Testimonials

When Asked How to Discern if You Should be a Fellow…

“I think it is a great question. When I was a senior in college, I had never heard of Fellows, but someone came to pitch the idea and the way they pitched it was this: When you are immature in your faith, you ask "God what should I do?" When you get a little more mature you start asking "God, who am I? If I know who I am, I will know what to do."  When you are mature in your faith, you start to just ask "God who are you? If I know who you are, I will know who I am, and I will know what to do." Fellows is a year where you sit with the Lord and grow a deeper understanding of who He is. Through that you learn more about who you are, and what you should do with your life. 

At the time, I was struggling with figuring out what I should do after college, and who I wanted to be. When I heard that pitch, it was like the Lord was speaking directly to me and inviting me to sit with him for a year. Looking back now, 10+ years later, I couldn't be more thankful that I responded to that invitation with a yes. 

The first couple of years out of college are really challenging. I think that time period is similar to middle school except the stakes are WAY higher. (If you end up coming I will tell you my whole theory on that) As you enter that period of your life, I don't think there is a better way of starting than taking 9 months to sit with the Lord and grow your faith.

My advice, as you think about this decision, is to spend time with the Lord and try and sense if he is inviting you to sit with him over the next year, or if he is clearly guiding you somewhere else. If he is clearly guiding you somewhere else, then you go that direction. If you think he is inviting you to spend 9 months with him, I wouldn't hesitate to accept that invitation.” - Jake Sipe, RF 14

Hear more from…

  • One of the best decisions I have made was to do The Raleigh Fellows Program. It helped me connect faith and work, understand the importance of service and the church, and gave me an amazing community that was constantly pouring into me loving me well.

  • The Raleigh Fellows Program is a spectacular year of learning who you were designed to be by the most loving and kind Creator. You will learn more about yourself than you probably desire to know or know what to do with, but it will also give you direction on how to live, how to relate to others, and how to make an impact in the world. I truly believe it is the best gift you could give to yourself in the transition into adulthood.

  • Description text goes hereThe Raleigh Fellows Program gave me more than just 9 months of learning, growing, work and development. Although those are all benefits of the program, my biggest realization was I gained a new sense of home. Home includes familiarity, friends, family, and comfort. With my new home, it started with Ashley Crutchfield and her welcoming into her home, which is now a big part of mine. Being a Raleigh Fellows gives you a greater sense of home.

  • Description text goes hereTo those in college who are wondering if they should apply: you are not taking a full time job, you are not entering in to full time schooling. However, fellows is anything but a gap year. A gap year implies a vacancy, emptiness, break, perhaps even a lack of meaning. Fellows is anything but this. Fellows is not a gap year, it is a growing year, a learning year. It is a year spent studying yourself, studying others, and studying God. It is a year working on self, investing in others, and participating in what God is up to in the local church. Fellows is a time for deep friendship and growth. Fellows is for those who value community.

  • Life-changing! In the deepest sense. I got to absorb wisdom through a firehose from incredible men and women for 9 months! The Raleigh Fellows program created a space for me to explore the intersection of faith and work and where I fit into God's plan of redeeming all things.

  • I would recommend the Raleigh Fellows Program to every recent college grad.  The transition out of college can be tough and scary and this program helped me navigate through that transition.  It helped me answer questions such as, "What do I want my life to be about?"  What type of woman do I want to be?" and "How can I serve the Lord in whatever job I'm doing?" 

  • Because Taylor Swift was on to something when she said being 22 is happy, free, confusing, and lonely at the same time; it's miserable and magical. If I didn't have the structure of the Raleigh Fellows Program, I would have floundered in my newfound freedom. If I didn't have the fellows community, I would have wallowed in my loneliness. The first step I took as an adult was toward the fellows program. It anchored me in Christ, and just as importantly, in Christian community. I felt embraced by an entire church community for the first time. That's enough to change your life. Your whole life: the places you go, the jobs you take, the people you date, the words you speak, the opinions you form, the company you keep, the life you lead...My whole life. Changed.