Impact 2023 “The Fog”
Romans 8: 38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
On the last night of Impact Senior 2022, we asked students to stand if they struggled with any of these lies….
No one needs to know
Your past will define you
It's not that big of a deal
You are the only one
Don't tell the truth
Did God really say that
God won't forgive that
And….
You are not enough.
When we asked students to stand who felt they were not enough ... .well the entire arena full of teens stood, and at that exact moment the 2023 theme was being born.
“The Fog” took shape.
The Fog is a place we all travel from time to time, and when you are there you can feel lost and alone. The key to the “Fog” is turning the trap into an exit.
So this year at Impact we wanted to communicate that God will never leave you. Even though you might be in the Fog or lost in the woods because of anger, guilt, temptation, responsibility, preparation, selfishness, doubt, or loneliness. No matter what took you into the Fog the key is facing it and walking out of it.
So that’s the “story” behind the theme.
But here’s the story of the week.
We have talked about doing a Gatlinburg theme for years. I mean most of the teens who attend Impact also attend Winterfest which is the largest CoC youth event in the States. So it always felt like a natural fit to parody it.
So we turned Allen Arena into Gatlin Forge and had a van full of teenagers get lost in the Great Foggy Mountain National Park while going to Summerfest.
Rodney Keaton once again did an excellent job with the set and really worked hard to make us all feel like we were there in East Tennessee. We even had old time photos, escape rooms, funnel cakes, and mini-golf all available for the campers.
This was truly one of the most immersive themes we have ever pulled off.
We also changed the direction of the stage. As a veteran youth minister I understand that teens are some of the most traditionally motivated age groups out there. However, I did not hear a single complaint about the change of stage direction which actually saved us a lot of money.
Morning Impact was back in rare form especially at Senior Impact. There were some great new segments including Teatime with Mr. T, Top Pun: Maverick, and the Belmount Boys had us dying laughing every day. Skidmore went to the Skid-verse and won the ball race (again). Then there was David Knox and Toby the Essential Oils selling puppet.
This year’s Impact drama will go down as one of the most memorable. As each of our 8 lost characters entered the “Wonderland” cabin the “trap” changed. I am curious as to what each camper thought the inside of the cabin would look like to them.
Great job by our young actors, Brayden B, Zoe, Brock, Chamberlin, Battle, Lilly, Brayden G., and Brewer. Of course, our veterans did a great job too. Lots of tears during that last skit as Allie finally found Rabbit and escaped out of the Fog.
The Impact Drama is a huge task every year, as it takes a large team of folks to pull it off. I want to thank Charlie, Sam, Mackenzie, Chamberlain, Tuck, and of course Rubio and Skid for their help and input. It really is a monster production that our team pulls off with very little practice.
Of course, there was that amazing worship. Our students do not experience anything like this anywhere else and it’s pretty incredible. Stephen, Jordan and their teams once again did an excellent job.
The teaching this year was handled by Sean Palmer, Orpheus Heyward, David Skidmore, and our incredible class teachers. I think I heard more positive comments about the classes this year than any other.
We raised almost $10,000 again for charity. Impact has given away more than $125,000 to charity since 2007.
I never in a million years would have dreamed that “Two Wolves” would become what it has.
For those of you who don’t know, in 2012 we did a skit where I dressed as the Big Bad Wolf. On the monitors Brewer saw two wolves. For some reason everytime we asked him to talk into the mic at Impact from then on, he has said “two wolves”. So we started making “Two Wolves” shirts and hoodies to benefit Best Buddies of Tennessee. It’s just been awesome. Thanks to Justin Peach for this year’s cool designs that had campers lined up all across the arena.
I want to personally thank every Impact camper over the last 16 years for loving and accepting Brewer. Impact is his favorite place on earth and this year, he had a blast. I will never forget 1,600 people singing along with Brewer on Thursday of Impact Senior. You made this father very proud.
Oh, and this year it was the return of Impact Trading Cards, as Jessie Stacy created a new game with 72 collectable trading cards. We sold out of the cards by Wednesday of Senior Impact.
Overall, I am not sure Impact 2023 will rank in the top ten Impacts of all time. I mean it went by soooooooo fast. I don’t think I have ever experienced a faster Impact. But Impact 2023 was a great one for sure.
So whatever it is that has you trapped in the Fog, keep this in mind, sometimes you have to face what's there to turn that trap into an escape.
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