School is winding down, those Texas temperatures are climbing up, and everyone's favorite time of year is upon us! Summertime is here and with it, the return of "Significant Summer". Think purposefulness, meets silliness, mixed with a little friendly competition all for the purpose of helping your family grow in love for God and each other and you have a pretty good idea of what "Significant Summer" is all about.
The Mission
Significant Summer exists for the purpose of equipping and empowering you to make disciples in and through your home this summer! As parents, we get 18 summers with our kids before they leave our home and our hope is that every family at Watermark makes the most of those opportunities for things that will last forever. We believe parents can make simple but intentional plans to develop as a family in four key areas: Rest, Serve, Grow, and Play.
The Plan
Once again this year, we've put together a Significant Summer Family Book to serve as a simple guide for your summer. In it you will find a specific schedule of "challenges" for your family to participate in on certain weeks as well as other creative ideas in each of the four key areas for you to consider doing together. There are simple definitions and memory verses for Rest, Serve, Grow and Play that you may want to commit to memory as well. Whether you use this as a step-by-step guide through the summer or a general guide to help you craft a unique plan for your family, our prayer is that this will be a tool for you to be intentional to make the summer significant.
Make It Sticky!!!
Significant Summer is about more than just individual families living out this mission. It is about a community of families challenging and encouraging one another in our mission to make disciples this summer. We have deemed 2016 "The Sticky Year", focusing our efforts on encouraging families to invest in things that help kids develop a faith that sticks with them for a lifetime. To go with that sticky theme, we are playing a giant game of "Double Dare" which adds a fun element of competition as well as the opportunity to build community with other families who live around you. The map below tells you what team your family is on, based on what campus you attend and where you live in the Metroplex.
Once you know what team you’re on, you’ll want to join the Orange, Blue, Yellow or Purple team on Facebook. By posting pictures of your family participating in the weekly "Double Dare Challenges", you earn points for your team. Each Sunday, we will announce the winning team of each week's challenges and at the end of July the team who won the most challenges will be declared the "Double Dare" winner and have the chance to see their team's Watermark Kids staff representatives get slimed! The 8 weekly challenges can be found in the Significant Summer Family Book and will also be posted on the Facebook groups on the week of that challenge!
Additional Resources
There are lots of ways to have a Significant Summer and the "Double Dare Challenges" are just a few of those. The goal of the summer is not to win the game (that's just the silly, fun part). The goal is to be purposeful as parents to grow the love you and your children have for the Lord and each other. Check out these additional resources for more ways to accomplish that goal.
- Backyard Bible Club Materials
- Starting Blocks Memory Verse Flashcards (preschool)
- http://cms-cloud.watermark.org/Elem-Verse-Flash-Cards-14-15.pdf?mtime=20150803192104http://cms-cloud.watermark.org/Elementary-Verse-Flash-Cards-14-15.pdf?mtime=20150803192852Watermark Kids Memory Verse Flashcards (elementary)
- Family Service Opportunities
"Talk About Them . . ."
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 commands us to "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might," to teach these commandments to our children and "talk about them" throughout the day. We want to encourage you this summer to create space for conversations, capture moments that lead to a greater love for God and cultivate conversation by sharing with your kids what God is teaching you. Our prayer is that by doing so, God might use this summer to nurture the faith of your family so that you all rest in His sovereignty, serve for the glory of the King, grow in your love for the Savior and delight together in the joy of the Lord.