As young adults seek out career internships, many are being afforded exceptional mentorship and structured introduction to their workplace organization. Many of these emerging adults will go on to leadership roles and potentially executive positions. What might happen if ministry service was integrated as part of the internship experience?
Younger Generation Church [YG], the vibrant young adult ministry of the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church in Arlington, Texas, initiated a collaboration with AdventHealth Southwest, offering their healthcare leadership interns a discipleship component to their Summer internship. So, in addition to the operations, clinical and department rotations the interns would experience in the hospital milieu, there would be a local ministry aspect that would offer engagement with pastors, spiritual outreach and church organizations.
“Exposing our future leaders to ministry service in the local church context provides these young adults with a game changing experience. We tell our CEOs within AdventHealth that you aren’t just the Chief Executive Officer – you are the Chief Spiritual Officer. This means leading your team spiritually but also being involved in your local church. Starting this servant leader practice early on in internship will set them up for future success.” –Penny Johnson, President and CEO, AdventHealth Southwest Region
Summer 2023, YG launched the first pilot collaboration with AdventHealth Southwest, integrating discipleship focused opportunities for leadership interns from Texas Health Huguley Hospital. Huguley Director of Strategic Operations, Arielle Powell, orchestrated the involvement of interns with Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“It is crucial for young emerging leaders to build a strong spiritual foundation. I was beyond blessed to work with Pastor Allan Martin and the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church to give our Summer interns the opportunity to learn the importance of living a Christ-centered life and being involved in the local church.” –Arielle Powell, Director of Strategic Operations, Texas Health Huguley Hospital | AdventHealth
Holly Janzen joined YG/AdventHealth from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee.; Daniela Patiño-Salguero from Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas; and Brenden Watson from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama.
Brenden, Daniela and Holly were very engaged throughout the summer, asking great questions that revealed their heart for mission. As to selecting an outreach project, the interns chose Vacation Bible School [VBS], again impressing local leaders with their involvement and full engagement. The hope is these integrated internship experiences will remind the students throughout their future careers of the value of their local church involvement.
“As leadership interns, we were exposed to many areas that helped us grow in our professional journey. And as we experienced ministry shadowing with the Arlington Adventist Church, I realized the importance of young leaders being involved in local church to grow on their spiritual journey as well. Ministry shadowing gave us the opportunity to be exposed to various church involvement opportunities. We got to participate with VBS, an amazing experience in which I learned about the importance of intentionality in order to grow and nurture the upcoming generation. I’m very grateful to Pastor Martin for setting up all of these opportunities for us to serve and have fun.” —Daniela Patiño-Salguero, AdventHealth Strategy and Marketing Intern, Texas Health Huguley.
Before the summer ended, Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists’ President Elton DeMoraes took the interns to lunch and provided quality time for conversation and to answer their questions. The discussion ranged from church organizational structure to personal reflections on ministry and family life.
“It was a privilege to meet with the leadership interns and learn about their aspirations. I applaud Texas Health Huguley Hospital and Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church for partnering to provide mentorship and internship opportunities to develop future full-time employees and engaged church leaders. We had a great interaction, and their questions showed their interest in learning.” –Elton DeMoraes, President, Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
The interactions and conversations between young adult interns and church leaders was a tremendous growth experience for all involved. Beyond the career implications, a hope for spiritual growth was shared by all.
“Thank you for all that you and the rest of the church did for us as interns this summer and caring for our spiritual growth! I enjoyed the shadowing experiences and being able to help out with VBS was a highlight of mine. I definitely agree that this is a powerful ministry that the church should continue to do with the interns here at Huguley Hospital. My takeaways from the summer is what a leader in ministry looks like both at work and church and that people can serve Christ and be a part of ministry even behind the scenes.” —Holly Janzen, CP-Finance Intern, AdventHealth | Texas Health Huguley
YG has aspirations of expanding the mentoring opportunities to include young adults from more diverse vocational fields. The summer 2024 internship collaboration will grow fourfold as 10-12 AdventHealth interns and residents from across the country will be joining in the ministry experience.
“Throughout this internship program with AdventHealth, I have been able to shadow not only in the hospital, but in the church as well. The other interns and I were able to meet with Pastor Allan Martin of the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church and he really emphasized the importance of being a leader not only at your job, but in your local church as well. Personally, the highlight of this ministry shadowing experience for me was volunteering for Vacation Bible School. Being able to witness the children of the community have smiles on their faces while they learned about God really warmed my heart. All in all, this ministry shadowing experience has been a success, and I highly recommend continuing this aspect of the internship process.” —Brenden Watson, Management Intern, Texas Health Huguley Hospital
Brenden Watson, left, from Oakwood University, Daniela Patiño-Salguero from Southwestern Adventist University, and Holly Janzen from Southern Adventist University participated in the AdventHealth Southwest Region leadership internship, where Younger Generation Church provided local church ministry mentorship opportunities.
Texas Conference President Elton DeMoraes, center, enjoyed conversation and lunch with AdventHealth interns as part of their ministry mentorship collaboration with Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“Personally, the highlight of this ministry shadowing experience for me was volunteering for Vacation Bible School. Being able to witness the children of the community have smiles on their faces while they learned about God really warmed my heart. All in all, this ministry shadowing experience has been a success, and I highly recommend continuing this aspect of the internship process.” —Brenden Watson, Management Intern, Texas Health Huguley Hospital
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A. Allan Martin, PhD, is the teaching pastor for Younger Generation Church, a young adult ministry of the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church in Arlington, Texas. Dr. Martin also serves the North American Division as part of the Young Adult LIFE Taskforce.
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Young Adult LIFE [youngadultlife.com] connects and empowers an emerging generation of leaders to be changemakers in the Church, marketplace, and culture. Based on an interdisciplinary framework for ministry leadership development, Young Adult LIFE endeavors to cultivate personal core competencies in these arenas:
• Leadership Impact
• Intergenerational Relationships
• Faith Development
• Everyday Compassion
