Hi, I’m Hope Kirk. I’m 24 and live in Livingston, MT with my parents, sister, and cat. I work as a receptionist at a local insurance office part time, do pet sitting almost full time on the side, love to travel and make new friends, and have graduated with a Certificate of Reformed Baptist Studies!

If you had asked me ten years ago where I would see myself in a decade, I don’t think seminary would have made the list. I distinctly remember telling someone as a teenager that I couldn’t imagine even wanting to go to Bible college, because that sounded so boring. Little did I know, God had other plans. Through the encouragement and exhortation of friends and family, that lost little heathen not only went on to be saved five years later, but to be lit with the fire of enthusiasm for a proper understanding of who this God is and how he says to live; theology matters! Who better to tell us how to order our lives than the God who knit together our inward parts, the one who created and sustains the universe by the word of his power?

A person’s theology impacts their life in more ways than we would originally think; the way you live shows what you believe about God to a watching world. RBS would almost seem like an accidental discovery along the way, to an outsider. What started as just a Google search for somewhere to go to school resulted in four trips to Sacramento, one to Riverside, and one to Grand Rapids for modules. I walked in as a complete stranger, and left feeling like I found the family I didn’t know I was missing.

I was in the beginning phases of figuring out Christianity, theology, and faith for myself for the first time as a young adult, and the Lord used the teaching at the modules and the conversations afterwards to finally bring me to faith in the fall of 2021. God was so obviously at work during that time; it was unmistakable. The timeline of that year still blows me away. God was so good. I went from years of uncertainty and doubt to finally coming to an understanding of what it means to trust God for myself, and rest in the finished work of Christ. It is not my job to have all the answers, but to rest and trust in the God who does.

Through this passion for theology and a deep sense of love, care, and empathy for people, I hope to have laid the foundation with this certificate for what will eventually be a biblical counseling degree or certification of some kind. If I even use such training professionally or not, I don’t much care. Counseling training will in the very least make me a better friend as it is, and that would be enough for me. I’m very grateful for my time at RBS, and hope to return for more classes in the future as the Lord wills.

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

1 Timothy 4:7-10