Our Blog

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Thy Faithfulness! 
Lamentations 3:22-23

Nine years ago, September 2015, the Lord dropped me into the headmaster role at Rockbridge Academy. That first day of school happened to mark the school’s twentieth anniversary. I had been privileged to be a curious by-stander when Rockbridge Academy began as a start-up with only 23 students in 1995. When the Lord navigated me onto the faculty a couple of years later, I took my place among countless folks who have, through the years, labored at this school with the belief that God is doing something inconspicuous but mighty in this small corner of His kingdom. 

I look back now as we approach 450 students and celebrate some 425 alumni from graduating classes spread out over more than two decades and can testify yet again that it is only by God's faithfulness that the doors have opened each day since the very beginning. Only by God’s faithfulness has Christ remained the central focus of our education and discipleship of children, and by His faithfulness, alumni are bringing the lordship of Christ joyfully into their families, their churches, their communities, and their workplaces. 

Though I could point to recent enrollment growth, a history of terrific faculty, the Belvoir property story, or the campus we now inhabit on Evergreen Road as mile markers of God's faithfulness, I think it is the people, continually transformed by the Gospel, that represent God's faithfulness most clearly. Each precious soul that has been part of this community leaves an eternal testimony proclaiming that we have a faithful God. 

When we consider the founders, former faculty, and past administration, and even so many people recently who have gone on to glory, the names are simply too many to list. But it is God who used each one to leave an indelible mark, not merely on the institution of Rockbridge Academy, but more importantly, on His kingdom. The current generation, therefore, is simply the next reverberation of God being God, providing a community that remains unwaveringly about Jesus transforming lives through academics and culture. It is the people—imperfect though we may be until heaven—that continue to be the trophy of God's faithfulness and glory at Rockbridge Academy.

As this September turns to autumn, and the holidays then usher us into 2025, we will turn our attention once again to planning some serious celebration in gratitude. The Rockbridge Academy that will open its doors, Lord willing, a year from now in September of 2025 will officially mark its thirtieth anniversary, and we want that school year to be memorable. There will be celebrations, times to gather old and new folks together, and of course lots of remembering. Remembering is a rehearsal of His faithfulness, and as such, an act of worship.

Remembering is a rehearsal of His faithfulness, and as such, an act of worship.

We want to remember the fact that our school began as an idea the Lord planted in the heart of one couple who, after stumbling upon a book about classical Christian education, could not get this idea of a gospel-saturated, thought-captivating education for their children out of their heads. Gathering a small group of friends, those first board members laid their time, prayers, and credit cards on a kitchen table, expecting, in faith, that God would grow something from the vision He had planted in their hearts.

We want to remember those first teachers…three young women who loved the Lord and loved the prospect of shepherding children; who desired to see their students take every thought captive for Christ.  This was not without risk. At times that first year, they were unsure there would be a paycheck in their box at the end of the month.  

We want to remember those first parents who caught the vision of a thoroughgoing discipleship of children, who signed up their kids for a tiny school that made big promises but, as of yet, had no track record, no traditions, no athletic program, and no students past third grade… therefore no dual college credit program, no graduating classes, and no impressive college acceptances.

We want to remember the generous giving of donors, and a community determined to fund a home on Evergreen Road, not only for their children, but for future generations. And even today in 2024, we both look back and reach forward, giving generously to see the flourishing of a program that has become a haven for Christian families in a greater culture sorely needing reformation. 

In the coming season, we will ready ourselves to remember 30 years-worth of faculty, staff, and administrators, many come and gone, students and families who have moved in and out of the community, grandparents pouring out gifts and prayers, as well as past history parades, Christmas concerts, soccer and lacrosse seasons, sports finales, musicals and soirées, graduations and Grand Tours. At thirty years in 2025, we look forward to glorying in how the Lord, ever faithful, has used young and old faces for long and short seasons to accomplish a remarkable vision, despite our inevitable failings.  His vision. His gospel. His school. His ongoing accomplishments by His faithfulness.