IMPACT 2017 encouraged campers to seek own adventure with God
Lacey Klotz |
For the past 26 years, IMPACT has brought clever themes, elaborate stage sets and powerful messages of faith to Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena, and this year, was no exception. From June 16-24, over 2,500 middle and high school students from more than 14 states gathered on campus to participate in the 2017 IMPACT junior and senior camps, filled with games, Bible studies, worship and more.
This year’s theme was SEEK, and referenced Matthew 6:33: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
“For IMPACT 2017, our goal was to encourage campers to seek their own adventure with God,” said Steve Davidson, director of IMPACT, associate dean of students and senior campus minister at Lipscomb. “Therefore, we integrated the B-Attitudes that Jesus outlined on the Sermon on the Mount into every keynote, class and skit so that everything was interconnected. God has created us all to be unique and has given us each a different purpose, so we wanted to encourage each student to boldly seek God and the adventure He has prepared.”
During the week, over 110 teens were baptized in the name of Jesus, and another eight were baptized when they returned home.
“For most of these campers, IMPACT is a place of refuge and hope, and they expect God to show up in big ways. And each year, He does. After 26 years, I am still continually in awe of the mighty ways God is using this camp to change lives for His glory,” he said.
Davidson said one important piece of IMPACT is helping those in need. Throughout the week, campers raised $6,000 for Best Buddies Tennessee, an organization that partners special needs children and adults with volunteer buddies; $5,000 for the Peter Powerhouse Foundation, an organization that helps improve the lives of children fighting cancer; and $2,000 for Running for Orphans with Down Syndrome, an organization that promotes awareness for the adoption of orphans with Down Syndrome.
“The purpose of IMPACT is to make an impact on the world for Christ, so each year, we choose an organization to support because we believe that is what we are called to do as Christians: to love and help those in need,” said Davidson.
Since 1992, IMPACT has donated over $130,000 to various charities including Run4Water, Give Kids The World Village, Make-A-Wish Foundation, RBI Baseball Nashville, Mana International, Exile International and helped to launch Best Buddies Tennessee, an organization that partners special needs children and adults with volunteer buddies.
Catherine Reinholt, a rising junior from West Gates Church of Christ in Beaumont, Texas, says this was the first time she’s been to an IMPACT camp, and it will be an experience she will never forget.
“I have taken more away from this camp then I can describe,” said Reinholt. “One session was about intimacy with God and that will definitely help me with my prayer life and how I can continue to have intimacy with God moving forward. The theme has also encouraged me not to just go out and find adventure on my own but to be more concerned with the adventures that God has planned for me.”
Beginning in 1992, Davidson, along with a group of youth ministers including Jim Moss, Lee Milam, Mike Lewis, Dudley Chancy, Marty Dodson and Alex Lloyd, welcomed teens to Lipscomb’s campus for the first ever IMPACT camp with the full trust and support of Lipscomb’s then-president Harold Hazelip. The camp was run solely by the youth ministers and sought to not promote the school, but Christ alone. This emphasis was widely recognized by teens and separated IMPACT from traditional Christian school camps.
Today, IMPACT, which is often referred to summer camp on steroids, seeks to help create a fun, impactful and intentional environment for teens to grow in their faith.
To learn more about IMPACT, or to sign up for next year’s camp, visit: www.lipscomb.edu/outreach/impact.