Impact year one 1992
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 Lipscomb had not done anything similar yet. As far as I know a few local youth workers including Jim Moss, Dudley Chancey, Marty Dodson, Johnsie Henderson and others conceived the idea years before, maybe around 1986, but then Lipscomb President Willard Collins (the namesake for Collins auditorium) did not decide to go for the idea. It took much longer to get it going. Years later new Lipscomb President, Harold Hazelip, decided to go for it. He gave those guys “carte blanche” (free reign) and Impact was born. That first year Buddy Bell, Walt Lever, and Jimmy Hampton spoke. These guys were three of the standard youth rally speakers of the day. Incidentally Walt Lever is a big reason Impact is still thriving today. Jimmy Hampton spoke or led worship at every youth rally in Nashville at the time. I remember growing up in Nashville and when Jimmy would speak I would love it. Little did I know he was from Russellville, KY the town I would spend my first 13 years in youth ministry in. Buddy Bell was another big event speaker. He was very involved with "Youth In Action" in Tuscaloosa, AL. There were a half dozen or so youth events called youth in action but that one in Tuscaloosa, right after Christmas, was the main event. Notice who is missing? This is the only year in the history of Impact that Jeff Walling did not speak. He has been a staple of IMPACT ever since.
One thing that often goes overlooked is the stunning decision that Instrumental Christian acts would be allowed to play at the camp. This was mind blowing at the time. Contemporary Christian music was just starting to carve out its niche in the music industry. Lipscomb had allowed one Contemporary Christian concert that year on campus, and the board of Impact took notice. They booked artist Wes King to play. Up until that point this was unheard of. Acapella was the standard and no one saw this coming. Wes King who pretty popular at the time. We sang with him 'accapella' on a song called "Holy Ghost" it was so beautiful. Steve Davidson to this day says it’s his fondest Impact memory. He has related many times over the years that he thought "I might just get fired over this but it would be worth it".
Of course acapella music was there as well as one night Alliance, a group of Lipscomb graduates preformed. Christian stand up comedian Steve Geyer also performed and was soon at just about every youth rally in the south.
We also went to Alumni Auditorium for a performance by Acapella (who were hitting their peak, getting some radio play on Christian music stations, more on the impact of Acapella later). I remember we thought it was something special to be going over to the big auditorium for the show. One thing I noticed was that every one would get dressed up for the evening sessions. This is something that has continued at Impact. I guess having so many teens in one place leads to the extra effort to impress. We also went over to the big auditorium for a guy named Stan Smith who did a slide show for us called "Heavy Light". Dudley Chancy and I still joke about that. In his defense I have heard he has since really improved his presentation, but then it was just slide after slide of pictures from the early eighties set to music and some wimpy lasers. When the show began we were instructed to be careful to not let the lasers hurt our eyes. I think that was a bit of a stretch.
As far as worship goes, man we have come a long way at Impact. Lee Milam held a microphone up to singing tapes to lead the singing, and that's how we sang. The tapes were by a group called "Free Indeed" remember them? Or guys from their seat would start a song. I was 19 years of age and not the greatest guy in the world. My priorities were way out of whack. I flirted all week with a girl from Knoxville (name withheld to protect the innocent) and we went out a couple of times post Impact, she was cool. I still run into her every blue moon, she's one of the few girls I was civil with post dating. Other than that the outstanding memories all come from being one of the original Impact counselors. There were only about 20 of us and we were pretty tight. We all went to the movies the night before Impact and saw Sister Act together. Probably the most eventful memory of 92 was watching one of the counselors and a Lipscomb girl’s basketball player named Cheryl get baptized. I was young full of myself and thought life was grand. I really thought this was one of the greatest weeks I had ever had. I think one of the reasons the Television show "The Wonder Years" was such a big hit was because everyone looks back at great times and wishes they could re-live them. If I could choose one week I would like to re-live, this first week of Impact would be a strong candidate.
One thing that often goes overlooked is the stunning decision that Instrumental Christian acts would be allowed to play at the camp. This was mind blowing at the time. Contemporary Christian music was just starting to carve out its niche in the music industry. Lipscomb had allowed one Contemporary Christian concert that year on campus, and the board of Impact took notice. They booked artist Wes King to play. Up until that point this was unheard of. Acapella was the standard and no one saw this coming. Wes King who pretty popular at the time. We sang with him 'accapella' on a song called "Holy Ghost" it was so beautiful. Steve Davidson to this day says it’s his fondest Impact memory. He has related many times over the years that he thought "I might just get fired over this but it would be worth it".
Of course acapella music was there as well as one night Alliance, a group of Lipscomb graduates preformed. Christian stand up comedian Steve Geyer also performed and was soon at just about every youth rally in the south.
We also went to Alumni Auditorium for a performance by Acapella (who were hitting their peak, getting some radio play on Christian music stations, more on the impact of Acapella later). I remember we thought it was something special to be going over to the big auditorium for the show. One thing I noticed was that every one would get dressed up for the evening sessions. This is something that has continued at Impact. I guess having so many teens in one place leads to the extra effort to impress. We also went over to the big auditorium for a guy named Stan Smith who did a slide show for us called "Heavy Light". Dudley Chancy and I still joke about that. In his defense I have heard he has since really improved his presentation, but then it was just slide after slide of pictures from the early eighties set to music and some wimpy lasers. When the show began we were instructed to be careful to not let the lasers hurt our eyes. I think that was a bit of a stretch.
As far as worship goes, man we have come a long way at Impact. Lee Milam held a microphone up to singing tapes to lead the singing, and that's how we sang. The tapes were by a group called "Free Indeed" remember them? Or guys from their seat would start a song. I was 19 years of age and not the greatest guy in the world. My priorities were way out of whack. I flirted all week with a girl from Knoxville (name withheld to protect the innocent) and we went out a couple of times post Impact, she was cool. I still run into her every blue moon, she's one of the few girls I was civil with post dating. Other than that the outstanding memories all come from being one of the original Impact counselors. There were only about 20 of us and we were pretty tight. We all went to the movies the night before Impact and saw Sister Act together. Probably the most eventful memory of 92 was watching one of the counselors and a Lipscomb girl’s basketball player named Cheryl get baptized. I was young full of myself and thought life was grand. I really thought this was one of the greatest weeks I had ever had. I think one of the reasons the Television show "The Wonder Years" was such a big hit was because everyone looks back at great times and wishes they could re-live them. If I could choose one week I would like to re-live, this first week of Impact would be a strong candidate.
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