The Impact Blog

Theses are the moments that can define Impact. Those moments when things just seem right . They are not, perhaps my personal favorite moments, I may do that later, just when the crowd goes wild or when God takes over. It does not seem right top rank these so in no paticular order.... - The appearence of Zach Hunter at Impact 07 and his inspiring words to our campers. Let no one despise you becuase of your youth. -Jars of Clay performs for the counselors at Impact 95. - The last night of The Mighty in 07. The skit had really been kind of off, honestly until the last night and the rallying cry Skid gave to the teens that they could do mighty things. - Courts Vesey shares her testimony at Impact 2000 "Because of the Wonderful Things He Does". - The last night of worship at Impact 99 Unmasked. If you were there you know what I am talking about. -Wes King plays "Holy Ghosts" at the very first Impact in 92 with the crowd singing along. It was an awesome moment one that Im...

10. "1998 Go West" The first attempt at a western was really good. Lee's last year to do the set. 9. "1996 Major League" Nice baseball set, the first year the set looked professional with bleachers on stage. 8. "2002 Sheild About Me" Who could forget that massive castle, a lot of hours went into that one. 7. "2006 The Story" Nice "pop-up" story book feel. 6. " 2001" Ten In Search of the Covenant" Complte with waterfall it felt like a jungle. 5. "2003 Deep" It actualy felt like you were underwater when you entered the auditorium 4. 2009 "The hiddeN": Another great Skidmore set, it was bright flashy and just perfect. 3. "2004 Escape" Nice prison camp motiff" 2. "2008 Day of Reckoning" Skid outdid himself this year. The arena looked like an actual Ghost Town. 1. "2004 This Mystery" The whole auditorium looked like a library very cool.

10. "2005 Escape" Security Shirt: Although it was a terrible shirt fit wise the black and blue camo look was cool. 9. "1996 Major League" A nice baseball look for 96, I especialy liked the long sleeve versions they put out that year. 8. "2008 Day of Reckoning" Roadie Shirt: I like black t-shirts, I thought it was the best of the three shirts this year. 7. "1992 Impact" Just about as plain as possoble, since we had no theme just Impact. A plain white shirt with a Bison that read Impact. 6. "2003 Deep" Camper Shirt: Nice Nautical navy blue shirt with " diver down" flag on it. 5. "1995 Live To Tell" Security Shirt: Red shirt with simple design, very good shirt. 4. "2000, Because Of The Wonderful Things He Does" Camper Shirt: Comfortable shirt, grey with simple logo 3. "2006 The Story" Roadie Shirt: Not the best color, a faded orange, but a great Smokey Bear design. 2. "2002, Sheild About Me...

2008: Day Of Reckoning: Year two in the big house. Without a doubt this was a great year, possibly the best theme and maybe even skit ever. I have no doubt that many of you will proclaim 2008 as your favorite year. There is a difference between my personal favorites and best themes, and skits. While the theme and skit are a big part, our personal favorites have more to do with things going on in our lives and the general week itself (perhaps you were baptized one year, making it your favorite). I can tell you for example that I thought (just my opinion) that as a theme I was not to high on “ 1995 Live To Tell” but the timing in my life was so perfect, it did not matter whether I liked the theme or not. This year was a little marred for me by my families various sicknesses as Amanda had strep, Brock took a nasty ear infection, Battle was okay, but Brewer my youngest was still dealing with a nasty cold. On top of this Amanda had to get healthy because she was leaving for a medical missio...

2007: The Mighty- . This year will forever be known as the year we moved to the "big house" Allen Arena. I have to admit I was not in favor of this, as I am usually against change, my heritage showing its ugly face, but Johnny Markham and Jon Shoulders showed us this was the best road to take. The alternative was loosing 200 campers, as Alumni Auditorium our home for 14 years was being renovated. We meet with President Lowry and Walt Lever about this at a special meeting. We were all set to stand our ground and request that the changes to Alumni be put off a year or scrapped all together. When they reported that this would be almost impossible, we considered several options none seriously though, like moving off site or to the High School Gym for a year then shrinking Impact by the 200 campers mentioned earlier, or even moving to the tiny Acuff Chapel at Lipscomb’s High School campus, the idea of additional weeks reared its head in the talks as it has on many occasions. But J...

