Three Principles for Internship

Three Principles in which the intern must understand and be committed too:

1. The Bible is the Word of God given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

· The Scriptures are trustworthy, inerrant, infallible and authoritative.

· The Scriptures are sufficient to reveal God, the way of salvation, and the will of God for men.

· The Scriptures are clear enough to be understood by any Christian using ordinary means with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

2. Justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ.

· Justification is God’s declaring the believer forgiven of all his sins on the basis of Christ’s bearing the guilt and penalty of his sins on the cross.

· Justification is God’s declaring the believer righteous on the basis of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to him.

· Justification springs from God’s free grace and is received by faith alone.

· A proper understanding of justification leads to:

1. A Christian’s continual acknowledgment that his acceptance by God is based totally on the work of Christ.

2. A Christian’s understanding that justification is the foundation for all subsequent Christian life and experience.

3. A Christian’s knowledge that sanctification necessarily flows from justification.

3. Sanctification is God conforming sinners to the image of Christ by the work of His Spirit.

· In sanctification the believer is increasingly enabled to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.

· In sanctification the believer is progressively renewed in the whole person after the image of Christ.

· A proper understanding of sanctification leads to:

1. A continual engagement by the believer in the means of grace, including prayer, meditation, mortification of sin, worship and fellowship.

2. A recognition by the believer that the means of grace are means by which he is aided in his responsibility to seek holiness.

3. An attitude of dependence upon the Holy Spirit for growth in grace.

4. A clear understanding of the dynamic tension between justification and sanctification; that is, sanctification springs from justification and justification is the continual ground for sanctification.

5. A confidence that God will bring the work of sanctification to completion in glorification.

Steps in Applying for Internship and Placement

Steps in Applying for Internship

Bullets in red are steps completed as of today:

· First and foremost those interested in the internship must talk with their Campus Minister and inform them of their interest. The campus minister will guide students through this process.

· Those interested then must have their campus minister, or themselves personally, contact the intern administrator in the RUF National Office. The administrator then send those interested the intern application, answer any further question they may have, and will be sure to email those interested with regular updates concerning application deadlines and interview information.

· Applications will be emailed out to those seriously interested by November 2010

· Applications are to be submitted to the intern administrator by December 31^st, 2010

· If the application is approved applicants must attend one of the five nationwide interview sessions in the spring (more details on dates and locations TBA).

· If approved post interview, applicants will be assigned a campus by mid-March and informed of placement by late March. If any applicant is unsure of their commitment to the internship by mid March we ask they not apply.

· Those hired will begin some development work in May and will begin full time fundraising June 1^st.

This will also give you a good time line to know what you can be praying for as each step comes a long.

Placement

Interns are placed on any campus across the nation dependant on several factors:

· Where returning interns are placed

· Male or Female Applicant

· Number and type of campus minister request received for that year

· Number of intern applications received for that year

· Personality of intern applicant

· Personality of campus minister

· Demographics and personality of campus

· Need and size of RUF at the campus

· Applicants ability to raise money

· Finances of individual RUF

· Local factors; church, peer group, size of city, location of city

Please note: Applicants will NOT be placed on the campus from which they graduated or with a former campus minister. If the applicant is NOT willing to move wherever they are placed we ask they NOT apply.

Defining the RUF Internship

All the subsequent information is from the Intern Informational Packet. There will be quite a few posts from this packet so you can be in the loop as to the process that is ahead of me! Hope you enjoy!

Title: Campus Intern

Duration and Objective: Two Year Minimum in which the internship provides the intern with the opportunity to try vocational ministry; an opportunity to learn strengthen and weakness and develop gifts for both secular and ministerial jobs.

Focus and Responsibility: An intern’s student focus is primarily fringe students with little connection to RUF, freshman, and new students. The purpose is to develop relationships with these students to help equip and disciple them for life and service as a believer and to reach out to non-believers. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

· Raising Support – interns must raise a budget of at least $31,000 each year

· Staff Trainings – interns must attend June Orientation, July Staff Training, and October and May Intern Training

· Study Program – interns must spent 15hrs a working on a rigorous study program

· One on one interactions with students – interns spent most one on one interactions with fringe and new students. Interns need to identify the spiritual condition of those students and determine how they will minister to those depending on each students need

· Assistance with or leading small groups of various kinds – groups include core group, Bible studies, Freshman lunch, prayer groups, etc

· Assisting the CM with ministry goals and strategy

· Campus and RUF social events

· Large Group

· Conferences and mission trips

· Communicating with supporters the accomplishments and needs of ministry – interns must send out quarterly newsletters to communicate with support base

Funding: Intern funding comes primarily from individuals and one or two supporting churches that the intern has a personal relationship with. Church support must be approved through the Atlanta Office.

And So it Begins... :D

I checked my email today and this was what was waiting for me! Oh my gosh! It is sooooo exciting!

Afternoon!

