Thanks Grace Harbor: A Reflection on My Pastoral Internship

By: Seth Pearson

DEAR GRACE HARBOR,

I have had the blessing to participate in a pastoral internship with you all since last

September, 2022. This year has been one of the sweetest years of my life and I know that I will

look back on it fondly in the years to come. You, the church, have demonstrated for Gabe and I

what it looks like to follow Jesus as a local church and you have provided and cared for our

family so well during this time. In this post, I want to thank you, and share some of how this

internship has impacted me.

THANKS FOR PROVIDING

First, you provided a place for me to build a strong foundation for pastoral ministry. You,

as a church, deemed it financially important enough to pour into a young man like me, who

seeks to be in ministry. Through paying me a stipend I was able to come here for almost a year

and focus completely on studying the Bible, the doctrine of the church, and have a front row

seat to watch how the Grace Harbor elders care for this body. Because I had this time, I was

able throughout the year to study and then solidify what I think the Bible teaches about baptism,

church membership, biblical theology, and numerous other topics. I was also able to learn many

priceless lessons on eldership, preaching, caring for church members, and following Jesus in

my own personal walk. Through all the reading and study I did this year, I developed the skills

necessary to take pretty much any topic in the Bible, and know how to study it well. This was not

a skill I possessed before I came to Grace Harbor, and I know that this will serve me well

throughout the rest of my life, and in any potential pastoral ministry I do in the future. Overall,

God has used this internship to shape in me a biblical view of how he wants his church to be

structured and cared for. Beyond all this, God used this internship to accelerate my growth into

a more mature man of God. I have grown more in these 10 months than in the years before

them. Thank you church, for providing this foundation for me!

THANKS FOR DEMONSTRATING

Second, you demonstrated how a healthy body of Christ lives life together. There were

many things I learned from watching and participating in the body that God has grown in Grace

Harbor. I saw what a healthy culture of evangelism looks like in a church. I had never seen this

before, and this was an area that I was particularly weak and discouraged in when I came to

Providence. In the first weeks of being here there were multiple evangelism stories that

challenged and encouraged me. Stories and experiences like these continued throughout the

time of my internship and I can truly say that my idea of and vision for evangelism has been

completely transformed during this year. Thank you Grace Harbor for being faithful to share the

gospel.

Another area that stuck out to me was the hospitality and love that you had for one

another. During this year I’ve seen the way that people reach out to one another in this

community and how they strive to love in all situations. I’ve gotten to participate and be a part of

this as well. On Sunday mornings, when visitors come, there are always multiple people trying

to make them feel welcome and get to know them. This was a beautiful thing for me to see.

Being at Grace Harbor has set a higher bar for me of what it means to love and what it means to

show hospitality. Finally, I got to participate in the Sunday morning gatherings, which have been

encouraging and life-giving. Thanks for singing out, cherishing the word, and being faithful in

prayer.

THANKS FOR CARING

Third, you cared for Gabe and I. You had us over. You sought out relationships with

us. You prayed for us and gave us counsel. The first Sunday we were here multiple individuals

and families came to introduce themselves and get to know us. I was struck by this care even

this past month, when some of the women in the church threw a baby shower for Gabe. We

haven’t really been here that long, but they took the initiative to care for us in that way. On top of

that, someone at the shower asked if Gabe and I were staying around Providence. I was

thinking, “wow you’ll buy gifts and celebrate a shower for someone who you thought might be

leaving in a couple of months.” It would be easy, (and somewhat normal) to stop showing this

level of care if someone is soon leaving, (and has only been here for 9 months), and yet that

didn’t happen. Even though the church wasn’t sure how long we would stay, people didn’t treat

us like that. I felt that you were determined to love and care for us whether we stayed for 10

months or 10 years.

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

That being said, Gabe and I are going to stick around for the foreseeable future. We love

it here and feel that God wants us to continue being a part of this body of believers. We look

forward to glorifying God together with you all as we seek him and seek to love one another.

Let’s all praise God for what he is doing in each of our lives and in Grace Harbor as a whole.

I want to end by particularly thanking all the people who read books with me and came

to the book discussions. This was always really encouraging to me and always enhanced the

discussions. I know they bore fruit in me and hopefully in the whole body as well. I want to end by

thanking Kevin and Travis particularly. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to

pour into me and thank you for going out of your way to teach me lessons about pastoral ministry,

even ones that weren’t technically a part of the internship. You have both impacted me greatly

and given me faithful, Godly men to look up to and imitate.

In Christ,

Seth