As a summer intern and full-time staff recruiting technique, I conducted several Humans of FamilyLife interviews, inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York. These stories will be shared through email blasts and on social media in order to inspire people to be a part of FamilyLife.

LAUREN MILLER: Part 1

I was a senior in college and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew I loved my own family, we are a very close-knit. We love spending time together. Family has always been a positive word for me. But over college, a lot of my friends had very different family experiences even though they grew up in “Christian” homes. I realized how rare my experience was. Divorce was really prevalent in a lot of my friends’ parents while we were at school. The Lord really helped burden my heart for the need in our culture for healthier, Christ-centered relationships, whether that’s dating, marriage, or friendship. So that was the foundation that the Lord had been building over my college years.

LAUREN MILLER: Part 2

Senior year I was taking a class called “Christian Relationships” and we talked about family communication. A light bulb went off in my head and I saw the phrase “family communication” in my head in foggy letters. So I met up with my professor of that class. I was sitting in his office and I was asking him if he knew of any opportunities within the family communication realm. And he said, ‘I wonder if FamilyLife has any opportunities!’ So he emailed a guy who was on staff at FamilyLife, and within 5 minutes got a response back. He told my professor that FamilyLife had a brand new one-year internship designed for recent graduates from college. So I felt like the Lord just placed that opportunity right in my lap. So I applied and got accepted and didn’t even look at anything else. I knew the Lord had given this to me and it really fit everything that I had begun to realize that I was really passionate about. So I spent a year at FamilyLife in the content department as a writer and book reviewer and about halfway through decided that the Lord was calling me to join staff.

LAUREN MILLER: Part 3

The goal [of the internship] is to grow professionally, spiritually and personally. In doing that I got professional experience in the office, I was discipled by an older woman on staff and I did this awesome training called Downline. I was also stretched to do evangelism. It was a very well-rounded, full year. I also got to do really cool things like go to different colleges to recruit for the summer internship program and work the cruise as a volunteer. There was a lot of flexibility. They were very keen on me having different experiences. I was treated like an equal. My voice was really heard and I could create work that was published.

GRANT HARRIS

I am a business management student and I always knew I wanted to go into some kind of ministry. This seemed like a really good blend where I could actually use my business degree at an office, but I am actually helping other people. That was the big draw for me to FamilyLife.

I was just talking to my girlfriend about her internship, and she was doing a lot more busywork and coffee runs and that is definitely not what you get at FamilyLife. It’s my second week and I am already working on the marketing plan and the supply chain for all of FamilyLife’s big events. It’s been very good and probably some of the best real world experience you’re going to get with an internship.

CHLOE HERNDON

I have gotten more comfortable with not knowing things. In school or in other graphic design stuff especially if I didn’t know how to do something I would get really worried and scared that I wouldn’t be able to figure it out. But now I have figured out that is what everybody does. You just teach things to yourself and figure it out as you go. Things are usually simpler than you think. I have already gotten more comfortable with not having all the answers.

If someone wants a well rounded internship experience, [FamilyLife] is a great place to get that. It is not just the job experience. It is not just the ministry. You have got a great job in a great office where everyone is super nice and great. There is also a lot of personal development and team building and bonding. It’s been great and it is so nice to be taken care of. There are host homes and credit cards. Once you get here, you are here and you are provided for. It’s really stable.

ROB AND LIZ HUDSON: Part 1

Rob: I believed in the mission of FamilyLife, but I had really been changed by what happens in the college ministry world. I felt like I was stepping away from what I was passionate about. The Lord changed my perspective on that really quickly. Basically, within my first 6 months or so of being there [at FamilyLife], there was this lightbulb that went off. As I was thinking about my time in campus ministry, most of the time [I spent mentoring young men], we were talking about the girl that they wanted to date, pornography, and dealing with baggage from back home. Those were the three topics we were talking about all the time. It was kind of this, “Oh my gosh, the tools for all of those should be things they are getting from their parents!” What I began to realize was that, by coming to FamilyLife, I am just as much, if not more, involved in campus ministry. I went upstream of the problem. If I could influence Mom and Dad and their marriage and how they parent and how they meet their family, that will have a direct impact on the college students of tomorrow. That was a big breakthrough for me–realizing that a lot of the problems that I was passionate about were rooted in the home.

