The Pastoral Leadership internship program is for young adults aged 18-22. This 10-week program provides young leaders the opportunity to experience pastoral work in the most “hands-on” way possible, while being supported by a mentoring pastor and a teaching congregation. Mikayla McClure served at Fremont First UMC in Fremont, Nebraska, for the summer of 2018.
Mikayla's story:
Two weeks into my internship, I preached on David and Goliath. Through this experience, I learned how to write a sermon, memorize and preach well. Preaching was my number one objective coming into my internship, so preaching after two weeks was thrilling for me. The hardest thing about this process was moving past the nerves and just being myself within my sermon. After preaching I now know that ministry is my calling.
After a long day of learning at Annual Conference, the pastoral interns grabbed dinner. These fellow leaders became my amazing friends this summer. Our weekly Zoom meetings allowed us to stay connected and reflect on how our internships were going. We often laughed about how different our internship experiences were, but always enjoyed hearing how God was working.
During Annual Conference there was a 5K that some pastors ran. After my pastors asked if I wanted to run I said yes. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t run, but I wasn’t going to let my 6-month pregnant pastor run without me. She ended up beating me, which again shows you that I don’t run, but at the finish line these two amazing Micah Corp interns gave me my awesome “medal.” Don’t worry, though, I walked over half of the 3.1 miles.
While interning, Fremont First had a Color War. The turnout was amazing, and throwing paint on your bosses and fellow co-workers isn’t too bad. The experience reminded me that ministry has to have some fun mixed in with all the work.
The missions intern Paige, the youth pastor Hannah and I liked to spend our evenings laying in our hammocks. If we weren’t at church, we were probably by the lake laughing, reading, doing homework and talking about ministry. This experience allowed me to take in God’s beauty while learning more about my co-workers who became my friends.
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