New Adventures

What a whirlwind! This last month in the Greensboro Fellows program has been an exciting and surprising adventure. The fellows have been very engaged in our internships, discipleship times, mentoring relationships, church involvement, and seminary class. But the true joy of the program so far has been getting to know one another. Between celebrating birthdays, going to a Kelly Clarkson concert, watching movies, and hanging out into wee hours of the morning to talk about life and Jesus, we’ve gotten to be a close knit community. I feel greatly blessed by God to be a part of this program: I see the Lord moving in ways to refine every fellow, making us more into the young men and women he desires us to be.

One of my favorite parts of my experience with the Greensboro Fellows so far has been my internship with the Rev. Alan Hawkins. Pastor Alan is the Rector (Lead Pastor) of Church of the Redeemer Greensboro, the evangelical Anglican church that sponsors the Fellows program. I function as Alan’s pastoral intern and research assistant. So far, my responsibilities have included writing the community group bible study curriculum that the church studies midweek, participating in staff meetings, serving in musical worship and setup on Sunday mornings, meeting with Alan for leadership development and formation, and participating in various church activities like last week’s men’s retreat and the church’s brainstorming meeting on beauty. I greatly value the opportunity to be so involved in the life of Redeemer, and to make a real contribution straight out of the gate. I think it speaks volumes of Redeemer and her leadership that they place such a value on leadership development – including me and all the Fellows in the life of their congregation simply with a heart to give to us, love us, serve us, and develop us, with no ulterior motives. Additionally, Rev. Hawkins is personally a great encouragement and teacher – not to mention a fire-hose: you can learn so much from him in such a brief amount of time. As a young man pursuing Holy Orders (ordination as a priest/pastor) in the Anglican tradition, I can think of no person I would rather have the opportunity to learn from and be taught the fundamentals of being a man of God than Alan.

Lastly, may I say that I look forward with great anticipation to what is in the heart of Jesus Christ for me and for my fellow Fellows this year. Knowing Him, I expect it will be wonderful, hard, sad, joyful, and surprising. To Him be all the Glory.

Thanks, Matt, for the great post. We are excited to watch the Fellows continue to grow!