By: The cargo, Presley, and sims Families

At last night’s Campus Meeting, three sets of seasoned Perimeter School parents shared what being a part of the Perimeter School covenant family has meant to them and their children. We hope that you are blessed and encouraged by their responses as we live out the gospel together in community.

why did you choose covenant education for your family?

BOB CARGO: We chose covenant education because we wanted to raise our children with like-minded parents, and we believed that our children hearing the same message at home, at school, and at church was important. Without extended family in town, our school and our church really became our family. Those adults had tremendous influence (and still do!) in the lives of our children.

MERITT SIMS: We place great value in education from a biblical perspective. We wanted our children to be covered in prayer by an army of people - teachers, other parents, us. Students here are surrounded by adults that are walking through life while trying their best to follow Jesus. My children have soaked that in - that is priceless.

WHAT DOES “COVENANT” MEAN TO YOU AS IT IS DISPLAYED IN PERIMETER SCHOOL LIFE?

MARGARET ANNE CARGO: Covenant means that other parents will speak into the lives of our children. We will pray for each other, rejoice together, and weep together. We will live out the gospel in community. We will do real life together. 

ANGIE PRESLEY: It means prayer ... praying for other families and being prayed for by them as well as by our beloved teachers. We know that many prayers on many occasions have gone up for our family. We may not understand the untold blessings that have resulted from those prayers until we get to heaven.

MIKE SIMS: It means that our children are getting instruction, whether in the classroom, on a field trip, at the ball field, or at a classmate’s home, based upon one truth. It is a blessing not to have to “unwind” a worldview while we are trying to instruct and raise them with an eternal view. Does it mean that every word they hear from a covenant family is always fully true or accurate … no, but it does mean that we are all “trying” (by appropriating the Holy Spirit) to sing from the same sheet of music.

WHAT SACRIFICES HAVE YOU made BECAUSE OF THE COMMITMENT TO COVENANT EDUCATION?

BOB CARGO: The sacrifices have been small in comparison to the rewards. It is definitely more of a time commitment. There are Enrichment Days, Parent Meetings, Campus Meetings. It also takes time to invest in relationships. It takes time and effort to work on service projects. But, anything of value is going to require the investment of time.

ERIC PRESLEY: Paying for school is a challenge, but we simply prioritize it at the top of the list. Some years are harder than others. The other big investment is time. At first, I did not prioritize my time toward the school very well. Then, I was convicted by the amount of time invested by so many others, from room parents to SMT and countless others, that I too wanted to step up and do my part.

what have been the long-term blessings of covenant education in your family?

MARGARET ANN CARGO: The blessings of a covenant education are many. Our children have gained a life view that values human beings as created in God’s image; therefore, they have value and deserve honor and respect. They understand that we are to steward the Earth because God created it and entrusted us with its care. All of creation points to the Creator and His majesty and glory. We are part of a bigger story of what God is doing to bring His kingdom to Earth.

ERIC PRESLEY: Each of our children has received an education that has God's truth at its root and has been unconditionally loved through their most formative years. Another long-term blessing is the life-long relationships that we have formed with other families. These are families that we can share the struggles we are experiencing with, and they come alongside us and share the burden with us.

MERITT SIMS: This covenant school was the way I found my people. I have a community of families to do life with - to celebrate with and to do hard things with. I have learned to walk alongside people and be vulnerable enough to share my life with friends who have become family!

HOW DO YOU SEE THE IMPACT OF COVENANT EDUCATION BEING PLAYED OUT IN THE LIVES OF YOUR CHILDREN NOW? IN YOUR OWN LIVES?

ANGIE PRESLEY: My faith has been nurtured beyond measure by being a participant in this school and its covenant community.

MIKE SIMS: It is played out in the relationships our older children have with the parents of kids who were in class with them and the care and concern that these same covenant parents have for our kids today. Once family, always family. My encouragement to our covenant families … the value of a covenant education is in direct proportion to what you put into it.

“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Luke 6:38