As many of you know, Parkside Church welcomes a small class of pastoral interns each fall to help raise up young men to discern their calling to pastoral ministry. This past September, Parkside welcomed our newest class of interns-- Eric Pollitz and Nick Spurgeon.* Through an immersive and comprehensive year-long internship at Parkside, these men will get a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and rewards of full-time ministry. In addition to hands-on teaching and pastoral care experience, their internship includes additional seminary education through Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

For Nick, the combination of real-world experience, plus seminary education was a perfect fit. After graduating from Louisiana College with a degree in Christian Philosophy, he wasn’t sure which direction he wanted to follow. “I didn’t know if I wanted to go into full-time ministry or full-time seminary, or try to do both at the same time. The internship had all these opportunities,” explains Nick. “I wanted someone take me under their wing and say, ‘Here’s how ministry works. Here are some of the things you need to expect. It’s not just studying your Bible and preparing a sermon. Here is some of the messiness of it and here’s how you handle it.’ And so I really wanted a mentor along with having this practical experience.”

Eric agrees. “Ever since the Lord saved me in college, He’s just given me a heart for ministry, people, and the gospel. I think this opportunity as an intern will open up some doors, and the multiple experiences we’ll get will help discern the call a little bit more for me and see what the next step is.”

This fall, you’ll see Nick working with the youth and counseling ministries while Eric will be paired up with Parkside’s support ministries, transit, and men’s and women’s bible studies. Later in the year, they will change ministries and learn from those groups and their respective pastors.

Personally Speaking

Eric and his young family came to Parkside after graduating from Miami University of Ohio. Both Eric and his wife, Emily, hail from northwest Ohio. “Growing up, I was a pastor’s kid,” he says. “I have a twin brother, older sister, and a younger brother. I played basketball, soccer, and tennis in high school, but excelled at basketball and got a scholarship to play at Miami and so I got play with my brother there which was pretty cool. I studied history as a major and had a coaching minor. Early on, I weathered some storms playing wise and didn’t play for two years. But then in my last two years, I started on the team,” says Eric. “In the middle of that time is when the Lord saved me and I was able to share my new faith with my teammates. It turned out to be a really amazing experience. I met my wife, Emily, in my last year there, and that was pretty awesome. We have a daughter, Lucy, who is 5 months old. We’re learning a lot, and messing up a lot,” laughs Eric.

For Nick and his wife, Alli, a snow-covered Cleveland winter is looming large. “I think the thing that’s most scary to us is that we’ve never driven in snow,” says Nick. “I’m from Pineville, Louisiana. If you look at a map of Louisiana, it’s right in the center. I grew up there. I lived in the same house for over 20 years. All of my family lives probably within 5 minutes of each other. I did all of my schooling there, went to high school in Pineville, went to college in Pineville because there’s a college, Louisiana College which is a small Baptist college, and did my degree in Christian philosophy. I met my wife, Allison (but she goes by Alli), in high school, so we’ve been dating since we were high school seniors. We got married toward the end of our sophomore year in college, so that was December 2012. We just got a dog, a mini schnauzer named Beaux. We spell it with an ‘x’ to put a little Cajun/French twist to it.”

How You Can Pray

For Nick:  “Please pray that Alli and I would grow in grace and thinking biblically and theologically about all the matters of life and then for the future. We don’t know what happens after this year. We’re not sure what the next step is, so prayer that the Lord would open up doors.”

For Eric: “Please pray for the transition to a new place. It’s always difficult and having a little one makes it even a little more difficult. For the Parkside family to be praying for my wife, Emily, and myself for friendships and relationships to be built while we’re here. Not knowing what the future holds, we still want to be connected to people to spend this time wisely and have friendships while we’re here.”

For all of our interns -- past, present, and future: Please pray for all of our interns and their families as they continue to faithfully serve the Lord and His people.

*For all of you Charles Spurgeon fans out there wondering if Nick is related: “I actually have not found out if I am related. My grandmother sent me some genealogy stuff and when I looked through it, I could never finish the connections. So I wouldn't quite say I am related although it is possible.”