Why Wednesday - why we have interns

In light of these posts on getting to know our interns, I thought a good topic for this week’s “Why Wednesday” would be - “Why we have worship interns”

So, here’s the main heart behind why we have worship interns at RH…

At RH, we really believe in the idea of developing leaders - across every ministry, not just worship. In worship, it seems pretty clear that skilled, passionate, Spirit-led worship leaders are needed not only within our church, but across the kingdom of God. The thing about worship leading is, that it is very difficult to teach through simply passing on information - it is not really something that is learned best in a classroom or through books. We think that the best way to prepare someone to be a worship leader, or a worship pastor is for them to spend time around other worship leaders and pastors - those who have been doing it a bit longer than they have. It’s best learned through experiencing, watching, and doing - and this is exactly what our internships aim for.

So each year, we look to take on between 3 and 6 interns, who have a love for Jesus, a passion for worship and a hunger to grow as disciples, as leaders, and as worshippers. Then, we do our best to involved them into every aspect of our worship ministry - everything:
- developmental meetings where we talk about our relationships with God, study theology, run through practicals on our instruments and singing,
- church staff meetings where we grow as part of a church leadership team
- discipleship through doing life together, having them into our home, sharing meals, etc.
- leading for various gatherings across the church, like life groups, child dedications, youth services, etc
- co-leading with staff worship leaders at various services across all of our campuses
- coffee meetings with worship pastors from other churches
- the administrative aspects of leading a worship ministry - like scheduling, emails, calendars and chord charts.

We do all we can to expose them to every aspect of ministry we encounter, in hopes that they will learn, be inspired and ask questions.
Another of the important reasons we have interns in our worship department is because they inspire all of us to keep learning. No one on our staff claims to have the art of worship leading mastered. Each intern comes with a unique set of gifts, experiences and questions, and interacting with them keeps all of us hungry to grow, and stirred up in our passion for Jesus.

Personally, I am so thankful for this year’s interns - the ways I have seen them grow, the ways they have caused me to grow, and the ways they faithfully and courageously serve our church. My prayer is that they will become the next generation of worship leaders and pastors that influence the kingdom of God toward passionately worshipping Him.