So Your Joy May Be Complete

written by Emma Ball

Hello friends, family & Fellows supporters!

I’m so happy to be able to share with you what has been going on with the fellows lately.  We are currently in Rwanda fundraising mode trusting God to provide the funds we need for plane tickets. The Fellows are also continuing to train for our 10k that’s only two weeks from now (eekk) in Charleston. The amount of snow and ice we have gotten has not helped our training schedule. We are also continuing to learn how to do Morning Prayer and enter into the same type of worship that Christians did hundreds of years ago. I am looking forward to our last two months, soaking in all that the Fellows program has to offer. I cannot believe how fast the last 7 months has flown by!

Even more importantly than what I am doing with the Fellows is what I have been learning. The theme that has been popping up over the past week over and over again is JOY.   The Fellows received a devotional book by Jon Piper about the fifty reasons why Jesus came to die and the entry that stood out to me was entitled “to gain his joy and ours.” God has been teaching me that joy is not dependent on my feeling. Joy is not dependent on my circumstances. Joy is something that was acquired at the cross and is a gift to me that comes with salvation.

Hebrews 12:2 says “For the JOY set before him He endured the cross…” Jesus joyfully took on the cross so that our joy could be complete. That is incredible! I am able to live a full and abundant life because of the joyful sacrifice that was made. 

Joy is jumping on a beautiful beach in Florida,

Joy is endless laughter on Tuesday night dinners,

Joy is playing monopoly when all the power is out,

Joy is cooking dinner together,

Joy is so many things…

But ultimately …

Joy IS Jesus Christ.

Love Always,

Emma Ball

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11

An Idealistic and Messy Generation

written by Andrew Edscorn

I have been thinking a lot recently about my generation. This is mostly due to the multitude of articles and books recently about my generation. I wanted to give some thoughts about who we are, and how the Greensboro Fellows fits in.

Every generation has a name and a legacy. There’s the Greatest Generation known for their heroism during World War II. The Silent Generation who fought in Korea and Vietnam. The Baby Boomers who are known for their rejection and eventual acceptance of social norms. Generation X who are described alternately as slackers and entrepreneurs. And finally the Millennial Generation.

We as a generation are still young, so we don’t know what our legacy will be. But there has been a lot of talk lately as what my generation will become. Some are fretting that we are leaving the church. Some fear that we care too much about the phones in our hands. Some are deriding us as “the Peter Pan Generation.” Some are calling us out for not focusing on the “things that matter.” I recently heard a marketing expert describe Millennials as “too idealistic and messy.” He meant this as derogatory, his point was that Millennials should stop caring about intangible matters, and start caring about money, business, and so forth.

However, I take this as a compliment. We as a generation are idealistic. We are messy. We care about human trafficking, the poor, the sick, the environment, and so forth. We want to create a better world, and as Christian Millennials, we want to create a better Church that will serve and minister to this world. Another term I have heard is that we are a “generation of potential world changers.”

And while many are worrying about how to “fix the Millennials,” some are trying to give us the tools to be a better generation, and to accomplish our goals. In the Greensboro Fellows, we are given the tools that we need, and we are taught how to be world changers. Through leadership classes with the Center for Creative Leadership, seminary classes through Trinity and with Elijah Lovejoy, internships and volunteer work with some incredible organizations, trips to different places, and being able to meet with and talk to those who have come before us, we are learning more about ourselves and how and where we are called. Coming up on the last few months of the program, I am extremely thankful of what I have learned in this program, and I feel sincerely ready and prepared for what is to come. I think we need more programs like the Greensboro Fellows, so that Millennials can be truly prepared to be a generation of world changers.

The Greensboro Fellows with Fil Anderson, author of Running of Empty

Unbelievable Community

written by Molly Aldridge

Ever wish life was like a musical all of the time, with people randomly breaking out in song and dancing around? That’s kind of how life looks with the fellows 50% of the time. Since joining the fellows in September, I have danced and sang more at inappropriate times in public than ever before (ex. inside the halls of Greensboro College, walking down the street in every city we have visited, mingling in the inner harbor of Baltimore, the list goes on). So, when we started to think about the Greensboro Fellows Banquet…we decided that the night just couldn’t exist without some form of entertainment for our lovely guests. And being the extremely talented broadway performers than we are, we decided to design our own flash mob to a popular song from the movie Pitch Perfect (if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you should probably pause your reading of this and go check it out). I’m not sure what was more fun, actually performing our routine together at the Greensboro Fellows Banquet, or the hours we spent together attempting to perfect our routine and laughing hysterically.