2006: The Story- Well for reasons I cannot share this was yet again a rough year for me personally. It seems like the worst possible times in my life conveniently fall around Impact. My life seemed to be falling apart. In the end however it was an absolutely top 5 year. We did not work as hard on video thankfully, we had enough. like the sequel to Chewbacca Lawyer, "Chewbacca Doctor", "Chick Fortune Impact Daredevil" which Paul Skidmore made funny with creative editing, the Power Force One series, and Skid's classic Master card video, which is an all-time top five video. But of course the ultimate thing from 2006 Morning Impact was the huge Guinness prank, yes it was a prank. All year we had been building up to this one. We even talked about it in 2005 on stage. We were going to break a Guinness record. Most Watermelon eaten in 40 seconds. In fact when we dreamed up the angle at a meeting in Lebanon we could not stop laughing about the idea. We knew it would be ...

2005: Escape-The theme this year was set to be 'The Junkyard" but we had some reservations and it changed. I think God had something to do with that. Skid, Rubio, Steve, Jon ,and I sat in a hotel room near the Nashville airport and just talked about it for hours and hours. "The Great Escape" a movie starring a lot of famous actors but mainly Steve McQueen and James Gardner was what we settled on basing the theme on. It clicked, I mean remember the Colonel? David Skidmore had seen a film about Christian POW'S and noticed one of them lived in Chattanooga, this was like a day before Impact. He contacted the man and the rest is Impact history. Col Roger Ingvulson walked out on stage to probably the largest, loudest and longest Impact "pop" or ovation ever. This year was tough, good but tough we worked hard. Rubes, Skid and I were filming videos all day everyday like the now classic 24 videos, the even more classic Chewbacca Lawyer, Impact Puppet Heat a 70...

2004: Mystery- I guess if I had to rank my personal favorites Mystery would be top five. It was a great year and the skits were fun. I realize I talk a lot about the skits and Morning Impact, but that’s my gig. We had loads of fun and did a lot of weird stunts. I also really got to know Patrick Chapel and Aubrey Wood that year, two guys who will eventually in my opinion be very involved with Impact for years to come. This year for good or bad will probably be remembered best for some "drama" involving one of the groups who thought many of us including the speakers, entertainment, and Morning Impact pushed the envelope too far. I probably should not write too much about it since it's been years now, and hopefully forgotten, but I will say it certainly changed the way I look at some of the things we do. Upon some wise council from Impact "dad" Howard Todd, I know when to say I believe in something I am doing. I don't always have to bow to the whims of others. ...

2003: Deep- We really struggled to find a theme that year, kind of like the Oz year. We were desperate, when we just thought Deep...ocean...Atlantis. The Disney flick by the same name had just released. I thought it was a really cool concept. I pictured this underwater set with lots of Atlantis relics and Skid made it happen, with one of the greatest sets ever. This theme proved to be one of the best. I think a whole lot of the teens think this is possibly one of the best years ever. Its funny but I think Uplift did the theme "Deep" in 07. The Impact Epic which is Flannel Board Theatre began this year. I remember filming this like it was yesterday. Originally we had planned Skids character in the skit to be the German speaking Baron, since he was so popular and funny. It was a nautical theme and we thought our Sea Captain could be the Baron, but while filming the first intro to Flannel Board we discovered that Skid could do a great Italian accent. I don't like bringing ol...

2002: Shield About Me: Welcome to the board David Rubio! Man what a great addition he is. It is hard to remember back before the David’s came aboard now. The skits were good they were a "Holy Grail" spoof with Rubio as Lancelot, Skid as Arthur, and I as Galahad, Patrick Chapel made his skit debut as "The Black Knight", and Sean Algier of Watershed played King Arthur's squire. We had a great time. Rubio brought so much energy to Skids "poopie guy act" and my "voice of the audience". David Rubio is the first person Skid and I have completely trusted to do his own thing without reviewing it. If Rubes does a video on his own I know it will be good. I don't even ask Rubio to see it first, because I want to enjoy it for the first time with the campers. Speaking of video we also welcomed David Driver to the team, as Steve Bodiford retired. Driver does a great job filming every baptism. You call him on the radio day or night and he is there. He ...

