The Impact Blog

For the past 18 years. I have dreaded this day. Much like a kid who has unwraped all of his Christmas presents as the morning he had looked forward to for months is now over. It is Saturday and all that is left of Impact 2009, is the long task of taking down the memories that had cemented themsleves in our minds for the past two weeks. I woke up early to take care of some plans for the Fall. I don't think I have ever been awake before ten in the morning on the last day before. I stumbled out of the room, made my long phone call and went about the business of gathering the many items like my sunglasses, Polcemans hat, and all the costumes and props that were spread across campus. Walking across the seemingly empty campus that had seemed so alive the proceeding day, is a bit of a depressing ritual. I was watching as bus load after bus load of campers rolled away.As I entered Allen Arena I watched and provided (very little) help to the take down crew. I assembled the signs, and props ...

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 ...