Kairos Internship

My internship is halfway over.

I finally came to that realization last week. In reality, it's something that I've known, but haven't let myself think about because I avoid dealing with things I don't particularly like. Part of me is overwhelmed when I think of how much is still left on my task lists, but most of me does not want to embrace the fact that at some point this will end, and I will head back to the real world. Well...as real of a world as life in college gets. Since we're halfway though the summer, I wanted to take some time to share my heart with you, and the ways in which the Lord is working in my life.

Kairos has been amazing. Matt Kelley said it well when he said that the internship was the staff taking what they've learned in 14 years and instilling it in us in about 2 months. If you know anything about the staff at Grace Church, that's a whole lot of wisdom, knowledge, and experience to absorb in a short period of time. My internship is split between Children's Ministry and Dioko (student ministry for 7th-12th grade at the Powdersville campus), which has taught me a lot about balance and prioritizing work. Thankfully, there's been a lot of grace, as I have a lot to learn about working and doing ministry.

I came into this internship thinking that I knew a lot about this Jesus guy and what the Bible says about Him. It took about twenty minutes in my first Kairos class to realize that I really don't know what I am talking about, and that there's a whole lot more to the Bible than I can even fathom. It's been incredible for me to take the knowledge that I am learning in the classroom and see how it plays out in my day-to-day life. These classes have instilled a hunger to know more about the Lord, and a desire to study and dig into His Word. I am so excited to take this knowledge and all the tools I am learning, and apply it to life back at school.

Working at Grace has taught me a lot about loving others, about the value of being intentional with the people you work with. I have been blown away by the amount of love and support both the staff and members of Grace Church have shown me. I have loved getting lunches with staff members, getting a chance to do life with them, and absorbing all of the wisdom that they have. I get to work with so many strong women of God, and have grown so much through observing how they live their lives. I have also been grateful for the members of Grace Church. The fact that people genuinely want to sit down and ask me questions about my life (which, by the way, is pretty boring) has meant so much to me. The way that the members of Grace have loved me has taught me so much about what it looks like to be in community, and what it means to love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

While I am sad that this experience is halfway over, I am excited. I know that if the Lord has done this much already, then there is no telling what is in store for the next five weeks.

- Katie Horton, Children's Ministry Kairos Intern