There are few questions presented to us in this life like the ones I am about to ask. Perhaps they are only asked genuinely of us once or twice, though they should be asked more. What do you want to do with your life? What do you want it to mean? Most of you read these questions and immediately thought of your dream career. You thought of the family you want to have or the property you desire to own. Some of you around the world dream of taking your families to America. You thought about the level of education you want to achieve and the degree that you yearn to one day hang in your office. You thought about the influence you want to have or about fulfilling your dreams as an artist, musician, author, comedian, preacher, or teacher. That’s not what I am asking. That’s what most people mean when they ask questions like this, but this one is different.

What difference does it make if you achieve your dreams, put food on the table, buy your house, and eventually die in the castle you built for yourself? I pose this question even to those in the ministry who claim that their work is of eternal significance. What difference does it make if you have made a career out of preaching from Sunday to Sunday and visiting with your church members? We will die and the world will keep turning. At the end, we will look back and ask if our being alive even mattered at all. How will we even measure that?

I remember sitting at the table of a nice couple. They were asking me questions. I was interviewing at church. They asked me about my background, my history, my theological viewpoints, and my methodological viewpoints. The lady of the house, I believe she was in her 60s, stopped the conversation and simply asked, “How are you so young and have so much experience.” The only answer I could come up with was that I didn’t want to waste my life. I didn’t see myself as having accomplished much. I still don’t, but I can’t stand the thought of my life not meaning anything. What can we possibly profit from having a successful career other than merely earning a comfortable place to die later in life? That just seems kind of pointless.

There were these four guys named Simon, Andrew (not me, a different Andrew), James, and John. They had a trade as fishermen. Simon had a wife to take care of. James and John worked with their father. There was another man, Jesus. Jesus forsook the career of His adoptive father, Joseph. He chose a lifestyle in which He had no place to lay His head. As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw these four men and called them to follow Him. It meant that they would have to leave their careers and their family members. You recognize these names, don’t you? You know of Jesus and His disciples? In this story, Jesus called fishermen to follow Him and become fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). They would leave their work for a comfortable living that they might die well and chose a difficult and largely unrewarding life that they might live and die with everlasting meaning. Still, 2,000 years later, we are talking about the lives of these men. Most of the world’s religion is built in some way upon the work of these men.

Okay, I’ll ask again. What do you want to do with your life? What do you want your life to mean? Do you really want to work hard just so you can have a comfortable death later in life, or would you choose a difficult and largely unrewarding life so that you might live and die with everlasting meaning? I am confident that we cannot do both. We can’t serve two kingdoms.

This summer, in June-August 2019, I am hosting an internship at our local church. You can participate in this internship from anywhere in the world, you can be a member of any church or youth group. Those in our area will be invited to meet on campus and others will be able to tune in live, ask questions, and interact using comments.

Pastors and Youth Pastors

Be sure to sign people up who show an interest in serving in your church in any leadership capacity or who show interest in planting churches or pastoring. Or, sign up to participate live from your church building as a group. As pastors, we are to mentor and equip those whom God has entrusted to us. Tuning in once-a-week is not enough for someone to be equipped. They need the investment of their local pastors.

Others

We are also looking to train church planter/pastors and other church servants wherever you are. If you, like the disciples in Matthew 4, desire to follow Christ and become fishers of men, please fill out the form and explore this website.

Minimum Age

There is no minimum or maximum age to participate in this internship. We believe that God uses both the young and the old as vessels to accomplish His will for His glory.

Fees

There are no fees for this internship.

After the Internship

We encourage all of our participants to find a place to serve in their home churches, in our local church, or to plant a church with us. Those who are in need of further training and who do not have a church home in which that training can take place will be helped to complete that training. Those who need to first deepen their relationship with Jesus or who need to first come to Jesus by grace through faith will be encouraged to plug into a genuine and healthy local church where they can seek to know Christ more.

This internship will meet on Sundays at 4:00pm MST

The On-Campus Address is
The Church at Sunsites
995 Treasure Rd.
Pearce AZ, 85625

I hope to see you this summer!