The following post is from Jacob Merritt, one CBF’s Collegiate Congregational Interns (CCI) at ESIC Baptist Church. This blog is included as part of a series of posts from CCI-ers who will share about their summer experiences.

When I first accepted the job as the intern for ESIC Baptist Church, I really had no idea what to expect or what might happen, especially considering I am from Texas and rarely travel outside, and I would spend a summer just outside of St. Louis, Mo.

I learned that the church was small and had been on somewhat of a decline in attendance and activity. I also learned that the church currently had no staff other than a secretary who started shortly before I did.

After arriving here, I realized that the church is currently rebuilding and reorganizing pretty much everything. The church’s previous pastor left and the church considered joining with another church with which they currently share a building, however, the other church is not Baptist and to merge, the members of ESIC would have needed to cease being Baptist.

The members of ESIC talked it out and decided that they did wish to remain Baptist and thus started the members desire to rebuild the church and church programs. The members have become re-energized and there is now a great spirit and morale among the members of the church.

The church as part of an attempt to reach out to the community decided to hold a “Saturday Family Fun Day.” The event was held on Saturday afternoon and had food, games, fellowship, bouncy houses and a balloon artist. The church had decided on the event before I got there and I think everyone was a little skeptical on how it would turn out.  Even so, almost all of the church’s current members showed up to volunteer and help at the event.

The day ended up going really well with a lot of people from around the area coming to see what was going on. From everything I and the other volunteers could tell the people and the kids who came really had a great time. Of course, we all had the unrealistic hopes of thousands of people coming and joining the church on that day. But, everyone in the church was really pleased and excited about how the event went and the fact that we did have new people come and see this church probably for the first time.

We also hoped for this event to draw in some kids for Vacation Bible School. The church has not really had a children’s ministry to speak of for the last several years. So, they really wanted to hold a VBS this year and hopefully begin rebuilding a children’s ministry following VBS.

As I’m writing this, we have had one day of VBS and are preparing for the second night.  We ended up having 14 children come to join us for this VBS. I think we all hoped for more, but in light of the fact that there really has not been a children’s group, this is a pretty good turnout. Hopefully, we can invest in these children and their parents and begin building a group for the church.

I consider myself lucky and blessed to be able to join with the church during this time. The church is currently laying groundwork for programs and ministries for years to come which I am getting to witness and take part in. Also, the members of the church are each incredible people.

The members truly view their fellow Christians as fellow brothers and sisters. Every single member seeks to invest in me and my walk and journey with Christ in every chance they can. They are truly a group of people that love God and their fellow man. I look forward to the rest of my short time here among ESIC and hope I can impact them in the same way they are impacting me.

I consider myself lucky to be able to work in ESIC Baptist during this time. Beyond that, ESIC is full of great people who are investing in me as much they can during the short two months that I am here.