An Intern's Perspective of Ozone: Ryne of Fayetteville

CWE365 has been able to prepare upperclass college students and recent graduates in youth programming through a yearly internship program. Each year the internship program is further developed in order to both lead and challenge these up and coming leaders to impact the community with their gifts and drive. Each city is blessed with a male and female intern to support the program and build relationships with the children of that city. The following is written by University of Arkansas Grad, Ryne Pruitt, who is a CWE365 intern.

Ryne with Fayetteville kids at "Shrek the Musical" this October 

Ozone is Camp War Eagle’s year around vision to help campers develop and sustain good relationships with Jesus Christ outside the camp boundary.  My role as an Ozone intern is to enhance and create a Christ-centered environment where youth of Northwest Arkansas can find ministry for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. 

The opportunities to minister to campers naturally occur so many times throughout the week because of the responsibilities of an intern.  Our week begins at 4:30 on Tuesdays, when we ignite the 15-Passenger Van with the Turbo-Diesel V8 (“THE 15P”).  The journey for my co-intern and I takes us all over town as we pick up 6th-8^th grade students in a race against time to get to Primetime by 6:00.  Thus, we have a solid hour to get to know students and teach them about Jesus.  But our trip does not end there. Our students attend Primetime where they play games, eat, learn about Christ and share with small groups what we talked about in the lesson.  As an intern, I strive to make the environment as fun as possible and facilitate scheduled events to make the best use of our hour-and-a-half with the students.  After we wrap up in small groups and with prayer, we load back up in the 15P at 7:30, pump up the music and take the students home. As the van bounces around the town, we can further discuss the lesson and how it could be implemented in each individual’s life. 

This Tuesday schedule is repeated for Summit on Thursday evenings for high school students, and again for Lifeline on Saturday mornings for Elementary students. Through Ozone, I meet further with students throughout the week at school or in Bible studies. During each event, van ride or Bible study, God provides ample opportunities to develop discipleship relationships with campers and equip them with the encouragement, resources and scripture to love others as Christ loves us.