Equipping young people for the future and enabling them to be the hands and feet of Jesus is a crucial component of our programs. One way we help prepare young adults is through our internship program, an 11-month program designed to help interns learn and use their God-given talents to help those in South Billings tangibly experience the Gospel. Our interns invest in this community, while also building lifelong relationships.
By providing these type of job opportunities, we see both personal growth and an increase in God’s goodness not only in the lives of the people we serve, but also in those of us serving. Below is an excerpt describing this phenomenon written by Alex, who has recently completed her internship with us.
“As I sit and reflect over the last eight months, I think about how I have seen my fellow interns transform into confident men and women of God, more certain of their God and their place in the world.
As an admin intern, I’ve always felt my position was different. The other four interns at CLDI have been constantly serving with a hands-on approach. Whether at Rail//Line coffee house, Youth Works, or going across the world to become missionaries, the interns returned with stories of how God was moving in their ministry. Because I am an admin intern, my role has always been from behind a desk. Thus, I have had to reassess how I think about serving those around me. Instead of sharing the gospel with the homeless, walking alongside women in recovery, or standing by our youth as they go through life, I have focused on the interns and the staff by becoming a friend, supporter, and advocate for those right next to me. With this in mind, I can see how the interns have been prepared through their time at CLDI. Here are a few areas I have seen them grow:
- Becoming emotionally and relationally healthy: Working through conflict/resolution, identifying their emotions and needs, and seeing the extreme blessing of building wonderful and deeper relationships with those around them, whether new relationships or strengthening old ones.
- Building confidence and the ability to do hard things: The internship is humbling; you are challenged to do hard things daily. I have seen some interns grow exponentially in their confidence and ability to dig into the uncomfortable.
- Digging deep into understanding their faith and what discipleship truly means: I can confidently say that we will all leave the internship with a broader understanding of God and his heart for his people.
With this in mind, I want to tell you this last story. Our 15-week Perspectives course ended this Tuesday, and during the farewell party, our group was supposed to break up into groups of 3-4 and pray a commissioning prayer as we left. However, with all eight of us there, we decided to hold hands and pray as a team. As we prayed, it struck me that many of us would go through changes and/or go our separate ways.
Some of us were staying and taking leadership roles within our community or moving into new job titles; others were going to school to become doctors or pursue lives in ministry, and still another was moving overseas to become a missionary. But ultimately, what I saw was a group of believers, a group of true friends, who were all willing to walk in obedience to God, and I can confidently say that CLDI has played a large part in preparing us for that.” – Alex Streeter, Intern
We are immensely grateful for the dedication, passion, and God-given skills of our interns, and are excited to see what God has in store for this next chapter of their lives.
