In This Issue A Godly Fit What Does "Good Sermon" Mean? On Hitting the Wall Looking Forward to Hearing from You Fall Cluster Meetings Alaska Cluster Helpful Links Internship Handbook Lay Committee Handbook Internship Forms Evaluation Questions Subscribe to Ministry in Context! Luther Seminary's student newspaper, The Concord Contact Us The Contextual Leadership Initiative staff is here to support you! Contact us with your concerns or suggestions. Previous Newsletters Want to re-read an article from a previous issue? Review previous newsletters.

Internship Newsletter: November 2008

A "Godly Fit"
By Pastor Sarah Birdsall Isakson

Can it really be true that each new intern is somehow a "Godly fit" for each new year at the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley?

You'd better believe it! This year we have welcomed Justin Nickel to our faith community on University Avenue. Together, with two other seminarians (Teaching Parish Students), we serve the greater Berkeley community.

Justin has made a smooth landing into our church, the homeless ministry and our interfaith work. He is planning the Thanksgiving Eve Interfaith Service at Temple Beth-EL, after we welcome the local clergy and Rev. Steve Bouman, (Executive Director of the ELCA's Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit) at "Reformation in the City Event" on Nov. 1. We've attended synod council meetings and the synod task force planning for expansion of Multicultural Awareness. We cook and serve spaghetti suppers for our members and guests who live on the street around our church. Bible study and Sunday school for all ages are up and running, and Justin is quietly speaking the truth in love to all.

Amazing transformations abound in this community. Justin's background, experience and gifts serve him well as we plan new services of meaningful worship for young adults and ramp up for the YEAH! Shelter Season at our pet friendly youth shelter! A genuine, positive regard for the displaced and hurting people in our neighborhood is Justin's mark of the cross, challenged and lived out each day.

Did I mention that we take regular days off and refuel each Wednesday at community worship at PLTS?

Pray for us!

For the Lay Committee: What Does "Good Sermon" Mean?   
By Kate Sterner

What's the best way to give sermon feedback to your intern? It's a good question to ask the intern themselves, and one that members of the lay committee should address early on in an internship. You might want to make this a main topic at this month's meeting.

I informally quizzed a handful of returning seniors recently about how sermon feedback worked best for them during internship. While it's important to realize that different people will prefer different methods, the consensus seems to be that promptness is most important. The day of a sermon or days following a sermon are the best times to present critique or advice. Prompt feedback, while the sermon is still fresh in your mind -- and the intern's -- is best.

Interns will often hear from listeners immediately following worship, perhaps while receiving a handshake as they leave the worship space. "Good sermon!" is a common thing to hear. And it is good to hear. It may suffice as the only thing you need to say. However, while general praise is nice, it is not always helpful. Good feedback is also specific. What was it about the sermon that you liked? Did the intern have improved inflection or volume? Was she confident in her proclamation? Was his message comforting? Was it exactly what you needed to hear at that moment because of something going on in your life?

The same goes for feedback that is critical: it should be prompt and specific. But critical feedback can be a little harder to offer. We worry about offending. Sometimes critical feedback is easier to take if you offer something positive first:

"You are really improving in your delivery. You're speaking louder so I can hear you better now. You also have been injecting a little humor here and there, which is fun. I'm not sure, however, that I can agree with you about ..."

While some interns might appreciate an e-mail follow-up, others may prefer to hear your comments in person, which gives them a chance to ask you more specific questions, or to explain something you didn't understand. It gives them an opportunity to read your feelings, which is hard to do in written correspondence. If you can give your feedback in person first, even if you follow-up in writing, it gives the intern a more accurate idea of your emotions and attitude toward the problem.

Try not to compare your intern to someone else. Keep your comments and questions to just the specific sermon.

If you want to offer written critique, the CLI Web site has a sample Sermon Feedback form that you might find helpful: http://www.luthersem.edu/contextual_learning/internship/sermon_form.asp.

On Hitting the Wall   
By Steve McKinley

I admire those folks (some of them interns and the spouses of interns) who run marathons, but I cannot say that I have ever wanted to be one of them. Perhaps if I had started serious running 30, 40 or 50 years ago I would be a marathon addict by now. But I didn't, and I'm not; and, when you look at me, you would not mistake me for a marathon runner.

I have heard that marathon runners often reach a point 20 miles or so out when they "hit the wall" and wonder if they can possibly keep going and finish the marathon. The early adrenaline high is all used up, and all that is left is exhaustion.

Folk wisdom suggests that many interns "hit the wall" about six weeks out. What were "charming quirks" in a supervisor when internship began, are now, to put it gently, annoying. The desk chair still doesn't fit right, the office is too small, the copier is primitive, the computer is ten years old and the schedule is unmanageable. People expect you to know things and think you should be able to do things and even though you earned good grades in your classes, you don't have a clue when it comes to some of those expectations. To make things even worse, there is no syllabus for internship. You may be at your internship site thinking that it would be nice if the seminary gave you a check list of the things you ought to do and how many hours you should work. But there you are out there on your own, trying to figure things out, and some days it is just exhausting. The bloom has faded from the rose. You have hit the wall.

You aren't the only one. Many other interns have and will hit the wall the same way you have. So have supervisors. When I was a parish pastor, I was always really fired up at the beginning of September, looking at the new program year and all the new challenges and possibilities ahead. But by the first of November, I was tired and the things that seemed so fresh and exciting in September now seemed like a burden.

Back to the marathon runners. I have heard that the first time you experience "hitting the wall" it is easy to panic and give up on the task. But experienced marathon runners know that when you hit the wall what you need to do is to gather your resources and push on and in a mile or so you will get a second wind and will be able to endure.

Supervisors who have "hit the wall" before know the same thing. They know that there will be times of weariness and frustration, but if they tend to themselves and their spirits they will be able to keep going. Don't panic when you hit the wall, interns. Take a deep breath. Talk to your supervisor and lay committee about how you are feeling. Take a nap some afternoon. Remember to make time for your devotional life, rest and friends. You can, and will, keep going. There is a second wind!

Looking Forward to Hearing from You!   

If electronic mailboxes could bulge, the CLI mailbox would be pot-bellied right now, but there is still plenty of room for more correspondence, and we would love to hear from you if we haven't lately. We're looking for things like:

• Learning Service Agreements. Most interns have now been in place for at least two months and should be getting those in.
   
• Project Proposals. After two months you should be developing some idea of what your project will be.
   
• Three month evaluations. By the end of November, most interns will have completed three months in their site. interns and supervisors should be discussing these evaluations and having fruitful conversation about how things are going, leading to the submission of the evaluations.

Fall Cluster Meeting   

One more Fall Cluster Meeting to go!

Nov. 3-4: Southern California Cluster at Mary and Joseph Retreat Center, Palos Verdes, Calif. (Sherwood Glover)

Alaska Cluster, October 14, 2008

Greetings from Alaska in October! The snow was flying during the Alaska Cluster meeting at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Anchorage, Alaska. CLI Region 1 deployed staffer Julie Josund sent in this chilly photo.

Julie Josund, Matt Kamprath (LSTC), Susan Granata (LSTC supervisor), Sandra Ruud (PLTS intern), Rick Cavens (PLTS supervisor), Nicholas Weber (LS), Scott Fuller (LS supervisor).