I am really excited about something brand new that we are starting at the Ithaca Vineyard this fall; the Ithaca Vineyard Internship Program!  The internship will be open to people who are considering full-time ministry in the future as well as those who want to grow as leaders.  Although this idea had only been coming together over the past few weeks, and is only now being announced publicly, we have already been receiving interest from some potential interns!

The internship, which will be a 2-year program, will focus on helping everyone who goes through it grow in areas of Knowing, Being & Doing.  Let me do a quick run down on each.

Knowing.  Part of the internship will involve enrolling as a student in VLI (Vineyard Leadership Institute).  Although VLI is normally a commitment of at least 20 hours per week, they have just begun an internship track which allows the student to extend the program from 2 years to 4 and reduce the weekly commitment to about 7 hours.

Being. A second key component of the Vineyard internship will be helping the student to develop their ongoing relationship with God, specifically we will focus on developing contemplative spiritual practices as a regular part of their life.

Doing. Finally, all interns will receive hands on training is several aspect of church ministry.  This will include 13 hours of working at the church office during the week, in addition to serving at the Sunday morning worship services.

As long as the interns are meeting all requirements of the internship program, the Ithaca Vineyard will cover their VLI tuition, and provide a monthly stipend.

Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than this, but hopefully this gives you a good idea of what we are going to be doing.

So when does this start?  Officially the internship begins September 1. And since I’m heading out for the 2nd half of my sabbatical in mid-July, we have set a July 1 deadline to apply.  I know this is late notice, but not much we can do about that at this point. While September 1 is the official start date, there will be opportunity for some interns to begin working in the office, and begin receiving he monthly stipend beginning July 1.

If you are interested, or if you know someone you think might be, send me an email and I’ll get you a copy of the internship overview so that you’ll have a more complete idea about what we’re doing.