Rockbridge Academy Blog
Reconnecting with Rockbridge in Costa Rica!
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:16
For those who don’t know me, my name is Noelle. I graduated from Rockbridge Academy in 2022 and am now studying Philosophy at Princeton University. This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to reconnect with part of the Rockbridge community by serving as staff on a 5-week mission trip to Costa Rica. My trip was organized by Royal Servants, a mission organization for high school students that focuses on discipleship and equipping students to serve the church and share the gospel in their communities back home. Our team was being led by Mr. Matt Swanson, upper school Bible teacher at Rockbridge. I came on the trip as a college-age leader, so my main role was to mentor a small group of girls throughout the trip. As a team, we studied the Bible together, we prayed together, we worshiped together, and we did outreach together. Throughout the summer, I was encouraged to see how God had been preparing me for this experience and was teaching me to trust in Him and His plan for me.
Mr. Swanson continually stressed to the team that we were not bringing Jesus to Costa Rica. We were there to join in the work that God was already doing there. Each day we would head out to do gospel-centered outreach alongside students from our hosting church. We also visited schools to teach English, play games, build relationships, and talk to students about faith. Certain days of ministry were fast-paced and encouraging; other days were slow or frustrating.
There were definitely times when I wondered why I had even come on the trip. Even after sharing the gospel with strangers and having many spiritually-oriented conversations with the girls in my small group, I wondered whether I would really make a life-long impact on anyone’s heart this summer. As I wrestled with these thoughts and feelings, God answered my unspoken questions through the encouraging words of my leaders and, towards the end of the trip, through the testimonies of girls in my small group who spoke of how they had been inspired by my example to live out their faith in Christ.
Throughout the summer, I saw God redeem discouraging situations for our good and His glory.
Throughout the summer, I saw God redeem discouraging situations for our good and His glory. One afternoon our team arrived in the nearby town of Paraíso and it immediately began raining. We went out in groups looking for people to invite to our outreach activities, but we eventually all ended up back under the big tent at the park. We didn't end up doing our presentations that day because no one came. The team was pretty discouraged. While we were standing around with our games and equipment wondering what to do, a middle-aged man named William happened to pass by and stopped under the tent to get out from the rain. One of my teammates and I managed to engage him in conversation, and we ended up talking about everything from sports and culture to Jesus and heaven. William was a Christian and reminded us that we were family in God even though we didn't have much else in common. We talked for probably half an hour and had the opportunity to pray together (in a mixture of English and Spanish). What strikes me with gratitude and wonder is that none of that would have happened if it hadn't been raining! And this was only one of the many stories I could tell of how God used difficult circumstances for His pre-prepared purposes.
God also encouraged me throughout the summer by making it clear that He had placed me on this particular team. I only discovered the opportunity to go to Costa Rica with Royal Servants after a number of other summer opportunities fell through. When it seemed like I had exhausted every avenue to find funding from my school for the trip, I was finally able to qualify for their service internship program, which, along with the generous support of the family of God, made it possible for me to go on this mission trip. God had been working for months and honestly, years before I ever left the country to place me on that airplane.
Another way in which God confirmed that He was using me for His purposes was through a small contribution I brought to our team: Spanish. At the beginning of the trip, I was daunted but also pleasantly surprised to discover that my early-intermediate Spanish skills were the best we had to work with. This turned out to be useful (and fun!) for communicating with people at our host church and also with those we met during outreach activities. I was thrilled that many previous hours of language study were proving fruitful in ways I hadn’t previously foreseen, but God had preordained.
Most importantly, however, God opened my eyes to see the work He was doing in my heart throughout the entire experience. I was being stretched in my listening, encouragement, and conflict resolution skills as I helped young teen girls learn how to live in a community together. I was being humbled as a young adult as I submitted myself to an unusual amount of restriction over my personal life for the well-being of the entire team. I started noticing an increased desire in myself to read and study the Word of God. Like Rockbridge, Royal Servants emphasizes the importance of reading, studying, and memorizing Scripture. Each day we would have an hour set aside in our schedule for individual quiet time with God. We also had daily teachings and discussions about our readings in addition to ambitious Scripture memory assignments each week. I was pleased to realize how much Scripture I still had tucked away from my days in Rockbridge grammar school! Through the daily practice of these spiritual disciplines, I grew closer to God and even became excited to continue Bible memory work after I returned home.
