What are you doing next year?

.....well, my friends, let me tell you. It's a great story. And currently a very popular question.

Next year, I will be a fellow in the Capital Fellows program. It is part of the Fellows Initiative (a national program) and it is in McLean, Virginia at McLean Presbyterian Church. That's right, folks, this Georgia girl is headed north! Obviously, I'm not there yet, so I can't tell you exactly what it is like, or even exactly what I'll be doing. But I'll give it a shot and tell you what I know so far.

Three days of the week (Tuesday - Thursday), I'll be at an internship that is TBD. They try to match you with an internship related to your future career interests, so the search is on for something medical/public health/research related. If you have any connections, let me know! (Seriously. Let me know.)

Mondays, Fridays, and every other Wednesday I'll be in class with the other 11 Fellows. Yeah, call me crazy, but I really do like school. :-) The classes are through Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) and they will be in theology, apologetics, evangelism, discipleship, and the like. There is a tuition cost for this part of the program (see side note at the bottom) and I am so excited to see how God provides!

Sundays I'll be helping with youth and children's ministries at Sunday School, the Sunday morning service, and Sunday evening activities.

Monday nights I'll have a round table dinner and discussion with the other Fellows and our program director.

Some weekends I'll be with the youth group on a retreat, or on a retreat with the Fellows class.

I'll have a mentor in the church to meet with too.....

in all that free time. :-)

I'll live with a host family from the church somewhere in the McLean area. Your host family depends largely on your job location (hello, DC traffic!), so I probably won't know where I'm living until the summertime. But I am super excited to find out!

Well, that is what I know for now. I'm sure there will be lots of updates as I find out where I'll be interning, where I'll be living, etc. But it is pretty darn exciting, no?

Here's to heading north,

Lauren

Side note: there is a tuition cost for this program. The classes I will be taking, professors that will be teaching those classes, and various retreat costs all add up to about $6000. I'm not sending out support letters because, well, the economy isn't so great and I don't want people to feel obligated. But, I do want to let you awesome blog readers know that there is an opportunity to support me! Program support contributions should be made payable to McLean Presbyterian Church, list Fellows Program on the “memo” line, and be mailed with a cover note containing my name to: Bill Fullilove, Fellows Program Coordinator, McLean Presbyterian Church, 1020 Balls Hill Road, McLean, VA 22101. As long as they meet these requirements, all donations are tax deductible! Woo! So, if you feel so led, there is no obligation, only opportunity. :-)