(This post was written by Chuck Carringer, Pastor of Family Ministries)

I think I have an abnormally high love for summer. Perhaps some of the reasons for this are because I have spent most my life in school as a student, teacher/coach & administrator. While my job responsibilities required that I continued to work in the summer even though school was not in session, the pace was significantly slower. As a parent, I get excited about summer because my children get a break from school, as do Emily and I. School, as it should, gets a lot of our family’s attention. (Next week in this blog I will offer some suggestions for balancing an abundant family life and the start of school.) I want to encourage you to have some strategic family conversations as the end of summer draws near. Talk with your kids about:

1. Their summer highlights. Connect their highlights to family life. Review the fun, laughs, and special moments. If one of their highlights did not include the family, help them still see the family connections. For example, your child attended a camp of some sort. In all likely-hood you provided the funding for them to attend camp and at a minimum you allowed them to attend. Explain why you believed the camp experience would benefit them. Bring the highlights back to the family.
2. Their lessons learned. Your children might have played sports and lessons regarding winning and losing can be revisited. They may have gained or lost a friend. Help your children review or realize the life lessons learned this summer.
3. Their spiritual journey. Have some conversation about your children’s and family’s spiritual journey and experiences this summer. Has one of your children or their friends accepted Christ this summer? How has God moved in your family this summer?

The Family Ministry, like Faith Promise as a whole, has had a great summer with lots of highlights. Some of those highlights include:

• weekend experiences for children
• “The Amazing Race” for children and families
• many new children & families attending an awesome FPC 4^th of July event for our community
• Wednesday night experiences for students
• student camp
• student camp family connection before & the return from camp service
• Nashville mission trip for students
• students packing rice meals for Nicaragua

Our Family Ministry Team is excited about what God is doing in the lives of children, students & families. We look forward to partnering with and equipping parents to take the lead in the spiritual formation of their families. It’s been a great summer.  What are some of your family’s summer highlights?