Most importantly, however, God opened my eyes to see the work He was doing in my heart throughout the entire experience. I was being stretched in my listening, encouragement, and conflict resolution skills as I helped young teen girls learn how to live in a community together. I was being humbled as a young adult as I submitted myself to an unusual amount of restriction over my personal life for the well-being of the entire team.
There were definitely days this summer when I felt discouraged and wondered what I was doing on this trip. In the midst of those moments, God was slowly teaching me that He sees me and knows me and had a plan for everything I was going through. I was especially encouraged by Psalm 139, which describes how God knows us better than we know ourselves. He is intimately aware of our thoughts and habits and feelings. He has authored our lives, down to each day.
God placed me on my mission trip this summer to stretch me in new ways and use me for His purposes. How was God working in and through you this summer? You might not have gone on a mission trip or done much out of the ordinary, but you can be confident that God has been at work. Take some time to reflect on what He’s been up to. Don’t forget: God knows you better than you know yourself, and He has woven each day of your life into His master story.
Faith in Action: Summer Missions with Mr. Swanson
My passion and calling in life is to make disciples of Jesus, and part of how God has led me to do that is through leading mission trips with Royal Servants Mission Trips during my summers away from teaching Bible at Rockbridge Academy. Royal Servants is a division of Reign Ministries, an organization that exists to build and advance the kingdom of God by developing youth and youth leaders who have great commandment hearts and live great commission lifestyles.
My first summer with Royal Servants was as a 17-year-old student. I loved the community of a Royal Servants team. It was a powerful experience to be a part of a team of my peers who were all focused on a unified mission for Christ as they worshiped and sought the LORD together in the Scriptures. Sharing the gospel was a really stretching experience for me, especially cross culturally. I loved every minute. I returned for a second and third year as a student and received leadership training and the opportunity to study the Bible in Israel. After I started teaching in 2008, it was a no-brainer to return to serve with Royal Servants during the summers and help provide that same discipleship experience for the next generation of students.
We believe that this sort of training and mission experience can be an integral part of growing young people into what David Kinnaman calls “resilient Christians” who are able to sustain and live out their Christian faith in a post-Christian culture.
A Royal Servants Trip is different from many other mission trips. They are between 5 and 8 weeks long and start with intensive training at our camp prior to going overseas. As a part of the trip, there is an intensive discipleship training program that each middle school, high school, and college student goes through. We study and memorize the Scriptures together, talk about the Word in small groups, worship, and learn how to effectively share the Gospel in a cross-cultural setting. Our trips are not meant to be an end in and of themselves but are field experience and a part of the training to go, live out, and share the Gospel at home. It is a summer of service for a lifetime of ministry.
We send teams all over the world each summer. Last summer (2023), my wife Stacey and I, along with our three children, led a trip to Costa Rica where Royal Servants has been partnering with a church for 20 years. Our ministry is focused on connecting our students with other teenagers and giving them the opportunity to share the Gospel. Most days we traveled to a nearby town and set up at the local soccer field. We would play pickup games of soccer along with other games and activities. We also used dance, drama, and puppets (for little kids) to build a crowd and share the Gospel. Members of the youth group from our church partner joined us as interpreters since most of our students did not speak much Spanish. On our last day of ministry, we had been invited to the local elementary school to serve in the classrooms during the morning. During recess, we played and shared the Gospel. After lunch, Pastor Alfonso, the Costa Rican pastor with whom we partner, had the chance to do a special assembly with 5th and 6th grade students. During that time, 15 students prayed to put their faith in Christ. It was an awesome way to end our ministry in Costa Rica.
We continue to find that spending five weeks away from the routines and distractions at home and moving into an intentional community focused on seeking and serving Jesus continues to be a profound and life changing experience for many students.
