Interns to Staff

This summer, a lot of our HLIC staff are out here in Colorado taking classes; one of those includes Bethany, a former intern who is now on staff in Chicago.  Here I am in 2009 with that year's HLIC intern class:

What a joy it was tonight to join Bethany for her birthday dinner and realize that now, with Sam and Teresa joining staff this summer, that brings to 75% the number of interns from that year who have joined full-time with our ministry.  Praise God for raising up laborers for the harvest!  I have loved my years working with our interns, and as I think about turning the reigns over to someone else, it's great to be able to see these woman making longer-term commitments to full-time ministry.  When the above picture was taken, none of them had yet begun their internships.  Now, 3 of them are on staff and the other (Lauren) is teaching in the inner city.  And besides the statistics, the reality is that God has moved, growing, maturing, and changing these precious ladies into women who more readily reflect His image.  He has used them to disciple kids, empower ministry partners, and share Christ with women in prison.  He gets the glory, and we praise Him!

And here they are today.  Sam will be serving full-time with the Campus Ministry in Maryland; Bethany is on staff in Chicago; Teresa will be reporting to Jacksonville, where she will work in the prisons with the HLIC team there.  (p.s.  Our family hasn't seen Teresa--who lived with us during her intern year-for almost a year, so we are loving being out here together with her this summer!  We miss her so much!)