2000 Because of the Wonderful Things He Does

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" energy and the first two days were filled with "what is going to happen next" aura, but day three...blah. This is why on day three we started bringing in a comedy group. We started it this year by bringing out CPR that morning midway through Morning Impact and it worked. The teens were ready for the change of pace, and the "day off" has given us a day to relax a little, and more importantly the night before to sleep instead of filming video or working on the skit. Oh brother this was the year of one of the worst Impact videos ever (bottom three later). Once again this was my idea. It was right when MTV's Real World and Road Rules were so popular. I should have known not to emulate MTV. We did our own version of Road Rules casting counselors and making up missions for them to complete. We even filmed on a large tour bus Jon Shoulders got for us like the MTV show. Why was I so excited about this idea? The videos were never finished on time and Steve Bodiford who was our video guy tried his best. We ended up making it too serious and did not know when to make them scripted and when to make them real. We never had them on time so we ended up showing them before the evening worship which made them even more confusing. Were they supposed to be funny or serious, real or set up? I am sure MTV has the same dilemma but for some reason our videos were awful. Some nights we even showed them before worship "ouch" not during Morning Impact confusing the campers even more as to whether they were supposed to be serious or funny. The cast included many Impact regulars like Courts Vesey and Micheal Reed. Somehow on the final video there was a long Road Rules segment set to really serious music. I cannot tell you how much I wish I had a "do over" there. On a far better note it was the year of "Awesome God" the second Impact anthem. While the worship was incredible the year before, this was the year I remember worship really taking off and the kids singing was incredible. Not many campers walked away from Impact that year without listing worship as their favorite thing about 2000. Kieth Lancaster was our worship leader that year. Keith was the founder/leader of Accapella and to have him lead worship at Impact was a big deal. Keith Lancaster the father of the Accapella "millions". Those guys sold a whole lot of music. Its funny how teens today just don't get just how big "Accapella" was back in the eighties and early nineties. I mean Accapella meant packed houses, the Church of Christ banner group. They received airplay on contemporary Christian stations with several songs. Kodak even used one of there songs in an ad. "Conquerors", and "Sweet Fellowship" are my favorite albums. Uplift used to even give tours of the Accapella bus as a special treat. I can recall taking that tour and thinking that those guys had it made. I remember sitting in my room after Youth In Action Tuscaloosa 86 making tape copies of some of their songs for my uncle. Who could forget the classics like "Shut De Door", "John The Revelator", "Better Than Life", "Rescue", etc....?
Anyways...I digress, this was also the year of "Ginger's Radio" a game Skidmore invented much to the delight of the board members. The board members always have a meeting room known as "Impact Central" where the families hang out, relax, and eat. The location that year was overlooking the square in the student center. Ginger (who played Dorothy that year, she's married to Pro Baseball player Josh Willingham of the Marlins) would walk around with her walkie talkie on and Skid would talk to people while Ginger would act like nothing was going on. You really had to be there anyways....oh I forgot to mention the tornado we had inside Alumni. Our tech guys went above and beyond to make this really cool indoor funnel cloud. That was one of the coolest opening nights in Impact history as we had this great weather forecast video and Dorothy entered to give that famous "I don't think were in Kansas anymore" line.