jesus. I’m not saying we didn’t have any bumps in the road between spilled snacks, scrapped knees, missing tags, and rainy-day schedule swaps. We had lots of little fires to put out. Each time a problem arose, we could all lean on each other and work it out. This was a great lesson on how important community is, Jesus didn’t do ministry alone, and we can't either.
After Dark
VBS After Dark was a whole new ball game. Becky and I invited the VBS teen helpers to stay after for an extra hour and a half. During this time, we prayed together, played games, had a late-night snack, and even had a student-led devotional. Five students gave their testimony at After Dark; for most of them, it was their first time speaking in front of a crowd. Hearing them pray over each other and all of the children at VBS was a highlight of my summer.
Camp
I could write a whole blog just about camp. In fact, I think Luke already did (read it when you finish this one), but I will try to keep it short. I went to 2 ½ straight weeks of camp. These weeks went from 9-3 grade. I had the amazing opportunity to teach two lessons and a craft elective. This was so cool for me as I used to be a camper at each of those weeks. My time at camp taught me to lean in close to God and to trust in him. It was also a bonus lesson on courage because it turns out that speaking in front of 120 middle schoolers is terrifying! The craft elective taught me that teaching 3-4 graders how to make balloon animals is much harder than I anticipated (fun fact I know how to make balloon animals ask me about it on Sunday, and I might make you one) By the end of my time at camp we had raised over $6,000 for mission's work in Chile. I got to watch 16 campers and three volunteers get baptized.
Pool Parties
Between all these events, we had pool parties for the middle schoolers and one for the 4-5 graders. These were times when I was reminded of the generosity of all the members of WCC; three families, the Hoskinsons, Coffins, and the Cousers, all opened their pools and homes to 15-30 rowdy middle schoolers. If that’s not brave, I’m not sure what is. Watching these middle schoolers build strong friendships and a community rooted in Christ was awesome.
The Future
I have one more year left at Capital University, and after that, I will hopefully apply for youth ministry jobs. I look forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for me and how I will use all the lessons I learned during this internship. I'm truly so grateful to the entire WCC Church for supporting me and allowing me to learn and grow. The good news is this isn't goodbye; I will still be volunteering with the middle schoolers on Wednesday nights and coming on Sunday mornings as often as possible.
We are collecting a love offering for Hannah as she returns to school for her senior year. If you want to give towards her love offering, click here and choose “WCC Intern Love Offering” as the fund.