Foundation News
Audio from 2008 Foundation Dinner
Download and Listen to Jill Briscoe’s address from the Second Foundation Dinner on April 11th, 2008.
Internship Program Brings Skills, Quality to Youth Ministry
Foundation funds are at work around the world… and right in our own backyard. Some initiatives impact both, like the Youth Ministry Internship Program.
Second’s Youth Ministry Internship Program, funded through the Foundation, provides salaries for interns to serve a two-year stint under the leadership of Youth Director Todd Erickson and his staff. It is designed to prepare young men and women who have a heart for youth ministry to become skilled and competent youth workers. Two college graduates are selected annually to receive hands-on training in this unique program. Working 40 to 50 hours each week, these interns “relationally minister” to approximately 150 Junior High and 250 Senior High youth from 18 different schools who attend Second’s Youth programs. Through Bible studies, outreach ministries, discipleship programs, retreats and mission trips, these dedicated interns lead students in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. The program has been in place for five years and will soon graduate its eighth intern.
The program is meeting a large and growing need throughout the country for trained and experienced job candidates in youth ministry. Many churches are finding it difficult to hire people who have a solid foundation in this area, and our program is one of just a few in the country designed to provide this type of training.
“It offers experience in the context of working with a church staff and session, and with parents and families,” says Todd. This makes for a better prepared staff member and a much smaller learning curve once the interns are placed in a permanent position. Also, the program teaches youth ministers “how to create a plan for evangelizing and discipling youth, not just playing games,” Todd says. “They learn to be intentional about what they hope to accomplish and how to reach out to schools and communities with a purpose and direction, and how those plans fit with the vision and philosophy of the church they are ministering in.”
“I have had a chance to be in charge, at some point, of almost every part of the programming and teaching we do in the youth ministry at Second. There is a lot of freedom to learn from success and failure in a safe environment.”
“Most importantly, I have learned the value of relationships with the students. As we get to know them in deep and vulnerable ways, there are great avenues to share our lives and Jesus with them. The internship has been an invaluable experience for me.”
Betsie Carlson completed her internship this Spring and has moved on to a permanent youth ministry position at Covenant Presbyterian in Nashville.