How do you become an editor? A degree is a good start—a college classroom can teach lots of valuable skills about reporting, writing, editing, and project management—but it's work experience that can really prepare a student for what the job entails and help discover new passions and possible career directions. Every fall and spring semester and summer break, Christianity Today offers internships geared toward students who want to explore a career in publishing and gain experience before graduating.

This summer, Christianity Today had four editorial interns in three different departments. Each came with different backgrounds, experiences, and goals, but all left with a new knowledge of what it means to be part of a team that aims to "create Christian content that changes people who change the world."

Amber Stenberg, who just graduated from Wheaton College, is finishing up her internship with Today's Christian Woman. As part of the TCW team, she says, she was given a lot of responsibility and freedom in her projects. "I've written articles, conducted several interviews of well-known people, helped lead our social media campaigns, and become familiar with the mechanics of publishing through doing copy-writing and data entry. I've also been able to sit in on numerous meetings that have helped me understand the marketing side of media publication."

But one benefit surprised her: "I had left my Christian liberal arts college education with a lot of skepticism about the American church—some of which was helpful for deepening my faith and some of which laid waste to my potential for spiritual growth, especially within community. The people I have encountered through this internship have reiterated to me that our God is moving in America, and he is doing so through our broken churches, through our broken fellowship with sinful believers. He is moving. For as much brokenness as we find in our daily realms, we will find a longing in the heart of God to redeem, restore, and make flourish. His mercies never end! He will never give up on his church, as I am so apt to do. This internship was great for developing me as a young professional, but God had plans to strengthen my faith in a new way and develop me as a disciple of Christ."

Andrew Stoddard found out about the possibility of an internship through connections at Wheaton College, where he just graduated with a master's degree in Biblical Studies, and also through friends at his church who also happen to work at Christianity Today. For eight weeks this past summer, he was part of the Church Management team, which runs Church Law & Taw Report, ChurchLawandTax.com, Church Finance Today, and the Managing Your Church blog.

Between editing HTML newsletters, writing blog posts, cataloging back issues, keywording website content, and editing ebooks, he supported the hard-working team that creates the content for these brands and also got to experience a wide range of the tasks that make up the publishing process.

Asked about his favorite aspect of the internship, he said, "The people. Hands down. My supervisors were amazing and I felt that they really invested in me as an intern, even though my time was short."

Cassie Schenk came to Christianity Today over her summer break from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to find a direction for her career, which she hoped would merge her passions for her faith and for journalism. After a summer alongside Amber (the two shared a cubicle!) at Today's Christian Woman, she says, "I have a more clear idea of where I want to take my journalism degree. I've even recently decided to go on and get my masters degree in a biblical studies field. I wouldn't have had decided this if it wasn't for the content that I've worked with so closely as an intern. It sparked my interest in other organizations, mission fields, or causes that I wouldn't have known about otherwise."

In addition to her daily tasks, her internship allowed her to not only sit in on but take an active role in TCW's team meetings. And like Andrew, she pointed to her relationships as central to her experience: "I'm constantly in communication with my boss/editor Allison. We'll discuss things like an article I'm working on, events going on in the world today, what's new with our site, new ideas for articles, how to manage social media or different articles, or even just chatting sometimes. I love the people that I get to be in contact with everyday. We've all maintained a pretty close relationship this summer and I consider it a privilege to be able to work with them and learn from them."

It was a professor at Bethel University who pointed Abby Stocker toward Christianity Today. After gaining experiences at newspapers over the past few years, Abby appreciated that Christianity Today magazine is an idea-based publication that would give her an opportunity to think and write about culture and politics thoughtfully.

As an intern with Christianity Today magazine, Abby worked primarily on the Gleanings news blog and also helped develop a few longer pieces. And getting some magazine experience has helped her discover different aspects of publishing that may guide her career in the future: "It's been a learning curve, but I've really enjoyed working with the people at CT and working on the projects I've been assigned. And I've discovered that I love the editing process—working with an editor (or as an editor) to improve a piece. Collaboration is fun."

She adds, "I feel I've learned a lot about thinking like a thoughtfully engaged journalist/writer just by being around the Christianity Today staff."

If you are interested in applying for an internship, visit the Careers page on ChristianityToday.org to get started.

Laura Leonard is associate editor of BuildingChurchLeaders.com.