I had coffee with someone yesterday who told me there are more than 40,000 interns working in Washington during the summer. And I think there are about 25,000 at any given time during the year. I think part of our calling as a church is to impact the intern community.

We’ve always had a ton of interns attend NCC over the years. Many of them will be with us for a summer and then move back to DC permanently. Hearing that number, 40,000, made me realize what a unique opportunity we have to impact interns. It’d be cool for someone to start a small group or do a seminar called Intern 101 to help interns adjust to life in DC. I think there is a ministry opportunity that we need to tap into in an even greater way.

We used to be frustrated by the fact that so many NCCers were here for such a short time. How do you build a church when your turnover rate is 50% per year? Then we had a paradigm shift and started viewing everyone who comes to NCC as a missionary that we’ll send out in a few months or a few years! We’ve got to carpe diem, seize the day, and make the most of that small window of opportunity we have to impact people.