We continue to find that spending five weeks away from the routines and distractions at home and moving into an intentional community focused on seeking and serving Jesus continues to be a profound and life-changing experience for many students. We believe that this sort of training and mission experience can be an integral part of growing young people into what David Kinnaman calls “resilient Christians” who are able to sustain and live out their Christian faith in a post-Christian culture. We had one Rockbridge student join us last summer. We plan to continue to serve in Costa Rica this summer (2024) and, LORD willing, for years to come. We would love to have more Rockbridge students join us in serving Christ around the world this summer. Would you or your student be willing to join us in a life-changing summer of seeking Jesus together?
Please contact me at mswanson@rockbridge.org for more information.
CLICK HERE to read the final update from our summer 2023 trip.
Matt Swanson, a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, has served as an upper school Bible teacher for 16 years and has been leading Royal Servants Missions Trips for 14 years. He joined Rockbridge Academy in 2022. Matt and his wife, Stacey, have three children.
Letting God Work Through Relational Ministry
Faithfulness over time works wonders in the heart of man. This past summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to experience this firsthand. I traveled to Budapest, Hungary for a month with the Navigators, a worldwide Christian organization.
I learned so much from this trip, but I learned something special—that Hungarians take friendship very seriously. Once you make friends with a Hungarian, you will be friends for life. Because of this cultural norm for friendship, ministry in Hungary is relational. This basically means forming relationships and building trust are a necessary part of sharing the gospel in Hungary.
One sweet example of spiritual conversations stemming from relational ministry happened when my team and I took a trip into the mountains of Slovenia with twenty-three Hungarian college aged students. In most of their minds, this was just a really cool summer camp opportunity. For my team, it was a gateway to relationships, trust, and spiritual conversations. One day, my group was sitting in a beautiful grassy field at the foot of a mountain. As we waited to begin hiking, we split into pairs to discuss the question, “What is trust?” I was paired with Martzi, a student in school studying psychology. He typed me as an extrovert five minutes after he met me. (Who would’ve thought Sarah Williams would be typed as an extrovert? I was proud of that!) I had talked to him a good bit before, so when it came to this question, we were able to jump right in. Martzi is not a believer, but he shared with me that he liked this community because they were different. He felt like he could trust us immediately. “You are all such good people,” he said. “My other friend groups aren’t like this.” As the conversation went on, I explained to him why I am able to trust at all. “Because I put my trust in Jesus,” I said, “I no longer need to lean on my own understanding. He fills my heart, and he is more than I could ever imagine or desire. When Jesus directs my path and I trust Him, He multiplies my ability to extend trust to others and be vulnerable.” Martzi nodded, and we continued talking about his experience in the Christian community. It was such a special conversation stemming from shared trust in one another.
Another example of a memorable conversation happened about a week before we left to return home. In Slovenia, I became friends with a girl named Anna (pronounced like Anna in Disney’s Frozen) who is a fairly new believer. We met on the first day of the camp and after a few days she came up to me and said, “I know we’ve been joking around a lot, but I would really love to be real friends and get to know each other better!” This was so encouraging to my heart. Trust had been built. From that day on, we spent lots of time together. We talked about many things, including the importance of having Christian friendship and community. A few days before I left Hungary, I asked her what she thought of our team coming into her community and then leaving after only a month. “It just seems strange to be here, make friends, and leave,” I said. She looked at me and said something I won’t ever forget. She said, “Just because someone is in your life for a short period of time does not mean that you can’t make a difference to them.” She continued, saying, “It’s like if the people in your life were beads on a necklace. Just like each bead makes some sort of change to your necklace, every person you meet makes some sort of change to you. Even if you only spend one week with someone, you have the ability to make an impact. The bead that represents you on their necklace will never be unthreaded. Therefore, every interaction you have with another person, for however long, is special and important.”
Just because someone is in your life for a short period of time does not mean that you can’t make a difference to them.
I thought about what she said the whole way home. Every interaction I have is an opportunity: an opportunity to impact lives for Jesus. We know the good news of the gospel. In Christ, the joy of Jesus should pour out of us to everyone that we come in contact with. He can and will use us to be the bead in someone's life that makes a difference for the kingdom when we surrender everything to Him.