While being able to dance, sing, and laugh together on stage was a lots of fun, the most memorable part of the night was being able to look out at the unbelievably supportive community that the Lord has built in Greensboro. As the plans for the banquet were underway, Tripp continued to share his vision for an event that would bring the community together; and I believe that is just what happened. The Lord has blessed us with an unbelievable community here. Through our internships, volunteer work, host families, and Church of the Redeemer, we are being showered with a loving and supportive community. In the past 6 months, the Lord has taught me so much about not only walking with Him, but also walking in community with Him. I was overwhelmed with joy on Thursday when I was able to see the people that have walked with me through life for the past 6 months all together in one room laughing, mingling, and eating together. We were graced by the presence of host families, mentors, real families, co-workers, church members, friends, local business owners, Christian organizations, past fellows, bosses, students, and the list goes on. For this community, we prayed that God would open hearts, plant seeds, make connections, and that our guests would feel appreciated and loved.

As the program is winding down (I am still in denial of this), we are all beginning to look to what next year holds. Whether we are attending graduate school, moving across the United States (or world), teaching in the classroom, serving in ministry, or staying right here in our beloved city of Greensboro…my prayer is that we will all seek out this same type of loving and supportive community of believers to walk with wherever the Lord takes us.

I also wanted to share this fitting verse that we read together yesterday during Morning Prayer:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Philippians 2:1-2

In conclusion, the banquet turned out to be an amazing event and I am SO thankful for this city and the community that God is continuing to build up and knit together here!

Growing Deep Roots

written by Libby Hase

When I moved back to Greensboro this past fall after five years of being away for college and work, I was craving community. However, after being away for so long, I felt like I didn’t know my own community back in Greensboro.

But the Greensboro Fellows has changed that. Being in this program has helped me reconnect with the city I grew up in. And I am so thankful for that. I am learning just how awesome Greensboro really is. I am learning new things about what is going on in Greensboro. God is really doing some great things through some great people here.

One of my favorite parts of our program is the speakers who come in to talk to us on Thursdays. Various business owners and otherwise generally fascinating people who live in Greensboro come to talk to us about their life stories, their careers, and how God has journeyed with them through it all. I have been so thankful for this because I feel truly blessed that these people are sacrificing their time and energy to come talk to us. Every Thursday I feel like a sponge, happily, eagerly soaking up the wisdom of the unique men and women who speak.

Charlie and Ruth Jones came to talk to us one Thursday. Their passion for community really resonated with me. For the past 6 years, they have been fostering community in Greensboro and have set up a monthly dinner called Greensboro Grub. The idea of Greensboro Grub is to have people from all classes and backgrounds eating at the same table together and sharing life and love with one another. They had a theatre group called Peculiar People for a while and now they have started a nonprofit called City616 to bring community and a sense of belonging to the people of Greensboro. They are currently in a state of expansion and are planning to use their space downtown to house interns, teach theatre classes, have a community-building coffee shop, among other things. I am encouraged and inspired by Charlie and Ruth Jones’ initiatives.

Greensboro Grub

God is bringing amazing people into my life through the Fellows program and I am excited to learn more about what God will do through the people of Greensboro.

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” –Ephesians 4:2-6

“That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” -1 Corinthians 12: 25-27

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” –Romans 15:7

Sunshine State

written by Matt Moench

I am from the Sunshine State. But sometimes the sunshine don’t shine. It didn’t when we were in sunny, sunny Florida a couple of weeks ago. But that fact didn’t prevent our Fellows community from enjoying one another on an exciting adventure hundreds of miles from Greensboro. It was 65 degrees (as opposed to 20 North Carolina), and cloudy, and sometimes rainy, but we still had a great time building our friendships and enjoying the good world our God has made, resting in Him together.

Sadly our noble leader Tripp Graziano was otherwise occupied, preparing for the annual Greensboro Fellows Banquet (which you should come to if you’re able!), and our noble friend Kevin Palcsak was busy getting engaged (rock on!), so they were sadly unable to join us in our gallivanting escapade. But all the same, the rest of the Fellows (and Kinsley’s boyfriend Andrew, who is my new contract bridge partner… don’t judge, we’re not old ladies) traveled down to Florida and spent a couple days at beach-side home that my family owns in Anna Maria, FL. Then most of the fellows went to Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando and had great fun on roller coasters, seeing Harry Potter/buying magic wands, and walking upside down in Seuss Landing. Emily, Libby and I went to St. Petersburg that day and visited my family and hung out at my house. It was a tremendous blessing to be home, even for such a brief period.

