The following post comes from Carson Cope, a student at Winthrop University and one of CBF’s Collegiate Congregational Interns who spent his summer working at Oakland Baptist Church in Monroe, N.C.

This summer, I was blessed with the wonderful opportunity to serve as the summer intern at Oakland Baptist Church. One of my responsibilities was to set up and lead the Mission Possible camp. More so than at any other time this summer, I had to let go and trust in God that this camp would be a success.

In order to make the camp a reality, I had to plan three mission oriented excursions for the morning hours of the camp, line up the food for lunch and set up three fun activities for the afternoons. The first site I called concerning a mission activity failed to respond to my calls which sent me into a panic. If this one site was any indication of how the rest of the sites would respond, I knew this camp was not going to happen.

However, the next site I called came through and was very excited to have us, along with the next two sites I called. The three fun activities for the afternoon came through without a hitch as well. Needless to say, I still worried throughout the summer that something would fall through and it would be my responsibility.

All my worries proved to be unfounded. Day one of the camp came and passed smoothly as our morning mission site accomplished a great deal for our church’s ministry center and the afternoon pool party flowed smoothly without incident or injury. Day two at the nursing home proved to be a very meaningful experience as the residents were excited to have us and very appreciative of the  small gift of a potted plant that we brought.

For lunch that day we brought in Miss Lila, a home-bound member of the church and served her favorite lunch, fried chicken and presented her with cards which made her day and was the most meaningful experience of the whole camp for me. The afternoon bowling party was a hit as day two came to a successful end.

For the final day, we visited the adult day care center where we spent time making arts and crafts with the residents and the afternoon of paddle boating was a hit with all the kids.  All in all, setting up and being a part of this camp was one of the best and most meaningful experiences of not only my internship, but of my summer. I am so glad I stuck with it even when I did not think things would go through and trusted in God. It was certainly worth it!

In looking back on not only this camp but my summer internship as a whole, I learned several things. One thing I learned is that we really need to let go and trust God in life. This is hard for me as I worry incessantly about even the smallest details in life.

I also learned what a difference small acts of kindness can make in showing Christ’s love to the people we meet. This was exemplified most in the visit to the nursing home and the luncheon with the home-bound member of our church during the Mission Possible camp.

Further, it was great to deepen my relationship with the youth pastor of my church and get to know the teenagers at the church through Bible study and through the church trips and camps. All in all, my internship at Oakland Baptist Church was a very meaningful experience that helped me grow in my faith and to learn new things about what it means to serve others and to show Christ’s love to others.