2001: Ten/ The search for the covenant- Man what a great stage set that year. It was an ode to Indiana Jones. There was just a really good vibe that year with, the debut of the Baron Von Jacob Jingleheimer without the Schmidt as our skit’s villain, the Bible School Boys, and the Impact Action Team Toys. All three of these things have become Impact legends and the Baron appears one way or another every year. This year was most memorable to me as Paul Skidmore's first year doing our goofy videos. Paul and Steve Bodiford both did video for us. We made this really elaborate Indiana Jones video with Jon as “Tennessee Jon”. Paul is so talented and has really been the morning impact team member nobody knows. This could be remembered as one of the worst Impact t-shirts ever One of the things I cannot remember, maybe someone out there can clear this up, is that I think this was the year we had a lot of tornado warnings. It was during Junior Impact, still only a weekend. Every time the weath...

2000: The Journey, it seemed like just another year for me. It was however cool developing my friendship with David Skidmore, man what a good guy. I do remember we had no idea what to do theme wise, until a meeting we had in Atlanta where we came up with Oz after much debate I remember I did not like it....but over time I was convinced it was a good idea. The skit was average all week and we had to work hard for any reaction from the crowd, but David was hilarious as the gloomy Tin Man. I was blah as the Scarecrow, my first non narrator role, and Jon was the Lion. This was the year that inspired the shortened Morning Impact on Senior Impact morning three. During the previous years we noticed that no matter what we did on the third morning it never worked out and the teens were always disappointed with Morning Impact that morning. We realized it is because you guys were so worn out by then that nothing made you laugh. I mean the last morning was special because it had "last day...

1999: Unmasked: The superhero year. If there ever was an Impact theme I would like a second chance on it would be this year. I guess we kind of went there with "The Mighty" in 2007, but it was different enough that maybe one day the superhero theme will return. I do not remember much about the junior week, in its second year. I do remember our super hero videos. In one of them Jon "Superman" knocked Skid "Batman" into me "Blue Lantern" and he hit me so hard I flipped completely head over heals. This was a rough year, five minutes before Morning Impact Senior Monday, I got a call backstage.....my mom had died. I had to leave and I was hurting but I did that morning show anyways...oddly enough I remember it being a particularly good and fun morning. She had been fighting cancer for a year and half. While I had never claimed to be a “momas” boy her influence on me was tremendous. I left rookie board member David Skidmore to fend for himself (he did ...

1998 Go West- I remember this was the year Morning Impact really became what it is today. Mike and I actually prepared for it. We planned out what we were going to say and what we would do in advance. We decided to make it more of a variety show than just a bunch of games. The ball race took off, we did this Mike vs. Todd angle similar to the Skid vs. Rubio deal we do now. One day Mike offered a loser gets his head shaved stipulation. Mike wanted to have his head shaved but I didn’t. Mike said "don't worry I'll make sure I loose". I thought "there is no way you can fix that" I was nervous. I don't think I have ever shaved my head. Luckily I won a close race and we shaved Mike's head on stage. The next day, however, I lost and the crowd was chanting "shave Todd's head", but I silenced the crowd luckily by running a video and changing the mood quickly. The Puppet was hilarious in his first year in the balcony. The real genius behind the I...

1997: Out of this World- This was our "outer space year". Well this was huge for me. Steve Davidson called and asked me to have lunch with him and Jon Shoulders at O'Charley's Brentwood. I was not sure what they wanted to talk about and I was a little nervous. They asked me to help with Impact on "the board". He asked me to pray about it, I thought I don’t need to I’m in! But I made a deal with God that night, I am not sure how theologically sound that idea is. But I said I would never covet another board position as long as I worked with Impact. I was blown away humbled and still thank God for allowing me to be a part of this deal. This was my first year on the Impact board with fellow rookie Mike Shepherd whom I had taught classes with the year before. We were put in charge of filling the time between classes on stage. This was the first "official" year for Morning Impact. We had 25 minutes to kill between 1st class and second class. They still b...

