internship reflection (part 4)

Now let’s reflect on some of the ministries I was involved with during my time in Macon. It is important to note the expectations I once had in coming to my internship. As situations unfolded, doors of opportunity were closed, and I was faced with the task of hunting down other potential doors to knock on. These are ultimately the ones that opened and influenced the changes I unraveled above.

Camp Pathway

Camp Pathway is a summer day camp program run for nine weeks throughout the course of the summer months in Georgia. Camp Pathway ministers to a variety of unique children – both boys and girls from the ages of five to twelve. With the addition of the CIT Leadership Program this summer, to which I was the advisor, we were able to extend our ministry potential to a small group of teenagers (ages 13-14) as part of a mentoring effort. Campers arrive anytime Monday –Friday between the hours of 7-9am (pre-camp) and head home between the hours of 4-6pm (post-camp). Our regular operating hours are between 9am-4pm allowing us the opportunity to spend the majority of the day with our campers.

Throughout the day, campers participate in a unique variety of activities including circle meets where we share devotional times at the beginning and end of the day, as well as Bible classes, arts n’ crafts, recreational games, challenge course sessions, and everyone’s favorite, swim time or canoeing on the pond. Sharing lunchtimes under the pavilion allows counselors to build relationships with campers in various camper groups, as we foster a great community of unity and fun at Camp Pathway.

Throughout the summer, I had a special opportunity to work solely with a group of 9-10 teenagers in the CIT or Counselors in Training Leadership Program. This opportunity was basically created with the intention of training up teen leaders with the potential of eventually taking roles as junior and senior counselors at Camp Pathway and being able to pour into campers, just as they themselves were poured into during their time as campers.

We spent the first four weeks of camp going on field trips, fostering a solid teamwork mentality (which was a challenge at times), and having classes in our very own, CIT room. I was given a basic skeleton of material to work with, and then filled in the rest with supplemental information worth teaching. I planned to teach roughly two hours a day, or ultimately ten hours a week. Sometimes this task was absolutely daunting, but most the time it allowed me to connect with each CIT on an individual or more personal basis.

Part of our CIT Leadership also involved community service projects, so my group of teens undertook a food drive project with the local radio station 13WMAZ, and thanks to the generous donations we collected from campers and parents, we were able to receive a tour inside the news studio and with the various reporters. This was certainly a special opportunity for me, but I know my CITs were blown away with how a simple act of service gave them a great opportunity to explore something new as well. We also began working with Morningside Assisted Living facility where we had the opportunity to interact with the elderly in our community playing BINGO and eating banana splits. Everyone loved these days!

Perhaps the one thing I pulled away from this whole experience of advising the CIT Leadership program is something Prez shared with us numerous times in PLC, “You cannot lead someone to a place you yourself have not been to yet”. I realized more than ever more that all the experiences I have had with leadership, teaching, etc, at Bethany all played an important role in enabling me to connect with the group of teens I was mentoring. This was not always an easy task, and sometimes I felt so helpless I wanted nothing more than to cry.

I also learned that I cannot lead alone. This is a humbling reality, but it was important for me to chew on, and to ponder, because I quickly realized not having a partner to lead this group of teens with, sometimes limited the effect I was able to have – especially with the young men. I felt if they would have had an opportunity to connect with a young adult male, their experience may have been more holistic, as well as my girls. Had they been able to see me interacting with a young man, they might have been able to catch a picture of how male/female partnerships should work – without the worldly standards or expectations looming over our interactions.

Hephzibah Children’s Home (recreation department)

Administratively, experiencing the inner workings of Hephzibah was important to the shaping of my opinion and perspective of ministry organizations like this. I learned quickly that things are not always as they may appear, and sometimes we have to search a little deeper, and push a little harder to see change take place amongst resistant parties. Operating the gym was somewhat of a familiar experience, although when my supervisor was away for a few months this gave me a lot of extra responsibility in assisting with rentals and general management, I never initially expected. I grew close with the recreation staff and they truly were my support system and greatest allies during this internship adventure.