UPDATE Week of February 25

We got a wet and wild Update for you this week

NOT YOUR ORDINARY WEEK

Grace and Sarah were the first customers at Winston-Salem's newest Panera Bread

This was big time - see the other photos documenting this event later in the update

ROUND TABLE - Dave and Lisa Meyer have been waiting for the chance to host round table for a long time, but they have had a few things come up this fall like a grandbaby among other things that prevented them from hosting until last week! It was worth the wait. Thank you Dave and Lisa. Of all the people I know who have made home on purpose - you have. Truly, you two are the hosts with the mosts. Thank you!

memory verse for the week:

WORK. Fellows actually spend most of their hours each week at work. So this week here is a shout out to our amazing employers!

NOVANT - Abbey Sams

BOOSTERTHON - Ashley Trewhella

Ashley gears up for a big day with Boosterthon by taking photos of signs for breakfast

NEW CANAAN SOCIETY - Caleb McKillop

SALEM SPORTS - Grace Mezzy

FORSYTH COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL - Kate Donahoo

(Kate just lined up Lia to speak to the middle schoolers tomorrow!!!)

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS - Morgan Bonds

Morgan Bonds bonding with co-workers at the Cycle Bar this week

ABC CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER OF NC - Natalie Bayer

EANES HEATING AND COOLING - Patrick McCarthy

NOVANT HEALTH FORSYTH ENDOCRINE CONSULTANTS - Sarah Wilkins

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY - Tucker Batholomew

ALADDIN TRAVEL - JP Flynn

TWIN CITY SPORTS - Tate Heisler

Thank you employers! 

If you are interested in employing a Fellow next year, please reach out to Ned Erickson.

LEADER LUNCH - We had an amazing leader lunch with Stu Epperson Jr. and his entourage over at Tru Network Radio. 

Robby Dilmore the Christian Car Guy

Robby Dilmore the Christian Car Guy gave us a tour of the station. 

Tucker tried out the massage chair that they keep in studio to help their guests relax before the show

Stu was great. He is remarkably other-centered. He spent 85% of his talk, talking about others. What an inspiration. Thanks Stu for your model leadership and your passion for the Word and for apple fritters. 

Stu and the gang in the green room

THURSDAY MOVIE NIGHT. Tucker planned a movie night for us on Thursday to see the Black Panther. I highly recommend it. The hype is deserved. 

FRIDAY CLASSES

I can't believe the cherry blossoms are already out!

Rob Alexander and David Speakman were off the charts yet again. Thank you guys for your excellent preparation and delivery!

KIWANIS - Ned joined Board Members Gardner Barrier and John Dickenson for breakfast at the Kiwanis Pancake Jamboree. 

What an operation!

YOUTH GROUPS TO GREAT WOLF LODGE

Fellows taking a break from the action at Great Wolf Lodge

Hope Presbyterian and Redeemer Presbyterian Church Youth Groups teamed up from a wet and wild overnight at Great Wolf Lodge. 

Morgan and Natalie

The crazy part was that Lia had a Pediatric Conference AT Great Wolf Lodge AT the same time! So I had the chance to see my Fellows in action. SO FUN! (I'm not posting a bunch of pictures for privacy reasons...)

Kate shows David the ropes on crossword puzzles

It was a team effort

Tucker with family friend and Lia's coworker Bill Hammil

Meanwhile BACK AT HOME

Grace and Sarah met a Llama named Sugar at Pilot Mountain

We wished Ashley a Happy Birthday

We sent our best wishes from Great Wolf Lodge as well

Grace took a Selfie with a River Oaks friend who leads ninth graders with her 

Ashley celebrated with her host family and her biological family!

RECRUITMENT

Welcome Kelly Martin! Kelly is our newest acceptee! She hails from Maryland and currently is attending Guilford College where she is preparing for a career in physical therapy. She is a captain on her lacrosse team and an achiever in many respects. Welcome Kelly. We are thrilled you are coming to Winston next year!

In other recruiting news: We had an outstanding interview with a gentleman from Clemson yesterday. 

This Thursday, we are interviewing a fine gentleman from Chapel Hill. I'm also meeting with another potential candidate earlier that day. We have another interview the following Thursday with a female from Covenant. 

I'm aware of a few more applicants coming this way. Thanks for praying! That is the number one strategy for getting the right people on the bus!

So far so good. Keep it up!

FINANCES

Thank you as always for your continued support of this organization. We are truly humbled.

The big ask this spring is that we would like to raise half of our cost for our Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic. The need is $10,000. If you would like to help support us, please send checks to

Winston-Salem Fellows
851 W. 5th St.
Winston-Salem, NC 27101

or give online at

wsfellows.com/give

We received notice of a $1,000 gift over the weekend for the cause - let me tell you - what an encouragement!

 LOOKING FORWARD

Life is good!

Round Table at Todd and Becca Chases. 

Leader Lunch with Andrew Applegate at Arbor Acres!

Small Groups, G.I.D.E., check in meeting with 1st Pres on Wednesday.

Interview with Tim Spangler (potential Fellow) on Thursday Afternoon. 

ART SHOW! at Senior Services on Saturday. (Jessica Kok, Fellows Alumni is helping to put this on!)

