JEFFERSON CITY (MODR) – Since 2014, the Missouri Baptist Collegiate Disaster Relief (MODR) internship program has provided training to a group of college students who have signed up to spend their summer helping others. However, the goal of this training goes beyond learning how to meet physical needs, but spiritual needs, as well.
This year’s collegiate intern group consists of 12 students, representing five states and 10 colleges. Serving as leader of the collegiate team and Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief collegiate coordinator is Aaron Werner, who is currently in his fifth year in that position. Assisting Werner, is Mykaela Halleman, a second-year intern.
According to Werner, this year’s team met for the first time on May 26 in Jefferson City, which serves as home base. During orientation week, the team received training in chainsaw use, mass feeding, assessing, flood recovery, stop-the-bleed training, leadership training, incident management training, and shower/laundry training.
The next two weeks were spent traveling to various locations, receiving additional on-the-job training. The first stop was Mt. Vernon, where they stayed at the Baptist Hill camp for one day, working in the campground cutting fallen trees. The next day, the team drove to Branson, where they assisted a homeowner by clearing trees that had been downed by high winds.
Next, the team then traveled to Kansas City, where they provided laundry services for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) during the FIFA (Federation International Football Assocation) games. According to Werner, the team set up at First Baptist Church Blue Springs, with laundry units provided by Oklahama and Kansas/Nebraska Baptist Conventions.
The team’s next stop will be St.Louis where they will assist areas still affected by recent storm damage. After that, the team will travel to locations as they are assigned.
Looking back at her past month as an intern, Annie Beeler said she has been “equipped and challenged” by the program, with three main skills: “relational development, practical field experience, and confident leadership”.
During this short time, Beeler said that the team of interns “has grown from strangers to a group of uniquely wired friends who not only respect but appreciate each other’s company and build one another up.
“The most impactful part of the MODR Collegiate program has been the ministry and faith aspects that are woven into every part of this internship,” she added. “The interns have been heavily encouraged by the Lord and His presence, nearness, and grace that is shown throughout the MODR organization as a whole.”
Currently a student at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, Beeler believes this summer’s experience will help prepare her as she pursues her career field of Disaster and Healthcare Missions Management.
Fellow intern, Andrew Enoch, echoed Beeler’s comments, saying that over the past few weeks, he has been challenged and pushed in more ways than he expected before starting the internship program.
During his time with the internship program, Enoch believes the training and field experience he is receiving will better equip him to step into the disaster relief sector with professional experience and use it as a platform for spreading the Gospel.
“What differentiates the MODR collegiate internship is its emphasis on learning by doing,” Enoch added. “These skills are learned through struggle, repetition, and responsibility. Everything at MODR is done through the lens of helping churches transform lives and communities with the Gospel by bringing, help, hope, and healing and every person working here is fully committed to that vision and teaching their interns that same commitment.”
Enoch is attending John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where he earned his associate’s degree in international business, and is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Humanitarian and Disaster Relief and Intercultural Studies.
With over a month left in the internship program, the students will continue to travel throughout the state, serving the physical and spiritual needs of those God allows them to encounter.
To donate to Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief or to help support the collegiate intern program, go to modr.org/give or mail your donation to: Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, 400 E. High St., Jefferson City, MO 65101.