I am happy to report that time spent on the beach is a soothing balm for the soul; I believe for me and the entire community. The Greensboro Fellows is not a program for the faint of heart. The close community, challenging life situations, and sinful nature of the human heart all combine to make the Fellows program a pressure cooker. As the Scriptures say, God refines us to look like His Son Jesus through trials, that our faith may be as pure as gold refined by fire. That has very much been my experience in the program. But no matter how beautiful we expect the gold on the other side of the fire to be, flames hurt. And, because of pain, I have found myself at times questioning the goodness of God - His presence and His care. It’s not so much that I haven’t believed intellectually as I have hurt existentially. As much as I love God, in the midst of life and sin I can feel distant from Him.

But thanks be to God that He doesn’t leave us alone! I had a meeting with my mentor Ben Sharpe (an Anglican priest in Winston Salem, NC) just before the trip. He said that one of the characteristic signs of the lies of the evil one are nihilistic feelings and thoughts. Why should we feel so alone? Isn’t there evidence to the contrary? Didn’t Jesus die for us? Aren’t the Fellows, or friends and family, loving and supporting us each day, however imperfectly? Why should we say “it’s only the times I feel depressed and alone that are ‘real’”? Why should we discount the times we feel loved, supported, and accepted?Father Ben’s greatest wisdom: “the trump card is nature. Go sit out under the stars for a half hour. See the order, the beauty, the transcendence. Let it into your soul. And then see how you feel. Then see where your thoughts turn.” Well, I can say that worshiping on the beach is just as good as the stars. Hearing a regular rhythm of gentle waves across white sand, feeling a calm breeze, smelling the salty sea, it all reminded me of how beautiful and tremendous the God of the universe is.

He is not always serene. Sometimes waves crash, sometimes wind becomes a tornado, sometimes the sea smells of death. But for the Fellows on our trip to Florida, God brought us into a rest that He purchased at infinite cost through the death of His Son Jesus. I am eternally grateful. If you don’t know that rest, I would commend God’s Wisdom to you: go look at the stars, or stand on the beach. Play the trump card. The Glory of God will break through into your heart.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1

The War Within

written by Kinsley Craft

A couple of days ago (when all of Greensboro was shut down by a whopping 2 inches of snow) I was given the delight of coming home from work early and watching “Tangled” with my cousin Honey and some of her friends. I was pumped because I love this movie. And one scene in particular stuck out to me while I was watching it last week. Watch the first 45 seconds of this clip:

Love it. Rapunzel is living out the reality of my own heart. I nearly always have an internal debate going on within me: grace v law.

I sin; I mess up all the time. Sometimes I allow the loving waves of God’s grace to wash over me and bask in His unconditional love for me. In those moments I feel so free and liberated from the weight of my sin… in those moments are also when I tend to take liberties with His law. I do what I want because I am assured of His grace. Other times I am utterly aware of my failures and devastated by the realization of how broken I am. I grovel at the feet of Christ begging Him to take pity on my disgusting soul. I can flip-flop between these multiple times in the course of an hour… just like the scene from Tangled shows.

Paul talks about a similar feeling of internal conflict in Romans 7:14-25

“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

I have always loved this passage because I identify with this internal struggle within Paul. Why do I do the things that I don’t want to do? Why I am unable to do the things I know that I should do? Why can I not be simultaneously aware of the overwhelming GRACE of God and guided by the direction of His LAW?

This year the Lord is teaching me more and more about how to live in this tension. His grace frees us, but not to do whatever we want. He frees us to worship Him fully. God is just, and His laws are good. BUT they are HARD to obey. We have to fight against the sinful nature within us. The only way we can win the fight is by letting Him fight for us. As I become more aware of the Lord’s grace in my life, my desire to obey Him is strengthened.

I still have my “tangled” moments when I am fluctuating between joy and despair. When I am overwhelmed by His love then overwhelmed by my sin… and the cycle continues. But Jesus steps into that tension more and more. Teaching me to be aware of His grace and His law. Recognizing that I will never be perfect and always be in need of both in order to live for Him. Jesus steps into my internal war and reminds me that He has already won. He won 2,000 years ago when He chose to take on every sin I would ever commit, yet He still loves me.

Romans 7:25

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”