PRAY!!!
- JP to get over the flu.
- For the health and wellness of all our Fellows
- For Fellows as they explore Future Options!
- For the Admissions Team as we make big decisions
- For the Ericksons - in general. 
- For wisdom about hiring an Administrator for the Fellows

Ashley with her family this weekend

More photos from Panera

Also - our rabbit Hunter was the star at Young Life this week...the fun starts about a minute in!

UPDATE week of February 19

Homework can be fun when Hootie helps you with it!

A FULL WEEK

The Fellows are definitely hitting their stride. They are accomplishing more and resting better all at the same time. It's encouraging to watch it all come into shape. 

At the same time, like many of you, several of our Fellows have been battling the flu and other ailments. Above is about the last good moment Kate Donahoo had this week. 

My grandmother used to say to me that the full life Jesus came to give us is a life with the full range of experiences and emotions. I like that definition. That God is with us in every moment and can make every moment meaningful. That is full life - a life when nothing is ever lost. 

Round Table was at the Wilson's house once again. They sure do love having us over, and we sure do love being invited! Thank you again Tripp and Patricia. The lasagna was out of this world. 

Our memory verse for the week

One downer was that Natalie got a flat tire at work and ended up through a comedy of errors and an extremely delinquent AAA not making it. Grrrrrrrr

Flat Tires Happen

VALENTINE'S DAY!

Lia and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Tuesday. I dredged up an old photo of us and wrote her a note. I'd show you the picture, but I don't know where Lia put it. We went out to dinner and marveled that we somehow now have a child who can babysit!

Leader Lunch. I wanted to make sure we had a couple for our Valentine's Day Leader Lunch. Stuart and Kim Stogner were happy to oblige!

Kim and Stuart

I don't know of two more authentic people. Stuart and Kim gave us the real version, and we ate up every word. 

Thank you Stuart and Kim for your example, for the way that you serve this community, and for the honesty by which you live your lives!

First time behind the bench for most of us!

The verdict is in - Stuart and Kim Stogner rock!

One of our Fellows said that whoever gets to be hosted by the Stogners will be the luckiest Fellow ever. They are so cool!

True. 

G.I.D.E.

After several weeks of not getting to spend time with students - we got to spend time with students! Yay!

other Valentines...

Grace and Holly cheered on the Deacs who won (shout out to Elms and Harriet in the background!)

Abbey and Morgan made a quick run up to Pilot Mountain!

Solitude. You ever hear the phrase: "too busy not to pray." Well, I took it to heart and took Thursday to get away and rest and pray. 

It was a damp day in the Blue Ridge Mountains

My day included a run that I am still paying for. 

This photo taken before the hard parts

Forum on Faith and Culture

I think we were all surprised with how amazing the forum was this year.  Jeremy Begbie, not a household name, was quite the lecturer and performer! 

WOW!!!

Jeremy dressed down on Saturday morning

I don't know if his lectures were recorded or not. If so, I'll send you all a link!

Natalie and David wore matching jackets

S'Mores Night at the NC Study Center. Tate, Natalie and I had a great time last night roasting s'mores and talking with students at UNC about the Fellows. They pretty much did all the work. And half the fun for me was the car ride back and forth. So proud of these guys. 

We are expecting some applications to roll in (one actually came last night) from Chapel Hill. I would love two even three Tarheels next year. Come on!

RECRUITING NEWS

Welcome Christian McConnon

Christian is our newest accept-ee. He hails from Maryland and attends the University of Maryland where he is a Philosophy Major and a Young Life Leader. Can't wait to introduce this guy to Winston-Salem!

We are waiting to hear back from three more candidates, and I am in dialogue with three more. All in all - the admissions team is encouraged. 

SO! If you know of anybody who is thinking of applying - tell them to get on it. We are on pace to be full by Graduation! 

MISSION TRIP

We bought plane tickets!

So we are officially committed. It's going to be a little bit of an interesting logistical feat. It was actually cheaper to buy two one way tickets. One from Washington DC, where we will be for our National Conference, and then a return flight to Charlotte! All in all tickets to the DR were a total of a little over $400. That's cheaper than the tickets I just bought for our family to fly to Florida for spring break! Aye!

God is good. 

We are not doing any official fundraising for this trip. However, if you would like to support us or support the Fellows generally, here is out to do it. 

On line giving: wsfellows.com/give

Or send checks to 

WS Fellows

851 W. 5th St. 

Winston-Salem, NC 27101

MORE FUN

Abbey had friends in town Isaiah and Connor!

Abbey and her Valentine

We played Spikeball on Friday before the Forum on Faith and Culture

Morgan is the most talented

What are the chances Caleb hit the net?

Natalie was a little saggy in her Eno

Ashley is on the offensive

Morgan showed us how to take a Sabbath 

Sarah and Grace with their friend up in Richmond

David and I had a heated game of bocce. We ended the day winning one game each

LOOKING FORWARD

Advancement Team is in heavy recruitment mode for new board members. 

Round Table tonight is with new grandparents Dave and Lisa Meyer! Also the host parents of Sarah Wilkins!

Leader Lunch is with Stu Epperson Jr. Knowing him we might end of on the radio - so tune into Truth FM on Wednesday!

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast Friday

Dual Youth Group Great Wolf Lodge Middle School Overnight!!! Half of our Fellows are leading. I will also be there with my family as Lia has a pediatric conference at the same time in the same place!!!

Saturday and Sunday interview with Fellows Recruit Connor Peroyo. Really excited about this Clemson soon to be grad. 

Keep praying! Keep sharing the story! Keep spreading the love!