You are receiving this email because at some point within the past year you have expressed interest in the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) intern program. We are so excited to have so many students interested in our internship program!

As a brief overview the RUF internship is a two year opportunity to serve in vocational ministry. RUF is the college ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America and is located on hundreds of campuses nationwide. Interns will serve two years under a PCA ordained campus minister on an assigned campus anywhere in the nation. The purpose of the internship is to allow the intern a chance to test and develop their gifts. From leading small groups, to planning social events, to one on one student meetings interns have the chance to explore their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes all while helping to serve RUF at large.

Attached is a packet of information providing further detail on the program as well as a more detailed overview and application outline. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, Emily Shriver, the intern administrator. I am happy to walk you through this process and to further explain why the RUF internship is a wonderful experience for anyone wanting the chance to explore vocational ministry.

You will continue to receive intern information updates and the Fall 2010 application later this fall. However, if you wish to be removed from this mailing list please reply with the subject “no mail”. We will promptly remove your name.

Thank you again for your interest in our program and I am looking forward to meeting many of you through the coming months!

Emily Shriver

Reformed University Fellowship

Intern and Female Staff Administrator

eshriver@ruf.org

404.775.0343

ruf.org

Fall Conference 2010 and Raising Support

Fall Conference 2010

So last weekend was Fall Conference for RUF and it was AWESOME! I had so much fun! For those of you who don't know what Fall Conference is allow me to explain. It is a RUF retreat for all the RUFs in VA to get together and hear solid preaching and fellowship. I was so glad that I was able to go this year. This is the only year that I will be able to go as a student and I wanted to get a students perspective before I went as an intern. It was great to see what my future students will get to enjoy and I look forward to getting an inside view if you will as an intern next year, Lord willing.

I was also blessed with the opportunity to lead worship for the weekend with my Lynchburg RUF worship team. It was such a great honor and blessing to sing amazing songs of praise to the God who loves me beyond belief! God's love was definitely made very evident in those 3 days!

Internship News -

While there I was able to sit down with some interns from other schools to get their perspective on their experience. It was awesome to be able to hear what their challenges were and what God has been doing in them through the internship. It got me even more excited.

Now that I am meeting with Marc and Parker on a regular basis to prepare me for internship it is becoming more real to me. And with that excitement comes a lot of nerves. As I have stated in my past posts I am nervous about being a good intern and about support raising. Well lately God has really been helping to ease my nerves about being a good intern. Not to say that I am fully confident that I am going to rock at this. Haha! Far from it but I am able to rest in Him knowing that He is in control and He will be leading me through the process and the one on ones that are ahead of me.

Future Fears of Raising Support

Support raising still however scares me to death. $32,000 is a LOT of money to raise. And that is just for 1 year. I have to do it again the second year. And that is just the minimum. Depending on where I get sent I could end up having to raise more! I have to call, email, speak to people and ask them for money!

I am the type of person who likes to do things myself. I don't really like asking for help when it comes to responsibilities and support raising goes against all of that. I have to humble myself by admitting that I CAN'T nor should I do this myself and that I NEED many people to give me substantial amounts of money. Oh that thought makes me cringe! Part of me just wants to work my butt off for the next few months and crank out as much funds as I can. But I know that is ridiculous. There is NO WAY that this can be done alone. Nor am I expected too! Still it is quite daunting.

How in the world am I going to be able to raise all of that money? I have heard other people try to raise money for missions trips and organization. It is hard! A lot of people just sit there and listen and then walk away with out a second thought. I must admit I have been among those people on many occasions. How am I going to make people understand my passion for this and my desperate need for funding? How do I get people to want to give to me? How do I get people to believe in RUF like I do? How do I get people to believe in me? How can I raise money from people who are already supporting my campus minister and his family? How do I get my largely Baptist extended family to want to support me in a Reformed campus ministry?

All of these questions and worries are getting more and more apparent as my school grows quickly to a close. Even now as I am still months away from support raising I would covet your prayers on all of these worries and that even now months out God would be paving the ways and moving in those people to be my future supporters.

All of that being said I still want to do this more then ever. I still feel God leading me to do this and I know that if this is indeed His will that I will get the supporters. I must rest in His will and His provision and pray constantly for His comfort, peace, courage and wisdom. I would love for you to join me in those prayers.

TTFN

Rach~

Just a Little Liturgy

Liturgy is fundamentally the order of worship. Something that my church, Mercy Presbyterian and many other churches, do is a two part tradition of Confession with an Assurance of Pardon as a part of our liturgy. The first part is usually a time of personal confession including and followed by a cooperate prayer of confession lead by an elder. After this the elder or pastor reads to us a passage from Scripture as our Assurance of Pardon. So there is a little background for those of you who might not be familiar with something like this. That being said here is a bit of personal and possible coorperate liturgy :)

Lately God has been showing me very clearly how incredibly arrogant I am. I assume that I know best. I think I have everyone figured out. I think I have myself figured out. Just thinking about it I am flooded with two thoughts. One of disgust and one of laughter at my own ridiculousness. Nothing puts me in my place faster then Job 38:1-42:6. The passage is really long but it only proves how much God does that we have no comprehension and no awareness of. We don't know the first thing about how to run a universe. For crying out loud we can't even figure out our own lives! My favorite verse of this passage is 38:2-3:

"Who is this that darkens My counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you will answer Me."

