Student Praise for Mr. Fitzroy

I have had the wonderful opportunity and privilege to teach and mentor many students at South Shore Christian Academy and St. David's School. Student testimonials mean so much to me as an educator and help to remind me of the great task to which God has called me! Below are some unsolicited student testimonials in their own words.
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“I cannot begin to describe how much Chapel Team has improved my musical skills. You really have helped me go out of my comfort zone and play by ear, and I am very grateful for that. I also want to thank you for building my faith immensely and encouraging me to choose Gordon! Thanks again for all you have done for me!”

12^th Grade Student

South Shore Christian Academy, Weymouth, MA

"Thank you for everything, you are the best! This is harder than the last Bible course I took last year. Thank you for showing me that I can do this and for pushing me to do more than my best! I raised my bar so much and I am reaching for my bar! I think that you are the best Bible teacher I’ve ever had"

7^th Grade Student

St. David’s School, Raleigh NC

"This was my favorite class all year! Thanks, Mr. Fitzroy I will miss you!"

7^th Grade Student

St. David’s School, Raleigh NC

“I am excited to read the book you gave me, thank you for that, it means a lot. Thank you for an amazing year in class and on Chapel Team!"

12^th Grade Student

South Shore Christian Academy, Weymouth, MA

"Thank you for raising the bar high and for teaching us in a way that makes it fun for us to learn. I am so glad to have you as a teacher!"

7^th Grade Student

St. David’s School, Raleigh NC


"You teach the Bible in an interesting and enriching way! I learned a lot of new information about how the books of the Bible fit together and grew in my relationship with Christ because of your lessons!"

7^th Grade Student

St. David’s School, Raleigh NC

“Thank you for being a part of my SSCA education! Your class has helped me grow in my analytical writing skills and pointed me to a lot of great Christian resources!”

12^th Grade Student

South Shore Christian Academy, Weymouth, MA

Why I Want to Teach in a Christian School

My motivation to teach in a Christian school comes naturally from my commitment to teaching and serving in Christian education (described above in my Philosophy of Christian Education). Having taught and served in a Christian school for the past four years, my vocational calling has been confirmed and continues with unrelenting passion. My motivation to teach at a Christian school is found in three primary areas.

First, I am motivated not only to be a part of a positive Christian educational community in general, but more specifically, to be a part of biblical education. This can only be done well within the context of a Christian school. Biblical and theological illiteracy is a major issue facing our culture generally, and the Christian church specifically. We are becoming more and more disconnected from our historical and spiritual roots. One of my specific goals and motivations for working in a Christian school is to increase students’ level of biblical and theological competency in order that they, the next generation, might be able to reach the world more effectively for Christ and His Kingdom!

The second motivation that I have for working within a Christian school is the community found there. I have had the privilege to teach and serve in three different Christian schools, all very different from each other. The common thread that I have found in these differing institutions was an unflinching commitment to Christ among the faculty and staff. The community that results from an entire faculty with the same basic Christian worldview is second to none. It is remarkable to be able to pray for students with fellow faculty members, and to pray and support one another as fellow Christian educators. This is the kind of professional environment that I would strive to cultivate, and in which I want to continue serving.

Finally, my ultimate desire is to teach and serve in an educational setting that is distinctively Christian, while remaining faithful to the pursuit of knowledge and academic excellence. Two slogans used frequently at my alma mater, Gordon College, were “freedom within a framework of faith” and “faith seeking understanding.” As an educative community, we sought out the meaning of these two phrases, both as Christians, and as learners. As a teacher in a Christian school, I seek to cultivate that experience with my students; an intellectual curiosity from a distinctively Christian perspective. Having both a “framework of faith” and a “faith which seeks understanding,” affords students the freedom to be challenged by hard truths and deep questions, yet have the foundation and core beliefs, as well as the support of an authentically Christian faculty, to assimilate answers and new knowledge into an already established framework of faith. I am eager to teach at an institution that is intentional about its endeavors; not merely seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but intentionally engaging with various academic fields from a distinctively Christian perspective!

Soli Deo Gloria!
Peter T. Fitzroy
February 26, 2018

Personal Testimony

I was raised in a Christian home. Therefore, I do not consider myself to have had a dramatic “conversion experience.” However, there have been certain moments in my life that I look back upon to see the grace of God being bestowed upon me. First, I was born into an Evangelical, Bible believing home and was baptized and dedicated into my church as an infant. I see this as having profound significance in my life. Just as in the old covenant, a Jewish boy would have been circumcised on the eighth day and brought into the covenant community, so was I baptized and dedicated into the new covenant by faith. The second time when I saw God’s grace in my life is when he laid it upon my heart to live for him. When I attended Camp Fireside (Barrington, NH), I decided to live for Christ with my whole life. This was not a “conversion experience” but rather a realization that I need to decide every day to remain in God’s new covenant; within Christ. Third, I was baptized by the same church in which I was dedicated in the sense of “believer’s baptism.” I see this as a sacrament and another sign of God’s grace in my life. Like Martin Luther said, my baptism is a point upon which I can look back and see God’s grace in times of trial. These experiences in my formative years structured a foundation of commitment to Christ and his Kingdom that is unwavering. 

Since these experiences of deciding to live for Christ, I have had many opportunities for spiritual growth throughout the years. In addition to the ways that I have grown spiritually described above, I have grown the most in the past through my relationships and shared experiences with other believers. I have always had people in my life that have challenged me in my faith toward spiritual growth. The most important of these are my parents. They encourage me to stay strong, and remind me to pursue God. I have learned a great deal about the importance of keeping Christ the center of a family life through them. Second, my youth pastors in middle school and high school were instrumental to my spiritual growth, and were always challenging me to go deeper with Christ through teachings, relationships of discipleship, and meaningful ministry experiences. Third, my professors at Gordon College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Boston College School of Theology have challenged my mind and my will to be a Christian who is smart and knowledgeable about many areas of the Christian life. They have encouraged me to challenge my foundations of faith and life, but were there to help me rebuild them and strengthen them. My wife is the final person that should be included in this category. She has also challenged me in my beliefs so that I truly own them. She is constantly encouraging me to use my gifts and calling to serve God’s purposes. She is always in support of decisions I make to that end. 

My current relationship with God is this: I realize that I am nothing, and am in total and utter dependence on Jesus Christ in this life and after. He is everything. I have decided to serve him with my entire life because it is his anyway. It is my prayer that every aspect of my life will glorify him. I am trying to live my life in the tension of this world in which the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated but not yet consummated. I am thankful to God that he has given his Spirit to be our guide as we stumble through life still in this present evil age. I am trying to figure out what it means truly to “live life in the Spirit” (Gal. 5-6).