1996 Major League: Well this was my first year as a full fledged youth minister. I brought a whopping two teens form my church in Russellville, KY. I did not know how I was going to get teens into this thing, especially since our churches biggest event of the year Logan County Christian Camp was a mere two weeks prior. The year was good. Mike Shepard and I taught a class together we will never forget, "The X-Files" we had kids looking for hidden X's all over campus in 100 degree weather. Not the best idea so we scrapped it and totally changed the class. I was really down about how bad the first class went and thankfully Mike was like "hey lets do this then" and totally changed the class for the better. That was the first year Mike and worked together on something and we became friends. He is a missionary in Australia now, but was a major influence on my life. I was really in limbo this year I was not sure what to do. I mean I was not a counselor, all I had to do...

1995: Live to Tell- This will be a long one, pull up a chair. This was the turning point for everything, and I mean everything my personal life and Impact. I was interning at Mayfair in Huntsville, and really struggling, see I lived a duel life. Over the school year I would live the college life (no explanation needed hopefully) and in the summer I would straighten up enough to get back in youth ministry as an intern, not because I wanted to do real ministry but because it was fun and I needed a job. Sound familiar to some of you high school or college students too? The past four years while I was not doing great during the school year I was not too bad. The problem came when that school year I was particularly bad, and it affected my judgment. After the breakup with "Bowling Green", I thought I needed to let my hair down, "man we can be so stupid". I felt like I had wasted a year of prime dating opportunities to date “Bowling Green”. “Bowling Green” had kept me out...

1994: Give It Away-Of all the years I have been to Impact this was the least memorable, I was interning in Pensacola for Matt Elliot long time Impact song leader. We had somewhere around 800 campers that year. We were on the doorstep of this thing really taking off. My most vivid memory was watching a teen in our group (Mark Thoman) baptizing the same girl 3 times in the baseball sauna (her name was Leah Lassiter, who FYI saw this blog and contacted me, she's now on the friends page). This was because the lines to the baptism pool (an actual swimming pool on campus now long gone) were so long. There were over 80 baptisms one night! More than 10% of the campers there were baptized. That pool is sorely missed. I remember for the first few years of Impact maybe till 1996 youth groups would gather around that pool. It was something special. Funny thing about this year is that I always look back on it a think this was the worst year ever, yet I do not know why? I think maybe because it ...

Impact 1993: Takin it to the Streets/ Change Your World- The theme this year was confusing. Very few people actually know what the theme was that year. Here is the behind the scenes story. Lee Milam ordered a bunch of shirts with a pre-bought logo that said "Takin It To The Streets" he got a good deal on them and had hundreds of the shirts made in multiple colors. That was great but the official theme was in fact "Change Your World". So everyone was confused as to what the theme was. Of course this was back when nobody stuck to a theme anyways. Well I cannot recall hardly anything about this year. I remember being so excited about it because it was so fun in 1992. I also remember walking up for counselor training wearing a sweatshirt. It was chilly that year. I had arrived a little late and the counselors were already gathered in the "Bison Square" singing devo songs. Alex Loyd and Greg Anderson were in charge this year of the training. We did some pretty ...

Year 1, 1992: Just over 250 total campers crowded into Swang 108 for what would be the first Impact. I remember learning about this camp just a couple of months before sitting in Steve Davidson's office. Steve was director of admissions and I was a 19 year old kid. I have no idea why I was in his office at the time, and I am not exactly sure how we first met. Little did I know then the "impact" this man would have on my life. He has become almost a second father to me and probably the single most influential person in my life. He told me about this thing they were going to do. They were going to have a camp like Uplift at Lipscomb. It sounded right up my alley. I signed up to be a counselor and waited for the week with much anticipation. That week the crowd was mainly made up of teens from only 4 or 5 youth groups, most notably Mayfair and West End Knoxville. I was a Freshman at DLU then, and it sounded cool. I had been to Uplift in 1988 and loved it. I had wondered why L...