Surprises: Church work behind the scenes by Kirsten

My internship consists of two different parts. The first part takes place at Messiah Lutheran Church in Cypress, TX. I am working with and shadowing Michelle Mote, the Children’s Youth and Family Director here at Messiah.

I have never worked as a staff type person at a church before. This is all very new to me. I came into this experience with an open mind, a blank canvas; ready for anything and everything that would come across my path. The only thing that has surprised me, is how much work staff members do behind the scenes. They do an incredibly large amount of paperwork, phone calls, e-mails, and conversations that most people have no idea about. They are rock stars for working so hard!

I will be doing a number of different tasks while here at Messiah. My primary goal has been to create a way of bringing Messiah’s vacation Bible school’s message home. I have had to dig deep into the creative folder of my brain and come up with and idea that would be fun and interactive for both the children attending VBS and their parents. Many of the children who attend VBS do not attend church on a regular basis. If we can have them thinking about the Bible’s message more than within the walls of our church, we are doing a good job at spreading God’s word. After much thinking and many conversations I came up with an idea that I think will work. Each day has a theme and a character that leads that theme. The different themes talk about what helps us to stand strong when we reach hard times in our lives. Every day the children will receive the coloring page with that day’s particular character and theme of the day. They will take that picture home and color it. They then will find a person, item or action relating to that theme and take a picture with that item/person and their coloring page. They will ask their parents to e-mail it to me and I will put it in a power point we will show every day at the end of VBS. 

In addition to creating a method of applying the story at home, I will be helping out with the closing each day during VBS. One thing I like about myself is the ability to step into any situation with a positive attitude and have the courage to be imperfect. I am a little nervous to get up in front of a large group of children, but with this attitude in place I know that if I make a mistake, that’s ok! I will just pick up myself and continue on. Messiah is a grace place. They accept people for who they are, a child of God. This makes me even more excited to grow and learn from this wonderfully open and loving group of God’s children.