Meet the Interns! // Part 1

Last week we welcomed our brand new interns to the Summit offices! Their first day was a whirlwind, complete with a workshop, tour of the office, and an ice cream social with the staff. Over the next few months, the interns will learn about the day-to-day experiences of vocational ministry and will have the opportunity to use their talents to serve those inside and outside of our congregation. Each intern will be working on his or her own project within a specific ministry at Summit. Additionally, they will be learning and growing together by reading and discussing three books (Courageous Leadership, Seven Practices of Effective Ministry, and The Me I Want to Be), observing and learning from Summit staff, and meeting weekly with their own personal staff mentor. It will be a great summer!  Throughout the week, we will be introducing you to the interns and learn more about their projects! Featured today are Zach Muller, Laurel Mitchell, and Alicia Shepherd (pictured from left to right).

Zach, the Waterford Student Ministries worship team intern, will be working to develop a system that will cultivate student musician leaders. This will help them more effectively transition from serving in middle school to high school and ultimately to adult participation within the music ministries. Zach says that he is most excited to get a glimpse of how things are run behind the scenes at a church and also to learn how to coordinate the music ministry. He also hopes to gain insight to God’s plan for his life as well as being able to connect to people of all ages.

Laurel will be working as a Base Camp assistant at Lake Mary as well as the New Space Coordinator. Her goal is to ensure that the volunteers in Base Camp are well equipped to teach God’s word to His children. She will also be instrumental in setting up the Base Camp space at the new Lake Mary Campus. Laurel says that she decided to become an intern because she saw a great opportunity to learn how to extend the love of Christ through a professional business environment. She encourages those that are thinking about applying to not be nervous about anything because in her first week she has felt very welcomed and has already learned so much.

As a reGROUP intern, Alicia will help with leader certification by interviewing current group leaders about their training needs and implementing a certification system to track leader training, development, and accountability. Alicia says that she initially became involved with Summit in 2010 while living in Seattle by listening to the podcasts. Then when she moved to Orlando in 2012, she began attending in person. When asked about her experience so far as an intern, she explains that there is something so special about being an intern because the group becomes their own little community that grows and learns together while being folded into he community of leadership staff.