Amy Cain

"What if God wants me to be a minister?" nine-year-old Amy asked her mother. Amy had recently come to Christ at a Christian camp. The response: "You will know."

She did know in the back of her mind, but without much Bible training growing up, she never grew much in her understanding of her faith … that is, until she went to college and got involved with a group of believers who discipled her and taught her the fundamentals of the faith.

"I finally truly grasped and understood grace," she said.

As she finished school and started a job in public relations, she still had a nagging sense that she should consider going into the ministry. But, since she was taught at an early age the value of a career and making money, she figured it would come later, after she married and had a family.

In the deadline-driven PR world, she worked late nights and didn't have time to be involved in vital things like corporate Bible study. Feeling as though something were out of joint in her life, she called to talk with her pastor, who convinced her that she needn't to wait to be married before following God's call to ministry.

"That was very freeing," she said. "Finally something felt right."

Through a series of God-ordained events, she ended up Dallas Seminary. What drew her here were her connections with friends, especially Joye Baker, an advisor in the Christian Education department. Joye has become a mentor to her and played an integral part in her getting her current internship.

"I was told before I came that a lot of seminaries will give you the head knowledge, but DTS will give you the heart. As an outsider coming in to the school, it was a breath of fresh air."

As a ministerial intern coordinating special events for the women's ministry at her church, Amy gets practice applying what she learns. To give you a cross-section of her undertakings, last month she had four major events: The first was called The View, which was a take-off on the TV show by the same name, and featured our own Dr. Lucy Mabery-Foster and Jeanne Hendricks. The second was a women's tea to wrap up a year-long mentoring program called Heart-to-Heart. The third was a wrap-up brunch and dinner for the women's Bible studies. And the last coordination feat was recruiting workers for the National Day of Prayer hourly prayer sessions.

Being the first person in this position, Amy has struggled to define her role in the face of such large undertakings.

"At first when I came in, I thought I had to have my hands on everything. The events were huge and had a lot of details. Now that I have done it for a while, I can step back and see the bigger picture … and delegate!"

She has also had the opportunity to use some of her creative gifts, such as art and drama in the church. She hopes to one day put a creative team together.

The verse that has encouraged her the most in her work at the church is 1 Thessalonians 2:8: "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."

She said for her, the bottom line in this type of ministry is authenticity because she said, "we are all sinners, and we need to be willing to live with our sin exposed."