Much More than Missions

By Billy Long, CBM National Intern –

Hello, and welcome to Much More than Missions! My name is Billy Long and I am an intern on Team 9 with Children’s Bible Ministries (CBM).
Today I’m going to tell the story of how God led me to become an intern. The best part of this story is probably the fact that I don’t remember the exact moment I decided to apply for the program! First things first, I am from central Florida, in Bartow, about forty-five minutes away from CBM’s Camp Gilead in Polk City. Living relatively close to Camp Gilead, I had heard about it for a few years before I actually attended camp there. As a shy, introverted homeschooler, camp wasn’t really my thing. But the summer after my freshman year in high school, my friends finally convinced me to go with them. And, of course, camp being so different than anything else, I fell in love with it! I went back the next year, even though my friends didn’t go back, and I made some new friends. My cabin mates and I became so close to each other, that week was very special.

The next summer, in 2017, I applied for the SALT program at Camp Gilead. SALT stands for Servant And Leadership Training and is the
name for the kitchen workers, who also clean up around camp. It’s a volunteer position and, since I had never worked at a camp before, SALT seemed like a good way to ease myself into the camp atmosphere. Of course, when I’m trying to take the “easy” route, God has other plans to push me out of my comfort zone and cause me to grow. Karen, the Director’s wife, called me to say that they needed Junior Counselor guys. At Camp Gilead, each cabin has two counselors, an older Senior Counselor and a younger Junior Counselor. Since there was a need, and I was old enough to be a Junior Counselor (16 is the minimum, l was 17), I accepted the position. I worked four and a half weeks that summer and loved it even more than when I was a camper!

I first heard about the Internship program through a work trip with church’s youth group to CBM’s Headquarters in Tennessee, where I met
Jacquelyn, the National Intern Coordinator, and a team of interns. I later worked with one of those interns, Ansley, at Camp Gilead in the summer of 2017. I also worked with a few alumterns (that’s what former interns call themselves) like Paul, a Senior Counselor, Scott & Jerri, the Program Director and SALT Leader, among others. All that to say, I saw what God was doing through interns, past and present, and I think that kind of planted the seeds for the next year. Being my senior year, I had to decide what to do after graduation. After much thought and prayer, I decided that the internship would be the best direction to take. Like I said before, I can’t recall the exact moment I was like, “This is what I should do,” if there ever was one.

But, before I could start the internship in the fall, I had another summer at Camp Gilead! This past summer was amazing. I was a Junior
Counselor again, but I also did some SALT work, which was pretty fun and pretty hard. I also helped out with maintenance a little, and I worked on media a couple weeks, which was awesome! Sound production work is one of my passions and it was so cool to combine that with my passion for God and camp. This summer really ignited my love for camp ministry and helped to prepare me for this internship. God is already stretching and growing me more than I expected. Please pray for me and the rest of Team 9 as we train at CBM Headquarters these next few months, before we head out to different CBM areas on rotation.

Thank you for reading!
Billy Long

Edited by CBM National
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1 Reply to "Much More than Missions"

  • Karen Williams
    November 9, 2018 (4:44 pm)
    Reply

    I loved reading this, Billy! God is writing a beautiful story of your life and it’s bringing Him glory. He knew just what we all needed that summer- 2017. Your willingness to do the extra training and to step up when needed was a huge blessing to us and evidence that you have a humble heart. God gives strength and courage. . . He uses shy people!


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