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Faith in Action: Summer Missions with Mr. Swanson

March 20, 2024
By Matt Swanson, Upper School Theology Teacher

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.

Posted in Upper School

Classical Christian Science: Competency Plus Virtue

March 07, 2024
By Robyn Kennedy, Upper School Science Teacher

"Science is the search for the truth.” 
– Linus Pauling, founder of Quantum Chemistry & Molecular Biology

Imagine a medical student memorizing cardiovascular system pathology for his licensing exam. Picture a pilot polishing up her landing skills in an aircraft simulator. Think of a teenage boy playing a car-racing video game.  When does the medical student learn compassion for his patients? How does the pilot train for the courage that gives her a steady hand? Which game module teaches the adolescent driver good judgment? All three scenarios present a person who has trained for hours, weeks, or even years honing the skills necessary for their vocation; yet all three are missing elements essential to their roles. In contrast, a classical Christian education seeks to develop the whole person from competency to relationship to virtue. At Rockbridge, science classes are no exception.

Consider a scientist who has completed all the necessary education to be a leader in her field. She is familiar with cutting-edge research, and she has the analytical skills to design and build solutions. But in which class did she learn to appreciate the complexity of real-world problems? What research did she do on the ethics of her specialty? How much training has she had on written and oral communication to experts and decision-makers in the broader world? Modern scientists are trained to be competent, but lack preparation in interpersonal skills and moral character.

Science knowledge has exploded in the last century. The reflex response in education has been to cram more technical skills into the science classroom. In contrast, a liberal arts education is larger than the mere transmission of technical information. Modern classical science aims to combine practical knowledge with transformation of the social and personal aspects of a student’s character. As a classical Christian school, Rockbridge Academy pursues this transformation in light of biblical truths which develop the student as a bearer of the imago Dei.

In the dialectic years, students cultivate disciplined mental habits through systematic training in logic and Latin. As they move into rhetoric science, the focus shifts to developing habits in both computational and analogical thinking. While memorization and repetition are important, we eschew any method that limits learning to regurgitation of facts and algorithms in order to pass a test.  Robust learning must be held in tension with contemplation, wonder, rest, and connection to the narrative of science, the story through which we see God’s incredible creation.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
– Philippians 2:3-4

The prevailing secular model for bright students seeking to make an impact on the world is a laser-like focus on areas of self-interest: grades, accolades, and individual accomplishments. As Rockbridge students build a foundation of scientific competency, we seek to create an environment which is truth-seeking for the benefit of the whole, not advantage-seeking for the benefit of the one. Rhetorical skills in speaking and writing are developed and used to teach and mentor others. Students are encouraged to ask questions about science and faith as they practice thinking deeply and putting difficult thoughts into words. They are led to see their developing abilities in the light of humility and stewardship: the humility of seeking truth rather than seeking rewards, and stewardship of the earth as we partner with God to be redeemers of culture and creation.

Foremost, our goal for the students at Rockbridge Academy is to guide their journey into full personhood. From the early days of grammar school until the final year of rhetoric, science students are encouraged to order their loves as they seek knowledge. We worship the Creator and have confidence in Him alone. We learn with boldness and purpose, not with fear of an unknown future. Our posture toward truth is one of awe as we see the Creator’s fingerprints on all of creation. We pray for students to leave these halls with every part of their education integrated into a whole, harmonious person: able to fulfill God’s call as stewards of creation, liberated in the freedom of Christ.

 

Robyn Kennedy has a degree in chemical engineering and a background in manufacturing and data acquisition systems. She teaches upper school science at Rockbridge Academy. Her husband is a retired Navy captain, and she and her family have served our country for many years at duty stations all over the world and around the country. She has four children and three of them are currently students at Rockbridge Academy.

Recent Posts

3/20/24 - By Matt Swanson, Upper School Theology Teacher
3/7/24 - By Robyn Kennedy, Upper School Science Teacher
2/22/24 - By Daron Lawing, Upper School Logic and History Teacher
2/7/24 - By Sophia Berger, class of 2025
1/24/24 - By Olivia Reardon, Class of 2022

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