Summit Ministries Equips TeenPact’s 2025 Traveling Interns with Biblical Worldview Training

In July 2024, TeenPact’s 2025 Traveling Intern Team began preparations to lead TeenPact events by attending specialized training at Summit Ministries. Held at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, this two-week experience provided the perfect foundation for the interns as they prepare to lead State Class programs across the nation next year. It wasn’t just a time of learning—it was a time of transformation.

Summit Ministries is renowned for equipping students with a biblical worldview in a culture that is constantly shifting. The interns spent two weeks diving deep into the truths of the Christian faith, engaging in thought-provoking discussions, and being challenged by dynamic speakers. This experience empowered them to stand firm in their beliefs and gave them practical tools to lead others with confidence and compassion.

2025 TeenPact intern, Kaelyn Shepherd, confirms how this training has prepared her. “Summit was an amazing experience that equipped me in so many ways, for both the TeenPact internship and for gospel proclamation! The apologetics training at Summit equipped me to confidently lead discussions about worldview, answer questions about my faith, and defend the gospel. It taught me to dive deep in God’s Word for the answers to controversial topics of today. I was also trained in how to speak boldly about my convictions, but with grace, respect, and gentleness for those of a different mind. After Summit, I feel more prepared to “make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you,” as it says in 1 Peter 3:15.”

One of the most exciting aspects of this partnership is the vision of a generous Summit Ministries donor, who made it possible for the TeenPact Interns to attend the Summit Conference. With a heart for training the next generation of Christian leaders, this donor recognized the power of Summit’s biblical worldview training and apologetics. Their generosity enabled the interns to receive the robust preparation needed to guide students and stand boldly for truth. 

For TeenPact Traveling Interns, leadership is not about standing above others—but about walking alongside them. The Summit Ministries training further instilled in the 2025 Traveling Intern Team a clear sense of their role in guiding students toward Christ-centered leadership. Through workshops, mentoring, and time spent in reflection, the interns were reminded of their responsibility to live out their faith boldly in their upcoming roles.

Malachi Southerland explains how Summit Ministries’  Student Conference has prepared him and the full intern team for their responsibilities leading students in 2025. 

“At Summit, we learned how to understand different worldviews and the heart behind them. The lectures were insightful and grew my knowledge in how to carry discussions about topics that are so important to how we perceive the world. Having the opportunity to learn and discuss these alongside the rest of the TeenPact intern team has brought us closer together while growing our capacity to engage others in these subject matters. Heading into the 2025 State Class season, I’m excited to be equipped with the knowledge and experience gained from Summit Ministries’ Student Conference. I know it will carry so much importance in the interactions with those in the coming year.”  

Bethany Hintze, TeenPact’s Administrative Coordinator of the Events Department and a 2024 Traveling Intern, had the unique opportunity to attend Summit’s Georgia Summer Conference for two consecutive years. She first attended the conference in July 2023 as she prepared for her year of leading State Classes in 2024, mentoring Staff Team ladies, and managing event logistics. This year, she joined the 2025 Intern Team as they were trained and equipped for the upcoming season. Reflecting on her own experience, Bethany shares the on-going impact she’s learned from her Summit training, as well as her observations about the 2025 Interns’ experiences this past July. 

“Attending Summit Ministry’s Leadership conference as a TeenPact Intern has been such a formative experience for the past two Intern Teams. The conference fosters time to develop rich relationships over meaningful discussion, and supplies such rich and practical insight that bolsters the experience during the internship season. It was a joy to see the 2025 team come together at the conference this year- challenging each other, humbly taking on tough discussions, worshiping together, and ministering to each other and to fellow students.”

 

“From community service projects to white water rafting, Summit also provides a sweet bond and camaraderie that gets carried into the travel season.  I was personally challenged this year by Kasey Leander, Jeff Myers, and David Stubblefield’s call to stay curious, ask questions, and seek wisdom as a leader. So often, in a position like that of the Travelling Intern where one leads by example and holds the respect of so many students and staffers, we can tend to rely on ourselves, preach to ourselves, and be comfortable with coming across as competent. In doing so we can cease to ask questions from a place of genuine curiosity, and acknowledge that there is much to learn and that there are others who can provide that wisdom. “

“I am undone with gratitude to the Lord for the donor who blessed this year’s team – and last year’s team – with the gift of being able to attend. I can truly trace so many valuable lessons and memories with my team to when I attended last year, and I am so excited to see how the same experience will bear fruit in the lives of the 2025 Intern Team Members.”

Johnny Leifheit, TeenPact’s Director of Staff Development, accompanied the Interns at Summit’s Georgia Summer Student Conference and witnessed firsthand the powerful impact it had on the team. “As a Summit alum myself, it was such a joy to share the ministry’s robust training experience and Christ-centered community with our 2025 Traveling Intern team. Our aim at TeenPact is to equip them as leaders to engage students across the country in the realm of ideas shaping this cultural moment. Summit is world class at what they do in this arena and the applicable nature of the impact was immediate for our team. They walked away inspired and equipped just as we hoped. I couldn’t be more excited for what they experienced together.”

With this training behind them, the 2025 Traveling Interns are better equipped than ever to lead TeenPact’s State Class programs. Summit provided a robust foundation not only in understanding a biblical worldview, but also in effectively communicating it to students they will mentor next year.

The leadership at Summit Ministries was impressed with the caliber of TeenPact’s Traveling Interns. Kasey Leander, Summit’s Georgia Program Manager, reports, “I loved having the TeenPact staff with us. They were some of our most engaged and passionate students, and their love of Christ is contagious. By the end of the session I learned to pick them out simply by their hunger to learn and apply every bit of the training we gave them. It’s a rare thing to work with such passionate leaders.” 

As the interns prepare to travel the country, they carry with them the lessons learned at Summit—truth, courage, and a commitment to making a difference. Whether it’s leading discussions at the State Classes or mentoring students one-on-one, the skills and insights gained from this training will impact countless young lives in 2025 and beyond. “Summit helped to prepare our team for the internship through thought-provoking worldview training,” reports 2025 TeenPact intern Kennedy McGaughey. “We discussed topics ranging from the biblical perspective on modern political issues, how to evangelize and how to interact with other worldviews, including methods of Bible study. I am so excited to apply this amazing experience in the upcoming season.”

God is using Summit Ministries and TeenPact to raise up a generation of leaders grounded in truth and ready to make a difference for Christ.