Frank Lloyd Wright had a winter location for his School of Architecture in Scottsdale, AZ. The tagline of the school is “Building Architects.” How does one, precisely, “build an architect?” How do you create creators?
Wright believed that, to being, you had to “put your hands on the materials.” You couldn’t design, create, or build until you had inhabited and touched the environment you wished to make. So, his first students set up tents in the desert, designed the school, and built it. This was a tangible expression of Wright’s hands-on approach apprenticeship program.
There’s another, more important lesson here (one we hope to teach with out M28 Internship Program): we don’t just come to a place with a predetermined blueprint and impose it upon the community as we see fit. We can’t just have eyes for our own plans. Instead, we must dwell in the places we want to change, mold, and (re)design. So, our goal for the internship is to do just that: allow you to dwell in a local community and experience the life, joy heartbreak, and hopelessness. Then, you know what to create and how to mold people and the city in the image God has for them.
This reminds us of Jesus’ approach to discipleship and ministry. He came in the flesh to be with people. It was hands on. So, that’s what we’re trying to replicate. We hope you’ll join us in this endeavor.