Summer Internship

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ."  Col 3:23-24 (ESV)

Though internships are generally available at any time of the year, DiscipleMakers puts together a large-scale internship opportunity each summer.  The internship takes place in State College, PA, and is approximately 2 months long.  The dates for the 2008 Summer Internship are June 6 - August 9.

Click here to read testimonials from the 2007 summer interns.

Internship Purpose

Most college students pursue a prestigious internship, believing an intensive "hands on" training experience will equip them for success in the real world.  While most internships will help you develop your skills, provide you with networking opportunities, and enable you to discover areas of interest (all while enhancing your resume), hardly any will provide you with a biblically grounded worldview.  Yet, this is precisely what is needed to succeed in the way God defines success.

The DiscipleMakers Summer Internship is designed to provide what is actually needed to be effective in whatever career path you choose. We will help you to hone essential skills needed in today’s emerging marketplace while emphasizing what is often neglected in other internships, such as character development and developing God-centered perspectives on all of life. 

Our goal is to equip you to fruitfully use the resources God has given His people so that you may excel in any field or life situation for Christ’s glory. We will provide you with opportunities for transforming discipleship, lifestyle evangelism, gospel-saturated community, and application oriented Bible study. You will research what it means to live and think “Christianly” about fields of study and work you may be interested in pursuing in the future.

• Gospel-Saturated Community: Summer interns, along with the DM Staff running the program that particular year, live together in the same apartment complex, enabling all involved with the internship to get to know each other quickly and intimately.  Having built such close relationships, we will inevitably sin against each other often, and many of our weaknesses and failures will be easy for others to see.  However, we will build a community so saturated with God's grace that when sin and failure surface, it will become an opportunity for us to care for one another by pointing each other to God's amazing grace.  Realizing our own sin and need for forgiveness, we will forgive each other readily and completely.
• Worldview Research Project: At a secular college, it is almost guaranteed that students will receive no instruction concerning how their respective majors should be informed by the Scriptures and how they may honor the Lord in their chosen profession.  Through the worldview research project, we hope to fill in that significant gap.  Each intern will spend 6-8 hours per week searching the Scriptures and reading other books to ultimately answer the question, "What does it look like to be a Christian ______________ (fill in appropriate career)?"

• Transforming Discipleship: As an intern, you will be discipled regularly by one or more DM Staff.  Due to the close-knit community that characterizes the summer internship, it's likely that you will quickly and easily grow close to these Staff, and the Lord will use them to encourage you, preach the Gospel to you, and lovingly speak truth into your life, helping you change from the inside out.
  
• Lifestyle Evangelism: One of the major components of the Summer Internship is reaching out to Penn State students.  Opportunities abound to meet students in the apartment complex and on campus, reach out to those who don't know the Lord, and start evangelistic Bible studies.  As you focus significant time on evangelism without the other responsibilities you'd normally have on campus, you will be amazed at how the Lord will grow you, both in faith and in your ability to reach out to other students in a way that is culturally-relevant yet uncompromising.
  
• Application Oriented Bible Study: If you become a part of the DM Summer Internship, be prepared for what may be the most in-depth Bible study you have ever participated in.  We will meet each week for a 3-hour Bible Study, and we'll expect each intern to spend 6-8 hours studying the passage ahead of time.  By the end of the summer, as they head back to their campuses, we hope each of our interns will have grown significantly in their ability to accurately handle the Word of Truth.
  

A Window Into Life as a DM Staff

A secondary purpose of the internship is to provide a window into what life as a DM Staff is like, such that students interested in joining DM upon graduation can experience full-time ministry to help determine whether the Lord may be leading them to join DM.  As an intern, you will do many of the same things our Staff do on a regular basis:

• Reach out to unbelievers on campus and start evangelistic Bible studies
• Study the Scriptures on your own to further develop your understanding of the Bible as well as your skills in handling it accurately
• Plan and execute Large Group Meetings
• Disciple students and peers
• Develop goals for personal spiritual growth and evaluate them at regular intervals
  
• Raise support for your ministry
  

Support Raising

Did you know that support raising actually provides you with opportunities to minister?  This will be an exciting part of your internship where you will marvel at how God works in people's hearts and how He provides for your needs.  You will be responsible for raising support for your internship to cover salary, cost of living, and other summer expenses.  DiscipleMakers will assign you a Mentor who will assist you with writing letters, contacting potential donors and following up with them.  We suggest that our interns raise between $4500 and $6000 for a two-month summer internship. 

Ultimately, your salary is dependent on how much you raise, less costs for housing, training conferences, support raising supplies, etc.

Application Process

There is no formal application process for the DiscipleMakers Summer Internship, but we do maintain high standards for acceptance into the program.  Our campus Staff look for students who are incarnating our core values and invite them to consider the internship.  If you are interested in interning with DM and you are involved in one of our campus ministries, the best step to take is to express your interest to your Campus Staff Worker.  He or she will begin discussing the internship with you.

If you are interested in an internship with DM but do not currently attend a school with a DM Staff Worker, please send an email to internships@dm.org to tell us about yourself.  We'll get in touch with you soon!