ROB AND LIZ HUDSON: Part 2

Liz: Rob came to FamilyLife [thinking], “I am going to be obedient to the Lord, and also I have a lot to grow in professionally and with ministry.” We had no idea that God was placing us at FamilyLife for our marriage. We went into marriage thinking we were really prepared and we weren’t. Life threw a lot of curveballs that first year. We found out that we were pregnant three months in. Pregnant was not nice to me. Work was hard. We didn’t know how to resolve conflict. We were on two very separate pages. And we had some people at FamilyLife who came alongside us and gave us some really hard truths that, had we been getting seven years down the road, we would have been hitting rock bottom. But instead, we had these people investing in us from the get-go and giving us such valuable wisdom that we were able to get on the same page. It really saved our marriage. As dramatic as that sounds, we would have been miserable. They were on our team. There was a man at FamilyLife in Rob’s life that gave him some really hard truth like, “If you sacrifice your family for ministry, they are going to resent you for it.”

ROB AND LIZ HUDSON: Part 3

Rob: FamilyLife is right now changing and shifting in drastic and exciting ways. We are being very honest with ourselves. Our mission is to effectively develop godly marriages and families that change the world one home at a time. We are not doing that. We are doing that some. But as far as effectively goes, we are not being very effective with the culture today. We are being honest with that. The whole organization is shifting and changing. We want our families to thrive. Regardless of who you believe in spiritually, people want their families to thrive. So how can we meet them in that place? How do we do that most effectively? We are doing the research. We are doing the work. We are trying to find out. People would not be joining an organization that is saying, “We are the experts, we know how to do it.” People are now joining an organization that says, “We want to learn. We want to grow. Grow with us. Come help us change. Come help us grow. What can you tell us about what it looks like to reach families in your context?” So the humility of the organization as a whole is something that I love. If people want to reach families, now is the time. I believe that wholeheartedly.

EMMA CREMEAN

I am getting closer and closer to graduating from college I really need an internship on my resume. It is super important to get a job. I still wanted to do ministry, but I needed an internship. FamilyLife met both of those requirements. It is really great for a job in the future and I also get to continue to serve God and continue to grow in my spiritual life and be in an environment that encourages that and keeps you accountable to that.

ZION ADAMS

Spiritually, I would say I am reading my Bible more and having more spiritual based discussions with people. Not that I didn’t before, but just being around more people who are trying to grow spiritually and just some of the discussions that we have had have really helped me grow as a person and spiritually.

Career wise I have grown a lot. Going into this internship I was nervous because I had just finished my basic classes at ULAR and I was not sure how prepared I was. To be honest, after the first couple days I wasn’t really understanding it. But, man, I have learned a lot. A lot of the stuff I am learning now is a lot of what I am going to be learning in my classes next semester, so I am actually getting a leg up on what I am about to learn in school. That has been a great benefit to me.

KYRA RUCH

I have seen myself grow in my individuality. Even when I do not have the people that I am super close to from before [the internship]. My parents aren’t here, my best friends aren’t here, but I have seen myself grow in strength from that. Both with reliance on the Lord and being vulnerable with other people and being there for them, even when circumstances are tough.

CATHERINE NOLTE

We are not treated as interns. We are treated as co-workers and even, in some cases, as friends. Working here we are not treated as 18-20 year olds who have no idea what we are doing. Our voices are valued. I have been able to start my own projects and share ideas and they have been taken seriously and being able to see them actually work themselves out.

MEREDITH EMPIE

Audio engineering internships have a stigma. That stigma is that you will be coiling cables and getting coffee for people and you will not actually get any experience. So when Rob [Hudson] reached out and said, “This is going to be a learning experience, and you will actually be able to do things!” I almost didn’t believe him because that defied the stigma of an audio engineering internship. So I was thinking, “Am I really going to be coming here and getting coffee for people for two months straight?” I would not enjoy that. It is far away from home and I am giving up my summer to work, when I could be taking a trip with my friends or something. So I was hesitant at first. But once I got here and the third day rolled around and I was being thrown into recording–they let me record on the third day–I realized that Rob was right. I haven’t gotten coffee for anybody. That is not my job. My job is to be a part of the audio group and my voice is heard and that really surprised me.

I would encourage someone to intern at FamilyLife because of the environment that is created here. The internship program is carefully crafted so that you learn about what you want to do professionally and you are given those opportunities and experiences and also learn about yourself and your personality as well as how to get along with other people and then we have a Bible study too. This culture is created to help us grow in all of the areas in our lives that we need. This is a perfect culture to settle in as a safe space for a while if you need some time to work on yourself.