And that is just the beginning. How could we even think that we have any right to question God's will? Where do we get off trying to tell God how its done? I have to confess I like planning my future. As I said in my last post I like everything wrapped up in nice paper with a big bow. I like to know what to expect with my life. Well news flash to Rachel! Fat chance!

"He looks down on all that are haughty; He is King over all that are proud." (Job 41:34)

You would think that I would get it by now that planning doesn't work. But no. I still lay in bed at night as I am falling asleep imagining what will happen in a few months or years time. And I am always surprised when they don't go my way! HA! Now you see why laughter is one of my reactions. I am utterly ridiculous. My only prayer after this passage is that my response to God's direct rebukes would be the words of Job in 42:1-6:

"Then Job replied to the Lord: I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted. You asked 'Who is this that obscures My counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things to wonderful for me to know. You said 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you and you will answer Me.' My ears have heard You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

God's assurance of pardon:

"But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." (Luke 12:31)

God is Sovereign

So it has been far to long since I have updated this. So many distractions have happened between the last post and now. Some were good; some were painful; a lot were both. There are two final chapters in the Gospel in Life that I would like to talk about in a different post. For now I feel like I should really address something that has been on my mind and heart for weeks now.

God is sovereign. Now when looking at that simple sentence that doesn't seem very controversial but it takes on a whole new meaning when you really begin to unpack that. The hallmark answer is God is in control of everything and has a plan for everything. He works in mysterious ways and His timing is not our own. Well that's safe enough. I'm ok with that. But when I am faced with it head on God's sovereignty takes a turn from the sunshine and rainbows to the nitty gritty and I am not as ok. I don't understand why He does things the way He does. I don't know why things that in theory seem to be something amazing and God honoring end up not working out. It doesn't make sense and I honestly don't like it. I want all the puzzle pieces to fit! I want everything to make sense and be tied up in a neat little package with nice wrapping paper and a big bow. I want everyone to be on the same page. I want to have the perfect explanation that can't be argued or disagreed with (and not just for my sake). I don't want to be tormented by a decision that I feel the Lord is leading me to make. I don't want to lose sleep over my choices. I don't want to hurt others with decision they can't understand. In those times and during those moments some how "God is sovereign" just doesn't seem to cut it. Why? Because I have a distorted view of who God is and what His sovereignty means. I have a distorted idea of the Gospel. If I understood correctly what it means for God to be sovereign, beyond the hallmark answer, I wouldn't be mad that things aren't going my way and that God continues to throw a wrench into my perfect plans. I wouldn't be trying to tell Him how to do His job. His sovereignty means that all the puzzle pieces don't have to fit and my life can be wrapped in a slopping plastic bag tied in a knot because in all of this, there HAS to be faith. In all of that messiness is a desperate need for faith and trust just in order to get through. If God made all of our wildest dreams come true we would never NEED Him. We would never call on Him. He would be just a big Santa Claus in the sky. Now please don't think that I am saying it is wrong to not understand. Please don't come away from this post thinking that you have to slap a pretty smile on your face and keep saying "God is at work" like a mantra. Did Jesus do that in the garden of Gethsemane? Obviously not.

God takes us through these times so we know Who to run to. He drags us, often times, kicking and screaming because He sees the big picture. God gives us the reigns for a few moments so we can see just how badly we screw it up without Him. All of this is to show our need of Him. Our lives are constant reminders of the Gospel and how much more we have to learn of it.

God I still don't understand. I still wish that I could learn my lessons the easy way. I still wish that I could make sense of all of this and that people didn't get hurt from my learning process. "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." Lord make that my prayer as I figure life out and seek to follow Your will in all things. I need You.

"I know the Lord is nigh,
And would but cannot pray,
For Satan meets me when I try,
And frights my soul away,
And frights my soul away.

I would but can't repent,
Though I endeavor oft,
This stoney heart can ne'er relent,
Till Jesus makes it soft,
Till Jesus makes it soft.

Help My Unbelief,
Help My Unbelief,
Help My Unbelief,
My help must come from Thee.

I would but cannot love,
Though wooed by love divine;
No arguments have power to move,
A soul as base as mine,
A soul so base as mine.

I would but cannot rest,
In God's most holy will;
I know what He appoints is best,
And murmur at it still,
I murmur at is still.

Help My Unbelief,
Help My Unbelief,
Help My Unbelief,
My help must come from Thee."