The best part about this is that you don’t have to travel halfway across the world to do relational ministry! Though I highly recommend that Rockbridge students consider short term missions work, it is first vital that we as Christians and as the Rockbridge community start by focusing on the way we interact with those we see every day. Faithfully showing Jesus to those around us is such a beautiful way to glorify God and enjoy Him. I urge you to think about the way you can share Jesus with those around you. Not just once, but faithfully. Not to build yourself up, but to humbly serve the Lord and build His kingdom.
If any student is interested in learning more about short term missions or what the Navigators ministry looks like on a college campus, my email is sarahkwilliams17@gmail.com. Please feel free to reach out with any questions! I would love to have a conversation with you.
Sarah Williams, '20, is in her third year at Clemson University. She is studying psychology and business management and is planning on pursuing Biblical counseling. She is thankful for the Lord's providence in allowing her to have such beautiful communities both in Maryland and South Carolina.
Path to Full-Time Ministry
This past semester, I began working with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as campus minister at Berklee College of Music in Boston. From when I accepted the job in March to ending this first semester of full-time ministry, I’ve been amazed how tailor-made this job is for me, a gift from God combining three of my deepest passions: music, college ministry, and Jesus.
My passion for music has only grown in more recent years, but back when I was at Rockbridge, you could catch me in musicals, choir, and quartets (I even made it into the orchestra as a late-addition percussionist my senior year). Since then, my love for music has grown, both as a listener/appreciator and as a performer.
My passion for college ministry developed right before I began seminary. I was working as a camp counselor at Summer’s Best 2 Weeks in PA, and in my final term, I was co-counseling a cabin of high school guys. During the day, we’d play sports, race boats, goof off in the mess hall, but then after lights out, my co-counselor and I would invite anyone who wanted prayer or to process life to come out on the porch to chat. A different camper accepted our invitation nearly every night, sharing the weight of social pressures, addictions, anxiety, and more. We would chat and pray, sharing the love of Jesus with each one. Right after that experience, I sensed that God was calling me to college ministry—who’s there on the porch when individuals like these head to college, where those pressures, questions, and fears will only grow? As I worked through my degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I did some ministry with students at Gordon College and then interned with InterVarsity at Endicott College in Beverly, MA, for a year. I knew God was calling me to stay in Boston and that pastoral ministry was in the cards down the road, but college ministry was the call for now.
My passion for Jesus was especially sparked in two classes at Rockbridge. In 7th grade Christ in the Old Testament class I was hooked by Mr. [Nathan] Northup’s vivid teachings on how the Bible was all connected with Jesus shining through all of it, as well as his fantastic illustrations and stories. In 11th grade New Testament class, we worked from Luke through Romans paragraph by paragraph; I didn’t even take notes, I just wanted to listen as we discussed the depths in the pages in front of us (and laughed at Mr. [Tim] Feeney’s jokes). Both of those classes contributed to a desire to dive deeper into Scripture that led me to an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies and then to seminary. (As a cool bookend, my final work in seminary was presenting a message on Christ in the Old Testament to the Endicott InterVarsity chapter.)
As much as I love the academic stuff, that is not what has kept me going. From high school onward, I’ve wrestled with doubts, mental health, fears. I have questioned my love for Jesus and his love for me plenty of times. I’ve experienced loss, ache, and silence. Yet even in all of this, Jesus has shown himself to be the Shepherd of my soul, even when he reveals himself as faithful Surgeon. This is what ultimately motivates me to be a minister at Berklee and wherever I am in the future. I’ve experienced Jesus alone as the light in the darkness and injustice of this world and as the healer of what is broken, lost, and wounded in myself and the world. And I want students to know his grace and easy yoke and to share it on their campus and in our city, bringing his light to the lost. The Holy Spirit has already been doing exciting and powerful work on Berklee's campus. It’s an honor to witness and be a part of it.
If you’d be interested in hearing more about my ministry at Berklee and partnership opportunities (prayer/financial), please reach out to me at sskitchin96@gmail.com and/or follow my monthly newsletter at https://sskitchin.wordpress.com/.