This past Thursday Impact welcomed 20 preview students that came to get a closer look at Impact 360 and all that goes on here! A red carpet event was the main attraction of the night. Current students along with the preview students were divided into groups and each were given 30 minutes to come up with an act to perform for the entire group. The acts were extremely goofy and hilarious, from an interpretive dance to Frozen to a musical masterpiece with pots and pans. Everyone who attended the event laughed the night away. The next morning students were interviewed and then introduced to campus life. Current students did their best to represent Impact well and to give a clear picture of what the Lord is up to here at Impact 360.
After the preview students left, I grabbed one of the alumni who came to help with the preview weekend, Christy Retting from Class 7, and asked her a few questions. It is always interesting to hear how alumni are doing, what they are up to, and how Impact 360 has impacted their lives. Here are some of the questions I asked Christy:
If you could describe your Impact experience in one word what would it be?
-Transformative
What is one thing you learned while here?
-I learned how to live in community with other people and how to develop relationships.
What is the biggest change you have seen in your life because of Impact?
-The biggest change was the understanding of who I was as a person and how that shaped the way I acted.
Favorite food of Miss Susie’s…
-Fried Chicken Strips (on a salad of course)
Favorite spot on campus…
-Fire pit down by my room…..
Most fun memory …
-“Night bike rides into Callaway Gardens, beach days in the spring, and the time when Ben sprayed Charlie in the face with a confetti gun. I am pretty sure the confetti stayed in their room until commissioning.”
Most significant memory from your Brazil trip…
– I was on the Sao Paulo team and one night in Brasilia we went to a place called Crita Longa Drug Rehabilitation Center. I gave my testimony there and we were able to interact with the men there. At the end we sang a song about Jesus, and there were grown men full of joy it was just very clear their love for the Lord and their thankfulness for what He had done in their lives. Then later that night we went into the city and did street ministry. We delivered soup and water to homeless people on the streets. There was such brokenness. We saw these people who had no hope and needed the Lord very desperately. Seeing the contrast between a life before Christ and a life with Christ and seeing in a very tangible way how God radically transformed hearts and lives made me think about if my life was changed in the same way the Brazilians were.
What did you think of our show tonight??
– You guys have a very different grouping of personality, quite a spectrum of personalities…
How was the transition for you leaving Impact and going to college?
– The transition was good. The staff did a very good job of describing how Impact is a stepping stone to what God had for you later. It is not the end goal, but a season of preparation. So when I left I felt equipped to flourish in the next thing God had for me.
Where are you now?
– University of Maryland. I am a business and communications double major with a minor in Law and rhetoric
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It was so great to meet Christy and to talk with her. It is always a blessing to see how God is working in the lives of the Impact alumni. Preview weekends are always neat because we get the privilege to show prospective students, what God is doing in our lives as current students, and also the work God is continuing to do in the lives of alumni.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6