Impact

Currently I am sitting in a dorm room (with a newly fixed air conditioning unit, thankfully) at Lipscomb University in what feels like the eye of the storm. 900 something Jr. High kids left campus this morning, and now the campus is bracing itself for the arrival of 1500 or so senior high students.

This is always one of my favorite 10 day stretches of the year. Impact will always be a very special place for me. I have baptized several students from our youth ministry (Will Price, Melissa Lester, Shannon Graves, Kris Verrett, just to name a few) into Christ at Impact. I have witnessed emotional walls come down as students step out to renew their commitment and passion for Christ. I myself was baptized at Impact 16 years ago. I have made friendships through Impact that have helped me tremendously through my spiritual life. I was a counselor in 2000 when I became fully convinced that God wanted me to do youth ministry. It was at Impact that I learned that its not only okay for Christians to laugh and have a good time, but in fact it's good for them to do so. I also learned that faith was something to be taken seriously and practiced all the time. I have never been disappointed by an Impact. I have never come home after Impact and said, "I just didn't feel it this year." or "The theme just seemed a little weak." or "There just didn't seem to be much spiritual substance this year." With as many Impacts as I've attended as a camper, a counselor, and a youth minister (12) that's impressive.

So far, this year has been no exception. I just had the privilege of experiencing Jr. Impact with 7 of the coolest and most fun middle school girls on the planet. I was amazed at their maturity and spirit as they took the messages to heart and looked for ways to put them into practice. Our theme was "Hidden" and we talked about the way we try to hide who we are and what we've done from God and from others. We talked about how Satan tries to keep us hiding so that we don't become who we are supposed to be. We talked about God searches us out and that if we're willing to confess our shortcomings to him, he will be mighty to save. We talked about how God has hidden our life in Christ so that no one can take it away from us. We talked about neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, nor the present nor future, neither height nor depth, no power whatsoever has the power to separate us from the love of God. I am confident that I sent some middle school students home (thanks for driving Heather & Shelia!) just a little bit different than when we brought them.

Please pray for us to have a similar experience over the next 5 days at Senior Impact.