As of March 28, Impact 2016 is open for freshmen registration! Over 700 freshmen who have yet to graduate high school are now signed up to attend Impact and learn what it looks like to follow Christ during their college years. We are anxiously awaiting their arrival at Latham Springs in August and are staying busy getting ready to welcome them into the community of believers in Bryan/College Station!

With the opening of freshmen registration, every aspect of Impact gains a new vigor. No longer are we simply meeting once a week to discuss abstract training topics about faceless, nameless, hypothetical freshmen. Instead, we are preparing to meet real people, people with faces and names and prayer requests! Every staff member feels this excitement as we head into the end of the semester and they are using it to good effect. Our staff has been bombarding social media with the news of open registration. They’ve reached out to friends, family members, and home churches to tell any person who might possibly know a freshman. The staff of Impact has been hard at work for the sake of these freshmen they don’t even know yet, and one recent event, in particular, showcased their desire to work hard that the freshmen might be blessed.

Impact’s annual Parents' Weekend Banquet was held on Saturday, April 7. Led by Financial Development Exec Allison Rohrer, Impact staff members made centerpieces, procured auction items, and worked hard to make this year’s banquet an enormous success. The event itself was a blast, with 1100 staff, family members, and friends in attendance and over $58,000 donated to benefit incoming freshmen! That’s over 10% of our yearly budget in one evening!

We love getting to share all that the Lord has done in Impact with our family and friends, and we are so appreciative of all those individuals who have joined our mission to take the Gospel to incoming freshmen. Yet the fundraising portion of Banquet is only part of the story. The rest of the night was spent giving parents and family members a glimpse of all the ways God uses Impact to not only grow freshmen, but our staff. “The banquet was a powerful example to me of God’s work in the midst of the students of Texas A&M,” said Mrs. Lynne Lutz. “It is an amazing experience to see 500 kids and their families together caring about the next generation of freshmen…and impacting the campus for Christ.”

So this month, we are thankful. We are thankful to be a part of this ministry that seeks to share the Gospel with freshmen and connect them to Christian community. We are thankful to be surrounded by staff members who will go above and beyond when called to serve freshmen in unconventional ways, like by making centerpieces or holding doors. We are thankful that freshmen continue to hear about and attend Impact and that we have seen lives change because of that. We are thankful for the support of all the Impact family, past and present. And most of all, we thank God for sending us a Savior that would call us into His family.

A LASTING IMPACT

April is always an exciting month in Aggieland. With soon-to-be graduates taking advantage of their last weeks in college and underclassmen anticipating a great summer, energy is abounding on the Texas A&M Campus. Here at Impact, our excitement and anticipation have been steadily growing. Our freshmen are getting closer to graduating high school and moving to College Station! Staff members are anxious for the opportunity to put their months of training into action and see the freshmen encounter the Gospel and godly community. "I'm looking forward to helping freshmen not only begin their own walks with Christ...but also getting them plugged into their community and pushing them in their faith long after [retreat]," said freshman counselor Cameron Atkinson.

And yet, as our counselors (many of whom attended Impact only last year) anticipate meeting their freshmen and getting to help them find a church home in Bryan/College Station, we often forget that freshmen are excited to meet us, too! "I'm excited to go to impact because I see it as an opportunity to make new friends that will encourage me to pursue the Lord as I begin college," says Hannah Morrison, Class of 2020. "I hope to meet Impact counselors that can encourage me in my faith and give me an example of how a devoted Christ-follower lives in college!"

Hannah's excitement is a welcome reminder that August is right around the corner. All of our work, our prayers, and our anticipation will soon come to a head as Impact turns over a new year and those who were once served by this ministry seek to serve the new freshman class for the sake of Christ's name.

Freshmen registration is now open for Impact 2016! We are so excited to meet the freshmen God is going to bring to Retreat this year and would love your partnership as we publicize.  Feel free to share our website and mission with any incoming freshmen you know!  We would greatly appreciate it!