At the close of 2020, a number of leaders in our church joined together to pray over plans for a new endeavor: a summer internship program. At the heart of this initiative was a desire to partner with and raise up young leaders. We wanted to develop a program that not only provided practical vocational ministry experience, but also interlaced spiritual and leadership development. And so we prayed for God to reveal the right young people to spend their summer with us partnering in ministry.

How exciting for us to meet the answer to our prayers! Earlier this month, we welcomed our inaugural cohort of summer interns – Carissa Gray, Eden Jones, Keenan Lipton, Collin Raymond, and Alex Welker – to serve in our Worship & Production, Communications, and Family Ministry departments. They have only been here 4 weeks, but they have had a big impact already. On top of participating in leadership training and a special study together through our small group Rooted curriculum, they have dived right in to planning, preparing, and serving in our worship services, visual and written storytelling (for example, check out this blog article about an exciting Peru/Browncroft connection posted last week), and assisting with events like our Baby Dedication and Fifth Grade Celebration.

This upcoming week all of our interns will be helping with Flower City Work Camp, a week-long service project in which teens from churches across Rochester renovate homes and host days camps throughout our city. With unique roles within their specific tracks, each intern will be assisting Browncroft and the FCWC team to make this week a success for all our teens and our city.

It has been amazing to witness the comradery these young leaders have built with our staff and as an intern team together. As the summer progresses, I am excited to see how each intern takes steps of personal and professional growth, as well as amplified ownership and partnership in the mission of Browncroft.

As we are learning throughout this inaugural year, we believe God is doing something special here. We pray for His leading as we seek to continue in this work of equipping young leaders. And as we partner with them, we pray that God will use us and them to further spread the hope of Jesus.

So please be praying for Alex, Carissa, Collin, Eden, and Keenan. And if you see them, be sure to thank them for the work they are doing, and their commitment to the shared work of the Gospel.