Next week, Blayne Owens, a senior at The College at Southwestern (Seminary), begins a 1 year internship with me at NEHBC. Blayne feels called by God to become a pastor one day and is leaving the classroom for a year to intern with us before returning to finish up his course work.
One of the challenges of preparing for full time ministry is that classroom learning opportunities abound, but good internships are extremely rare and thus young pastors often begin their ministry with endless book knowledge and little to no experience. I will be mentoring Blayne in all aspects of the pastor's office, including sermon prep and delivery, vision casting, conflict management, church finance, personnel, leadership, pastoral care, etc. You will be seeing a lot of Blayne in and around NEHBC over the next year. Please take the time to get to know him.
But Blayne's internship will not just be helpful to him. In September, I will be rolling out a vision plan to our church family that I've already shared with many of the leaders in our church. I'm very excited about it. Part of the vision plan includes a year long residency program in which potential church planters undergo an intensive internship at NEHBC. Blayne is my guinea pig for that future residency program. So, his time at NEHBC will not only be a big help to his future ministry, but will also be a big help to me and our leadership as we prepare for NEHBC's future.
But Blayne's internship will not just be helpful to him. In September, I will be rolling out a vision plan to our church family that I've already shared with many of the leaders in our church. I'm very excited about it. Part of the vision plan includes a year long residency program in which potential church planters undergo an intensive internship at NEHBC. Blayne is my guinea pig for that future residency program. So, his time at NEHBC will not only be a big help to his future ministry, but will also be a big help to me and our leadership as we prepare for NEHBC's future.
Of course, it wont hurt to get full time labor in return for a meager intern stipend. :) Our plan is to house him and give him a stipend. At first, he will live in the missionary condo until it is occupied again so that we have a presence there for security reasons. Then, we have already lined up an empty nester couple that will put him up in their home.
Please take a moment to pray for Blayne's year with us. It will be a big adjustment for me, my family, and our church staff, but it will be very worthwhile. As I will share with our church family at the start of the Fall, the future starts now.
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