When I anticipated getting to know Victoria Maxwell, I had Samuel’s encounter with David as a young man in mind (1 Samuel 16). I didn’t know what the conversation would be like. I was prepared for a short “Spark notes” kind of experience. Instead, I got a page-turner with chapter after chapter, much more than a person might expect from a just-turned-20-year-old.
Victoria is adopted, and she lived with her mom, Connie Maxwell, and dad in Tennessee until she was 15. As a sophomore in high school, she and her mom moved to Breinigsville to live with and take care of her grandmother, as her grandmother experienced increasing needs caused by dementia. My first introduction to Victoria was seeing her singing on the worship team one Sunday morning, but I learned that her worship leading started years before that. As a young teen, she and two friends formed “The Worship Project” and performed at church events and community festivals. She loved leading worship and the churches and festival goers loved having her lead.
Riverbend’s Adam Pinto is Victoria’s cousin and is part of the reason that she and her mom worship with us. At holidays and during summer vacation when Victoria was a child, the Maxwells would often worship at Riverbend as visitors. Victoria grew up in a Methodist church with an aging congregation and a traditional music routine. She loved the sense of welcome that she received when she attended Riverbend. When they moved to the Lehigh Valley, she and her mom settled on Riverbend because of its welcoming, “no judgment,” move-to-the-music style of worship. Unlike some other places, she never felt like she was a disgrace.
One of Victoria’s early tests of faith came at a community youth event in Tennessee where she realized that, although she and her peers were putting on a good show for the public, they were dealing with significant, difficult issues on the inside. At the time, her parents were deciding to divorce and she was dealing with painful experiences. At this particular retreat, she had the opportunity to stand and see that she wasn’t alone in those challenges. It was one of many times when her favorite verse, Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” came to life for her.
Another “I can do all things” season came as she graduated from Parkland High School and contemplated her next steps. College? Work? Something else? The “something else” turned out to be a decision to serve as a short-term volunteer on a Mercy Ship. Victoria had been introduced to Mercy Ships several years earlier when she met Zodi, a member of a family who served with Mercy Ships. The family was visiting Bethann Miller. Zodi was from Ethiopia, and Victoria felt an immediate connection to her because Victoria’s best friend in Tennessee had also been adopted from Ethiopia. This friendship planted seeds, which grew into an idea when Victoria was looking for a “next step” after high school. During her senior year she had been praying, asking God where He wanted her to be. Several people kept asking about an experience with Mercy Ships, and one night when she was working a shift at Chick-Fil-A that she didn’t normally work, she got confirmation that she should apply. As she brought a meal to a family, they were praying. Taking a Philippians 4:13 step, she asked if she could join them in their prayer. She ended up talking with them for an extended time about mission opportunities and Christian college. During this encounter, this anonymous family prayed over her. Soon after, she applied and was accepted for a 6-month service assignment, beginning January 2020. Victoria reflected, “People here exaggerate what Africa is like. They say it is terrible; people are malnourished; it’s a third world continent. That may be true, but people are happy! They may be working three jobs and living in a little apartment, but they are happy. They have smiles. They show up for work (maybe not on time 😊 African time is different than our time in the U.S.!). As long as you are respectful of them, they are respectful of you. They welcome us into their homes. They feed us. It was amazing to be a part of that community.”
Victoria’s Mercy Ship Galley Team
As we all know, 2020 did not go as any of us planned, and that was true for Victoria as well. Her service time—working in the galley, preparing food for the medical teams and patients at a port in Senegal—ended up being three months instead of six months. Being out of country as COVID spread was a scary experience for Victoria, one that again required that she tap into God’s provided Philippians 4:13 power. At first, the ship was locked down. Although the ministry was able to make accommodations for some of the day crew workers to stay, it was determined the best course of action for Victoria was to make her way back to the United States. This was a challenging time, going through airports that were more like ghost towns, watching boards update flights with cancellations after cancellations, borrowing phones from strangers when hers died, just to reach her mom to let her know that she was still making progress toward Newark. Looking back, Victoria said “Behind the scenes there were a million caring people watching out for me.”
Coming back from an international experience, especially one cut short by a pandemic, is not necessarily an easy homecoming. It is usually followed by a time of mourning, and that was true for Victoria. She needed to allow herself to be sad and to acknowledge all the loss she felt. She misses her Mercy Ships community. They were always uplifting. She said it felt like “24/7 church camp.” When she wrestled with faith issues, her team surrounded her and said “Let’s walk through it together. It felt like a hug all the time.”
This is just a recent chapter in a story of how God has been reaching Victoria. While some people are captivated by studying the Bible, Victoria needed to be reached another way. The rituals felt empty, but God found her through people. He came alive to her in contemporary worship. She reflects, “He brings people into my life that just make sense. He is always there, always there holding my hand. I’m always talking to God. Sometimes when I’m singing or another person is singing, the sun will hit the window and you know it’s His presence. I know He is here. He is like the Dad I never had.”
I asked her what the next chapter in her story might be. She is currently studying photo journalism through University of New Hampshire online (an affordable option for college). She is also working at a horse farm, helping to care for the animals. Smiling, she said she’s filthy and happy! Her vision of the future includes graduating with a 4.0, moving out of Pennsylvania and getting an apartment with her best friend, Libby. She hopes to pursue a dream job of working for National Geographic. Right now, as a self-taught photographer, she is trying her hand and testing her skills, capturing unique sights and sounds as her story unfolds. Clearly the seeds that have been planted and the early experiences are helping to shape the storyline yet to be told. In the meantime, life promises to be captured in a great light!
Victoria demonstrates her photographic skills capturing these moments with friends.
Victoria demonstrates her photographic skills capturing these moments with friends.
Victoria demonstrates her photographic skills capturing these moments with friends.