It has been such a gift to get involved with the Charlotte Fellows program this year as the Program Coordinator. I loved my experience as a fellow and it’s been a different kind of gift to be on the other side of things and watch God work in the lives of this year’s class.
On Thursday nights, as part of our weekly schedule, we have roundtable. Roundtable is where we get to sit with different people and hear their stories; how God is working in, around, and through them. These individuals and couples often take us back to their childhood up to the present day and share highlights, struggles, themes, and lessons learned. These have truly been some of my favorite nights of the year. I am learning a lot about how we don’t know people until we have heard their stories and I am learning to never make assumptions of what someone's story is.
A big truth that is nestled into much of the content of the Charlotte Fellows program is that we get to honor God through our work and vocation - regardless of what that work is.
The wonderful thing about God is that he knows exactly what we need, not what we think we need. This is evident in my gracious host family, the Murchisons. Prior to moving to Charlotte, I was so excited to meet them, and I felt so hopeful about this family that I would be living with for the next 9 months. A little intro to my host family: Fred and Katy (parents), Ivy (14) and Ella (12). Rounding it out with 2 pets, we have their dog, Lolli (She and I are pals) and their cat, Raven. (We are… still warming up to each other).
Imagine being asked to solve a physics equation. That’s likely what learning how to round numbers feels like for a third grader.
Every Monday, the Charlotte Fellows serve at Brookstone School’s after school program, and I’ve paired up with the third grade class. In all honesty, sometimes I struggle articulating why we round up or down when I’m helping third graders with their homework. Most of the time, I’m trying to get them to lower their voices or focus on their homework. However, the hecticness doesn’t mean sweet moments don’t happen.
Among other things, the Charlotte Fellows program trains Christian leaders to take up strategic places in the marketplace to do good work for the kingdom. This is an aspect of the Christian life that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the church, and it’s a problem the Fellows program seeks to remedy. But as well-intentioned as it may be, this push can fail in two ways.
When I decided to do the Charlotte Fellows Program, the part I was most anxious about was living with a host family. In college, I was incredibly blessed with a rich community, and for that I am forever thankful. But because of it the transition after college was much harder; the people who I’d done life with for the past four years were scattered across the country. (Things people don’t tell you—leaving college and your people is HARD!!!)
For this Q + A we corresponded with Davis Ridley, Former Charlotte Fellow class of 2012. Davis currently lives in Dallas, TX with his wife, Chelsea, and their newborn child, Bear Samuel Ridley. He works in business development for Encore Live, a full-service event production company. Before spending nine months in the Fellows Program, Davis graduated from Clemson University.
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