After a successful launch of the Ernest C. Hynds Jr. Internship in the fall semester of 2020, two new interns have been selected for the spring semester of 2021: Jessica McDougald and Jana Peterson.
“We were thrilled with the energy, perspectives and gifts our first interns, Rebekah Gordon and Christopher Adams, brought to Good Faith Media,” CEO Mitch Randall said. “And we are very pleased to welcome Jessica and Jana as our second class of journalism interns.”
McDougald is a third-year master of divinity student at Campbell University Divinity School and youth minister at Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has written previously for Good Faith Media’s Nurturing Faith Journal.
“I am interested in knowing what it is like to be a writer in the real world – how the topics are decided, ground rules, what a typical day is like,” she said. “I have only within the last year or so realized that my calling to ministry might somehow be wrapped up in or tied to my passion for writing.”
Tony Cartledge, who writes for Good Faith Media and teaches at Campbell’s divinity school, described McDougald as “a delightful person, a multi-talented student and an effective minister.”
“In much of her writing, Jessica creatively explores the ins and outs of motherhood and ministry with tenderness, transparency and courage,” Cartledge said. “I’m confident she will be a valued asset to the Good Faith Media family during her internship.”
Jana Peterson lives near Bozeman, Montana, and is nearing completion of her master of divinity degree at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. A mother of six, she was a self-described “homeschooling homemaker” for 15 years before pursuing her education while working with nonprofit organizations.
She became acquainted with Good Faith Media, she said, through a friendship with GFM’s Bruce Gourley at First Baptist Church of Bozeman, where they both attend.
“Through this internship, I hope to gain a wider perspective of where God is at work in the world and how I might be able to be a part of it,” Peterson said. “I’m looking forward to interacting with all the elements that make Good Faith Media what it is, especially the editing and writing.”
“Jana’s enthusiasm in sharing the expansive love of God for the common good of all is contagious,” Gourley said. “She is a deep thinker, a student of cutting-edge theological discourse and a gifted communicator.”
The internship program was established with an initial naming gift from the foundation of First Baptist Church of Athens, Georgia, where Ernest Hynds was a beloved member. He was a longtime professor and department head in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
Gifts to support this ongoing engagement with the next generation of communicators may be made by contacting Mitch Randall (mitch@goodfaithmedia.org) or Autumn Lockett (autumn@goodfaithmedia.org) by email or by phone at 615-627-7763.
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