Ned Erickson: UPDATE Week of April 27

Hooray for our Fellows Heroes!

Stopping by to say hello

Jacob Pardue made Brianne's day with a drive by hello on Monday. A small gesture that made a big difference.

Hooray for our Host Families!

Brianne and her host sister enjoy a picnic lunch on the driveway

Healthy and fun

Host Families are one of the best parts of the Fellows experience. Hands down it is the part that gives the incoming Fellows and the upcoming Hosts the most anxiety.

But year in and year out, these relationships end up being some of the most impactful of the whole year.

This year, with COVID-19 our Host Families have really stepped up! As the weeks have gone on, several of our Fellows (over half now) have gone home to give their Hosts a reprieve. But they still maintain connection and the relationships continue. What a blessing!

And some of our Host Families insist on their Fellow staying! And Brianne, who is an only child, could not be more grateful for that!

Bike with host sister = yay

Hugs with host mom and brother = yay

Host brother joining Zoom Meeting = yay

Look Ma, No teeth

We celebrate you Host Families! Y'all are Amazing!

HOORAY for our Employers!

Yasser Youssef with several of his Fellows Employees from around the country!

The Budd Group has enthusiastically partnered with the Fellows Initiative. From first employing one Fellow here in Winston-Salem. They now employ Fellows throughout their network.

This Saturday, they were one of the sponsors at our National Conference and shared a little about their experience...so cool! to see some of our WS Fellows faces on the national stage!

Jacob Pardue Class of 2020

Jacob's testimonial

Trent Hancock Class of 2019

Trent's testimonial

Ashley Trewhella Rabon Class of 2018

What a treat to have a Winston-Salem company get to show off a bit!

On that note: We need to celebrate our employers!

ALL OF OUR EMPLOYERS have kept their Fellows through this crisis! What a blessing!

We cannot thank our employers enough for the opportunities they have provided the Fellows this year. THANK YOU!!!

HOORAY for our Bible Study Leaders!

I gave a toast to our leaders at our last session

Shout outs to Beth Hilliard, Dustin Heath, David Rainey and Shannon Rainey for their faithfulness this year. Every Wednesday fro 3-5pm they lead our Fellows in an in depth Bible Study - certainly one of the highlights of the week. Thank you!!!

HOORAY for our BOARD!

Our Exec Team...

So thankful to be part of this great team!

On Monday we had a productive Exec Team meeting.

Members include:

Virginia Perry - Board Chair

Gardner Barrier - Vice Chair (he hadn't jumped on the meeting yet)

Shannon Rainey - Program Chair

Richard Shore - Finance Chair

Holly Heath - Secretary

Hef Turner - as Herself

and me.

Holly Heath prays for us as we prepare to work through details at our Exec Team meeting

We have three members rolling off this year, so we are actively pursuing their replacements (though none of them could ever be replaced!)

HOORAY for MENTORS!

My mentor

I had a Zoom meeting with my mentor Fil Anderson this week. His a beach guy, can you tell?

HOORAY for LEADER LUNCH SPEAKERS

This week we were "with" Steve Childs

Leaders come in all kinds...

Steve Childs, nationally known Portrait Artist and Film Producer, was our speaker this week. It was an honor to be part of his FIRST EVER ZOOM MEETING!

When this is all over - we are coming to your studio!

HOORAY for our PROFESSORS!

Personal Finance 101

For the next couple weeks we are going over personal finance and budgeting with our Fellows. I know none better than Jeff Trollinger and Stephen Edwards. Thank you guys for helping us out!

what's on Stephen's face!

THE FELLOWS INITIATIVE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

On Saturday night, we had our 13th Annual (and 1st ever and hopefully only ever vitrual) National Fellows Conference.

It was my first 300 Person Zoom Call.

The Two Keynote Speakers were

Irwin Ince - Pastor, first ever African American Moderator of the PCA, and president of the Institute for Cross Cultural Mission.

and

Phillip Yancey - writer of over 30 books, including What's So Amazing About Grace and the Jesus I Never Kew among many other bestsellers

One slide from the night:

Irwin talked about the Theology of Community. good stuff

It was not like being all together, but it was better than not being together at all...

Thanks John Kyle for all your hard working putting this thing together.

The Chattanooga Fellows Lauch a Website!

my friend Jonathan Ingraham and the Chattanooga Fellows created this website to capture stories from the current times...

https://storiesfromsixfeetapart.com/

check it out and submit something!

HOORAY for getting to SERVE!

Serving alongside this hero

This week I had the privilege of delivery food to kids across the city with Julie Bell. What a gift!

Attempt #2 to give blood

Come on man

For the second time in two weeks I attempted to give blood. This time, after sticking me, they asked if I had traveled abroad in the last 12 months. Um yes.

Greece was cool. Mexico was cool. But Senegal...was a no no.

I know these guys say they really need blood, but they really don't want mine!

not today

OTHER THINGS TO CELEBRATE

Mornings that begin with quiet solitude

North Carolina has done a great job flattening the curve

At Rotary this week, the head of the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill spoke

Helpful links

The plan

Friendships

Between fathers and sons

Hooray for fishing!

learning Science and Math with my daughter

who loves to get her picture taken

and this is what smiling for the camera now looks like

Hooray for man's best friend

Meeting with our Fellowship Group on Sunday Night

Lia feeling the sunrays

Anna Rose getting to do her favorite things

Roses on in bloom

What work looks like nowadays

Crazy runners

Crazy Running held a Virtual Miler. We decided to run at a social distance (we fudged a bit) with the Summers. Phillip has a Masters in Public Health so I figured I was OK

Phillip's torso

strategizing with Clay

starting line

Ready - Set - Go

On your mark

I'm learning that we need to celebrate the small things. As it turns out, they're not that small.

RECRUITMENT UPDATE

A few more seats to fill

We had two great interviews last week and have one we need to set up for this week. Not that guys are more important, but we would love to see a few more guys apply.

We are nearing maxing out on lady slots. If you know of a guy, send him our way. We are literally down to our last few seats. So now is the time!

Let's go!!!

GIVE

We need money!

If you are in a place where you are ready to be generous - the Fellows need your generosity!

Give today at

Winston-Salem Fellows

PO Box 20514

Winston-Salem, NC 27120

or give online

wsfellows.com/give

THANK YOU!

What is in store this week?

We had a great Round Table last week.

Hef talked about Joseph and going through the tough times. Our memory verse was from Habakkuk 1. We also talked about Habakkuk 3:17-19 which has been super helpful to meditate on the last couple weeks

That night I was rummaging through some old songs and came across this song I wrote in 1996 on Habakkuk 3. I'm starting to remember how it goes!

Monday - Round Table
Wednesday - Leader Lunch with Melissa Parker, TFI Directors Call, and Bible Study
Friday - Personal Finance and Budgeting Class

MORE PHOTOS