A Fellows Program Testimony

This coming Sunday, September 8, the new class of Fellows will be introduced to the church. The Raleigh Fellows Program is a nine-month leadership development and training program for young adults recently out of college or graduate school. Young men and women from all walks of life come together to engage in a program designed to foster a God-centered view of knowledge, culture, work and life.

Halie Simmons (below) is a 2013 graduate of the Fellows Program. Read about how the Lord worked in her life through her 9 months as a Fellow and how it has changed her perspective about her current and future work.

I came to the Fellows Program after leaving an intense and special community in Boone/Banner Elk, NC, where I was in school. My first day at Church of the Apostles was hard, because it felt so different from the church I attended throughout college. However, through my Fellows year, I was privileged to witness the way one church in Raleigh embodied true community around me. As I began to get to know people at Church of the Apostles and attend classes about the Anglican Church, I fell in love with the structure, the leadership, and the family. I especially grew to cherish communion each Sunday as the focal point of the service. 

The Fellows Program itself was a tremendous gift to me coming out of college. So many friends of mine have not had the opportunity to learn or discuss ideas surrounding faith, work, and how the two mix, as I have this past year. I am so grateful for the way the Fellows Program introduced me to wild ideas about the way God can use me in any vocation. I attended conferences with the Fellows where speakers of all backgrounds talked to us about how these ideas of the intermingling of faith and work revolutionized their own lives and walks with God. I have much to learn, but I am indebted to the Fellows Program and Church of the Apostles for the ways they have equipped me for this new year (post-Fellows). 

Right now, as I begin a new job, I want to steward my position well. A lot of what I learned from my time as a Fellow was about stewardship: stewardship of life, time, money, body, mind, etc. My new position is a blessing I want to give back to God, and I want to see the power of Jesus work through it.

Thank you,

Halie Simmons

Fellows Class 2013