Before leaping head first into summer, we want to recognize the many exciting things that happened with Impact this spring. We added our counselors (all 390 of them!) which completed our staff. We held two all-staff retreats, one of which included guests from five different like-minded retreats from around the United States. We also held our annual Family Weekend Banquet which had more people in attendance than ever before. Along with these events, all thirty camps conducted weekly meetings in anticipation of the 1700+ freshmen coming to Impact!
This spring in particular produced two great celebratory points that still have us thanking The Lord. First, our Family Weekend Banquet in April raised the most money that we have ever raised at a banquet! The past five years have produced a fairly consistent number that allows us to predict pretty well what we may see profited on this evening. This year however, the efforts and contributions of many generous individuals brought about $28,000 MORE than we have ever raised! To give context, that’s around 125 scholarships! In addition to the financial provision, we were also encouraged by the woman that started Impact Retreat twenty years ago, Christy Day Dressell. It was such a blessing to have her share a few words and pray over the ministry that she helped start twenty years ago. If you ask Christy, she will say that this is just the beginning and she believes God has even bigger things in store for Impact!
Second, we did something we have never done before at Impact. This year, we invited all twenty churches that partner with Impact to come to our staff retreat to be celebrated, thanked, and prayed over. Our church partners do such a great job at supporting Impact’s ministry in many ways, including the use of spaces, other resources, networking, and prayer. We were able to bring the representatives on stage so our staff could have a visual representation of all the churches being recognized in one room. As we prayed for them, they prayed for us and our retreat that will take place in August. This was such a beautiful moment to be in one place, at one time, with many different churches and denominations praying to the same God.
Creating an Impactful Summer
If you have ever stayed in College Station during the summer months, you know one thing for sure: driving down Texas Ave becomes much easier! But this isn’t the only thing that changes in Aggieland. You will see campus tours with many howdys heard between buildings. You will also see an NSC releasing from Rudder Auditorium with wide-eyed freshmen wondering how to register for classes. You would never guess that in a few short months over 10,000 new students would be stepping foot on campus about to enter their first class in Blocker or Harrington. These freshmen will be a part of the 64,000 Texas A&M Aggies and 11,000 Blinn Buccaneers coming this fall!
Even though the Texas A&M campus seems to hibernate in the summer months, Impact is gearing up for August. Summers hold every aspect of retreat planning. Our execs will iron out final details and our staff will prepare to bring ideas (old and new) of Impact 2019 to life. We also spend time spreading the word about Impact by handing out flyers to freshmen and transfer students as they walk around campus during their new student conferences.
We also prepare our hearts for retreat each and every week leading up to our first session. The weekly prayer meetings that began last fall continue through the summer. You will find about one third of our staff in College Station this summer; but many others are literally scattered to the ends of the earth. Impact staff are working internships, on overseas mission trips, serving as camp counselors, or back home working. Since our staff is spread throughout the world, our weekly prayer meetings also hit the road and go where they go. Small groups of staff are gathering together to come before the Lord and humbly ask Him to be at the middle of our plans and preparation. Our largest prayer meetings take place in College Station, where we meet in houses, parks, or churches to pray specifically for the Class of 2023.
In our efforts to reach these incoming freshmen, here are some ways you can help:
Follow Impact’s social media accounts and share or comment on our posts so more people are exposed to them.
Contact your church’s youth leaders to see if they already know about Impact Retreat.
Anytime you hear of someone going to Texas A&M or Blinn as a freshman or transfer student, let them know about Impact Retreat and encouraging them to register!
Most importantly, be praying for Impact 2019 and all of us as we approach our first day of retreat, August 4th!