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| Samuel Kinnin is a 20 year old, sophomore at the University of Mary Hardin- Baylor. He is a first year intern with Impact. Samuel is a coffee enthusiast, loves to travel, and has a passion for missions. |
Piece by Piece
Everyone has a story to
tell. It is what makes us unique. This summer, I’ve had the opportunity to
listen and share these stories and it has been the greatest pleasure. With
every moment, every person, every story each crafted by God a piece of my own
came into place. Piece by piece my story has come together.
The smile of a child who
has just accepted Christ, a woman moved to tears through the laying on of
hands, a suicidal teen realizing he has a friend in Jesus. This is why we do what
we do. The Impact team is much more than just a camp speaker. Each of us have
to make the choice to surrender before the Lord and present ourselves as living
vessels. Surrendering is not something that comes naturally. Before this
internship, I thought I had surrendered everything in my life to God, but I
quickly realized that was not the case. I had surrendered a majority of my
life, but God wanted total surrender. There are countless scriptures on dying
to yourself, but one of my favorite is Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified
with Christ and it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives within me.”
In order to totally surrender, I had to push myself outside of my comfort zone
every day, truly die to myself daily and have the mindset of Christ, I had to
have God as my first thought of the day. This internship taught me what dying
to myself looked like and I will always be grateful for this lesson.
It is crazy to think that
this internship has just come to an end… In the beginning, I questioned why I
was there, but now I couldn’t imagine my life without this experience. God has
done so much throughout this month and a half or should I say year. One
adventure always leads to another… I had prepared for a missions internship in
Central America and the day had finally come. I hopped off the plane to find
the missionaries and saw someone I hadn’t seen in years, NYD Randy Lawrence. I
was thrilled to see him in a place I least expected. As we began to talk about
Impact, the thought of coming on this internship for public relations popped into
my head. I began the process of praying over this for the next four months and
felt immense peace about this opportunity. Although I was excited for the
internship, I almost had to quit because the funds were not coming in. I
couldn’t see the funds coming in, but Fiona and Randy agreed with me in prayer
and I went into the internship by faith believing they would come in. Thanks to
the help of my local pastor and several others, I was able to finish out the
internship funded. If you are thinking about this internship I encourage you to
never give up on God and to walk by faith. He will meet your every need.
I cannot express enough
gratitude for the memories and experiences I had on this internship. I became
more confident in both public relations and ministry. The Impact team works
with you to make sure you have the best experience possible. From praying over
others, to leading games and activities, to being a social media manager, to
being a camp counselor, I was always given new ways to serve and grow outside
of my comfort zone. It has been an incredible summer and I cannot wait to see
what God does through this internship in the lives of others for years to come.
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