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I had the opportunity to serve as the youth and arise intern at Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas, located in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. As someone who grew up in rural Michigan, I tried to avoid going to a big city in Texas for seven months as a 21-year-old. I told God “no” and tried to run like Jonah did when God told him to go to Ninevah. When I actually got there, I had a lot of peace that this was where God intended for me to be, and that while there, I would grow as a young adult who is called to ministry. The staff members at Irving Bible Church never treated me as just an intern but saw me as a co-laborer in the harvest.

Each year, the Institute for Christian Thought and Practice sends ministry students who have just finished their junior year of college on a seven-month, full-time, full-semester college credit internship called PRIME. PRIME stands for “Practical Research and Immersion in Ministry Effectiveness.” Current students and alumni of our ministry degree programs agree: PRIME is life-changing.

One of my favorite types of chapel services is when there is a student speaker. Whether the story they share is for the entire chapel or just a few minutes long, they always leave an impression on me. That made me wonder how Huntington University students applied to speak in chapel. I may have just been out of the loop or this information is not widely known to most students. So, I reached out to the Center for Spiritual Formation to learn about the process for students to speak in chapel.

Blake experienced ministry at a large church to be different than the way that he grew up. LIFEGATE is a contemporary, highly technological church that is also rooted in tradition. They record their own music but have liturgical elements placed throughout the entire service, showing the process of 2,000 years of ministry across the globe. Blake stated, “The way that you do ministry depends on the type of people that you’re trying to reach,” and LIFEGATE emphasizes this through their ministry.

I sat down with Lydia Welch and asked, “In what ways did you grow while on PRIME?” She responded, “I cannot possibly list the number of ways I grew during PRIME. I grew most in my reliance on God’s strength and grace, being flexible, and not taking everything so seriously.” She discovered that she could thrive in ministry as an introvert. Lydia is very quiet, but when she teaches, she has a lot of wisdom and passion that comes from the relationship that she has with the Lord. She learned how to talk to people and be friendly at work by getting to know people’s names and smiling at people as they walk by, even though she is naturally shy.

Avery is a homebody, so traveling eight hours away from home was very challenging at the beginning of her internship. As she spent more time in full-time ministry, she saw her capabilities and how God shaped her professionally and spiritually. Avery has always made relationships a primary objective for her ministry goals. Forming relationships with students and staff members allowed her to become more outgoing, causing her to be pushed outside her comfort zone.

Inah’s experience was very different from the other PRIME students because she was not in a church but rather serving with an organization overseas in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. She had the opportunity to learn Arabic and interact with the locals through tutoring sessions and to develop relationships through the organization she was serving with. Inah spoke to me about how being immersed in an environment where most people were not Christians pushed her to grow in her personal faith and understanding missions. She had to wrestle with the fact that the local people she was meeting weren’t going to change their beliefs, at least not quickly or easily. She began to ask herself, “Why do I believe what I believe?” This question pushed her to dive deeper into her beliefs and get better as answering questions about Christian beliefs that local friends asked her.

The Center for Spiritual Formation has done a great job of introducing the chapel theme — Imago Dei — and the verse of the year — “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10) — and expanding upon them through chapel and other programming.

Bre had the deep conviction from God about going to the Los Angeles area to do her PRIME internship even though she had been fighting that idea for so long. When she made the decision to go, the moment of surrendering everything to God was intimate and special for her. She said, “I will always hold onto that moment forever because of how special it was.”

The process of finding a church home looks different for everyone. If you are from the area, you might simply continue attending the church you have attended growing up, but if you are not from the area, you will find yourself church shopping. Church shopping can be intimidating, but once you find your church home, it is very rewarding.