Impact 1999 Unmasked

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 great. More on him in a moment). The rest of the week was a blur. I visited Impact on an occasion or two and several Impact people came to the funeral. Amanda and I had started dating and would be married in March. She really hung in there with me. This event cemented our relationship. We went back to Impact on the last night and got into a Pixie Stick fight (my favorite Impact memory of all time). It was good to be back that night, I felt like I was with the people who could comfort me most. I still remember that awkward walk onto campus with the memories of the tragic events flooding my mind and thinking "oh it’s good to be back". That night was my first exposure to an Impact anthem...or song that really stood out. It was "I Belong To Jesus." I remember being there that last night and hearing the song for the first time thinking "well, that is different". There were teens dancing up and down the aisles. I could not help but think "boy things have changed". You know it has not been the same since, Impact worship was changed forever. That year Steve Bodiford who did the Impact video from 1997-2001 dedicated the video to my mom's memory, that was really special to me. That year the memory device were these "Lone Ranger" type plastic masks which the teens discarded representing "taking off the mask". I think this was the last time we've had Buddy Bell in to speak. Buddy was a regular at that time at youth rallies. He is a great guy whom I respect immensely. Oh and this was also the first year Jeff Walling started to remember my name, it took six years but whose counting ;)? As far as David Skidmore goes, this was the year we became friends. At Impact the previous year the board knew that Lee Milam, who was in charge of the set, theme, and music was going to step down that year and was leaving youth ministry. We were looking for a special person to replace him. It would take a special person Lee was very good at what he did. I remember meeting David Skidmore in 98 and thinking "this guy is cool." Dudley Chancey and Mike Lewis, who was on the board then, also mentioned Skid as a possible replacement for Lee. The next week I went to visit the girl I was dating known as "Jackson" at a camp in North Carolina and David Skidmore was there. It was during that week that our friendship began. I spent more time with him than I did with her. I remember talking to him about Impact in the pavilion there, asking him if he might be interested in helping out. There are very few people I respect and love more. He is one of those guys that maybe we go weeks without speaking but when we talk again it is like no time has passed. I would feel really good if David was still doing youth work when my kids are teens, I might even have to move to where he was the youth minister.