My name is Spenson Toussaint, and since 2022 I’ve served as a chaplain with RHFH. That same year, I made a decision that would shape both my faith and my ministry: I enrolled in theological studies.

The program ran in a hybrid format, mixing online classes with in-person sessions. Three nights a week — Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. — I sat down for class. Once a month, on the first Saturday, I made the trip to campus for seminars and exams. It took four years, and it asked a lot of me: discipline, commitment, and the willingness to keep going even when it was hard.

I started out not knowing a single classmate. That changed by the end of my first year. Most of the other students were already pastors, or simply older than me, and yet they welcomed me like family — a son in the faith, a brother in Christ.

None of it came easily. I live in Cazale, where the internet connection is unreliable at best. Most evenings, after a full day of work at RHFH, I’d climb the hill near my home just to catch enough signal to log into class. Some nights it poured rain the whole time. I stayed anyway, because I knew, without doubt, that this was something God had called me to do.

Over four years, I studied biblical studies, systematic theology, Christian ethics, ministry leadership, and practical pastoral care. Along the way, I also found myself encouraging classmates who were falling behind on assignments, and I helped organize our graduation activities.

Looking back, this education did more than fill my head with knowledge — it deepened my faith and sharpened my ability to serve. It has prepared me to minister with greater effectiveness, to share God’s love more freely, and to serve the communities entrusted to my care with a fuller heart.