The Central Courtyard

The heart of the property--and of the ministry experience--is the central courtyard.

Here, participants can learn about the various features and the biblical truths symbolized by them, encouraging them to change the direction of their family tree by making the bold decision to follow Jesus Christ.

The courtyard has special features designed specifically for ministry purposes.

Legacy Tree with Personalized Leaves of Legacy
Redemption Well
Living Water Well
Prayer Wall
Four Cornerstones

Learn about the significance of these features in the photo tour below. Click photos to enlarge.

The Legacy Tree at Dusk

The Legacy Tree

At the heart of the central courtyard stands the Legacy Tree, a powerful symbol of the
true Christian family tree – the body of Christ. The leaves represent past graduates and volunteers signifying how God is continually adding members to the body of Christ.

Questions and conversation around the Legacy Tree will be inspired by biblical significance: How deep are your roots? Are you planting seeds or leaving a legacy? Are you bearing fruit? Are your leaves green in every season?

Scripture Banner featuring Jeremiah 17:7-8

The Scripture Banner

The Legacy Tree is a metal art installation modeled after an olive tree. It is 17’ 8" high, has 17 branches and 8 roots. Those numbers are significant, as they relate to the reference of our vision scripture, Jeremiah 17:7-8, which is inscribed in a metal banner that wraps around the Legacy Tree.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV

Leaves of Legacy

The tree was intentionally designed without leaves, with the sole purpose of filling it out gradually with metal Leaves of Legacy. As students graduate from our program, these leaves are personalized with their name and placed on the tree permanently.

The Salvation Bell

When students make a decision to follow Christ, the Salvation Bell that hangs from the Legacy Tree is rung for all on campus to hear, so others can join them in celebrating their new life in Christ.

The Redemption Well

The tree's eight roots are exposed and are directly next to -- and symbolically intertwined with -- the Redemption Well. Both the tree and the well are situated on a raised, circular platform within The Tree Plaza, an enclosed focal point area of the courtyard.

The Redemption Well is the central well from which all “living water” flows to the other well in the courtyard. This well serves two specific purposes: it represents confession and forgiveness of sins.

Participants can "turn over a new leaf" by confessing their sin, struggle or trial in writing and casting them into the copper basin to be burned away forever. As their sins are confessed in this way, it will be a physical representation of the promise of beauty for ashes as found in Isaiah 61:1-3 (below). The burned sins inside the well will be a testament that God can redeem anyone!

Living Water Glass Rock

Living Water Walkway

The Living Water Well

The Living Water Bucket with John 4:14

The Living Water

Placed around the roots of The Legacy Tree is colored glass rock, symbolizing the living water of Christ (John 4:14) as the source of its growth. It is the nourishment of Christ that "flows out" to form the Living Water Walkway and to feed the Living Water Well.

"...but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be
thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring
of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14

The Living Water Walkway is a concrete path that represents life’s journey and joins The Redemption Well to The Living Water Well. Leaders can use this path to guide participants on personal prayer walks between wells.

By bringing young people to The Living Water Well in the arid Amarillo climate, leaders have a tangible and compelling visual to teach about the quenching power of Christ’s living water. A bucket with John 4:14 hangs symbolically in the well, encouraging onlookers to gather His living water to drink. The water is lit from within the well, signifying the light of Jesus Christ. The water also flows over the top of the well, indicating the abundance of the water He gives.

The writing on Living Water featured below was created especially for us by DaySpring Co-Founder, Roy Lessin.

Have you ever heard of living water? Do you know what it is and how to get it? Do you know how important it is for you to drink?

As you know, water is a matter of life or death. Everything that lives on earth needs water to thrive and survive. Water is so important to life that God put within you an alarm system to help remind you of your need for water. This alarm system is called “thirst.” Thirst says, “I need water and I must have it now!”

What is true physically is also true spiritually. In the same way that you need water to have physical life, so you need living water to have spiritual life. God has also put within you a thirst for living water, and it is only by drinking living water that you can quench that thirst. Spiritual thirst is God’s gracious and loving way of letting you know how much you need Him. Spiritual thirst says, “I need God and I need Him now!”

Here are 3 important differences between water and "living" water—

    • Water is for your physical needs; living water is for your spiritual needs.
    • Water is natural; Living Water is supernatural.
    • Water comes from the earth; living water comes from heaven.

Since living water is so important, you need to know where to find living water. Living water is found in...

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The Prayer Wall

An 18" high stone wall surrounds the courtyard, acting not only as an external boundary for this special area, but also as an invitation to prayer. Like the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem, this is a place for ministry leaders and participants to tuck away their personal, written prayers.

On each of the four corners of the prayer wall is a metal plaque that serves as a visible reminder of the four cornerstones of our ministry:
Faith + Family + Trust + Responsibility.