By Jack Woods
Over the past nine months, I have experienced in new ways the sweetness of true community. What a gift it has been. When you engage your head, heart, and hands alongside other people, you experience a level of closeness that cannot be earned otherwise. We have been blessed to learn from people like John Kyle, Bill Fullilove, Irwyn Ince, and Bill Clark among many others who have spurred meaningful and impactful conversations with the other fellows.
We have been blessed by the opportunity to enter into one another’s sorrows and joys and to truly “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” We have been blessed to serve alongside one another whether in Children or Student Ministries or at Cornerstone and feel the pleasure of a job well done. Leaving these people will be incredibly hard, and I am already anticipating the good but hard pain of saying goodbye to a chapter in my life that has shown God’s goodness in ways that I know I do not deserve.
Last week at Commons was Alumni Night. We had the chance to glean wisdom from past fellows who know what it’s like “on the other side.” I was encouraged to hear their continued passion for the program and how it continued to have an indelible impact on their lives. While each of the former fellows had helpful insights, what stuck with me most actually came from the husband of a former fellow, Evan Bjorndal.
He spoke to one of the most foundational blessings of the fellows' year, that it gives each of us a “roadmap” of how to enter into community well. I can affirm wholeheartedly that this is true. Amid the sadness of what I am leaving behind is a confident expectation of what lies ahead. As I look forward to starting a new chapter in Winston-Salem, I do so equipped by what the past nine months have taught me.
Finding community that truly knows and loves you is hard. Living out this kind of community when life gets busy and priorities are rearranged is even harder. It can make you question whether it is worth it. Community makes certain demands of you; it creates inconvenience and requires sacrifice. The lack of community makes no demands of you; it creates isolation and independence and requires nothing. In this next stage, I have the choice of whether I will choose the problems associated with community or the problems associated with its absence. The fellows' year has shown me that community is worth sacrificing for, and I am
ready to follow the roadmap I have been given.
Jack Woods is a member of the Capital Fellows class of 2024-25. He is from Brentwood, TN, and is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. This year, he is working at the Human Trafficking Institute in Fairfax, Virginia.
Pictures From The Week
The Fellows last day at Cornerstone :(
Group photo after getting professional headshots taken!
Fellows before "prom" with the Falls Church and Fourth Fellows programs.
Know a Potential Capital Fellow?
If you know a college senior or recent graduate who should consider joining the Capital Fellows program in 2024-25, please encourage them to get in touch with us. The easiest way to express interest in the program is through our Contact Us Form. You can learn more about the program, including application deadlines, by visiting the Capital Fellows website.
About Capital Fellows. Capital Fellows is an advanced leadership and discipleship program for recent college graduates. Through graduate courses, a paid internship, one-on-one mentoring, and many leadership and community service opportunities, fellows develop and apply their gifts in real-world situations while learning to integrate a Christian worldview into all areas of life. Capital Fellows is a unique opportunity to live and work in the Washington DC area and to be an active member of a supportive community that seeks to serve the city with the love of Christ. It is also a unique opportunity to get hands-on experience in the workplace while deeply exploring God’s design for us as workers and contributors to human flourishing.
Pray for the Capital Fellows
Thank you for praying for the Capital Fellows each week!
This weekend, the Season 17 Capital Fellows head off to the beach. We have gone to the same beach house in Duck, North Carolina nearly every year of this program. It's a time of rest and reflection. For some, it's a time for goodbyes as fellows move on to other pastures. Please pray for this group as they spend this last week together.
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About The Fellows Initiative
Capital Fellows is part of a network of similar programs across the country. This network is called The Fellows Initiative. There are 34 Fellows programs in TFI, roughly 3,000 alumni living around the world, and more Fellows programs on the way.
If you know a church in the US or Canada that would benefit from joining TFI by launching a new Fellows program. Please contact TFI by visiting their website.
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