Ned Erickson: UPDATE Week of January 28

Brian and Mathu swear that this was unplanned

CELEBRATING THE CHURCH

One of the best parts of the Winston-Salem Fellows Program is our friendship and partnership with the local church. First Presbyterian, Hope Presbyterian, Redeemer Presbyterian, River Oaks Community, and Trinity Community have been awesome to work with.

These churches provide our host families, mentors, spiritual leadership, and opportunities for our Fellows to learn, grow and serve. Fellows find ways to get involved with worship, youth, and other parts of church life.

We are so thankful for our church partners.

And we are open to more! If you are part of a church that is not one of the named ones above, please reach out! (You do not need to be Presbyterian, by the way!)

A WEEK OF GOODNESS

Laura is unafraid of giving the camera a stink eye

We had ROUND TABLE over at Rob and Becky Paynters (aka Laura Johnson's host parents). Good old Rob had big plans on cooking us brick oven pizzas out back, but it was so cold the oven refused to work. BUMMER!

We moved inside and it all worked out just fine.

THANKS ROB AND BECKY!!!

Laura moves fast and sometimes she wields a knife!

Arbor Acres and CEO Andrew Applegate were on display for this week's LEADER LUNCH. Arbor Acres, the retirement community, is quite the amazing place. And Andrew is quite the Leader Lunch speaker.

Andrew Applegate and the Fellows

He is one of the wisest men I know in town, and he was kind enough to share his wisdom with us on Tuesday (smack dab in the middle of accreditation meetings!)

Some of his wisdom nuggets include: "The community will always take on the character of the leader."

"The key is finding people and being the kind of person that is willing to give your heart to the work."

"If you use your hands, you are a worker. If you use your hands and your head, you are a craftsman. If you use your hands, your head, and your heart, you are an artist."

The last one was St. Francis. But it's a wise person who knows St. Francis.

out takes

Out takes. It's seriously getting harder and harder to nail these folks down.

RECRUITING at UNC. Spent the day at Chapel Thrill and had a series of great meetings. Praying hard that we will get some Tarheel applicants!

SAMARITAN INN. Thursday continued with half of our Fellows volunteering at Samaritan Inn the homeless shelter.

Shorty and the Fellows holding down the serving line

Garrett and I holding down the pits

It was a really fun night. We met some interesting characters.

I found a dusty book that I had been looking for now for weeks (it's out of publish and not in any of our libraries - but there it was on the bottom of a stack of books that hadn't been touched for years! I asked Steve, the Director, if I could borrow it. He said I could have it! I told him that this is one of the best books ever. One of the guys from the shelter overheard us and said, 'Actually, could you bring it back? Ha! Of course! I said. Maybe we could start a book club!)

FRIDAY was classes and good times.

SATURDAY we celebrated Rob Alexander. He is transitioning out of his current job toward a new opportunity that will enable to dust off his engineering expertise and set it to work for good.

It was a tearful good-bye. But there was a lot of joy in those tears.

Rob has been a faithful servant and a good friend. The Fellows have benefited from his advocacy and inside work as a staff member at Redeemer and also his serving as the Treasurer of our Board.

He got through it. It wasn't easy.

We love you Rob!

Afterward, we went over to the West Salem Public House to listen to Fellows Alum Dakota Lee and friend of the Fellows Halston Kirkpatrick bring back the glory days when they played in their college band, The Chasers.

The Chaser Reunion Tour started here

Dakota was awesome!

Good times with Fellows - old and new - sup Hootie!

RECRUITMENT

Things are picking up. We have three applicants in the pipeline. We are awaiting a few answers from some others. And there are several who have indicated that they are planning to apply. This is encouraging! If we continue at this pace, we will be full by April 1.

With that in mind - APPLY NOW! - this is no time to dilly dally. If you know someone who is figuring our their future - point them to the Fellows today. Email this link: wsfellows.com

GIVING

Julia gives by volunteering as a Young Lives Leader

There are lots of ways to give to the Fellows.

We need speakers, round table hosts, mentors, host families, employers, prayer warriors, advocates, and financial supporters.

Contact the Winston-Salem Fellows winstonsalemfellows@gmail.com or call (336) 413-4918 to find out ways to get involved.

GIVE TODAY

THE WEEK AHEAD

MONDAY - Round Table with Kevin and Becky Dollinger (aka Christian McConnon's host family)
TUESDAY - Prepping for the UNION performance and Forum on Faith and Culture next week
WEDNESDAY - Leader Lunch with Joanna Lyall, currently the Associate Vice President in the Office of Philanthropy at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
THURSDAY - The other half of Fellows spend the night at Samaritan Inn.
FRIDAY - Classes with Rob Alexander and Jack Wilkerson
- interviewing a Fellow's recruit from Clemson
- Attending the Arts of Leading Conference at Wake Forest University
SATURDAY - celebrating David's birthday!