Speaker: Maddie Russo, US-2 Alumna
Maddie Russo: So the Global Mission Fellows program helped me discern and find what came next for me in a lot of ways. GMF placed me at an unbelievable site, in Florida. I worked at a church there and I got to do a lot of different things in church mission and justice work in the different fields and I loved every moment of it. It helped me discern that I feel called church work actually, which I never really thought. I feel called to be the bridge between the church and the community to continue working for and seeking justice and trying to make our sacred spaces more inclusive and justice-seeking, community building and Christ-centered, where all can belong and know they are created in the image of God and no matter their race or ethnicity, where they come from, their age or ability or neurotypical or neurodiverse, housed or unhoused, education level, socio-economic status, just all of those things. So it led me to what I do now, which is creating a new college and young adult ministry here in my home church in Louisiana, where I'm really trying to be intentional in building a beloved community for young adults. So, GMF really helped me form that and it was just an incredible experience.
