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From Camper to Staffer: Jacob Reaves’ Summer at Impact!

September 9, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

Posted: 8/7/19 at 10:40am. Article by Jacob Reaves.
Impact! Mission Camps have been an important part of my life for a long time. I have been to Impact four times before as a camper, and camp has always been a highlight of my summers. While I was at Impact during the summer of 2018, one of the staff members encouraged me to apply for staff for 2019. I submitted an application and was accepted, I and have spent this summer working for Impact Mission Camps. It has been one of the best summers of my life.

I really did not know what to expect as a staff member. As a camper, I would see the staff visiting job sites and running worship services, but I was sure there would be more than that this summer. There were so many more opportunities for me as staff. But the two things I enjoyed most while working for Impact this summer were working on job sites and sharing my testimony during evening worship services.

Jacob Reaves
I have always enjoyed working with my hands and building things. I learned parts of construction from my dad for years and minored in carpentry during college. This summer, I got to use these skills during Impact. As staff we visit job sites throughout the week and occasionally go out and help if they are short-handed. But this summer I even got to work as a crew chief on a job site one week. I got to work on a house and teach the students some of the things I knew, and I got to watch as the home transformed through the week. Getting to use the gifts God has given me was an awesome experience.

While I love carpentry and working on a job site, I hate public speaking. However, to my surprise, giving my testimony each week was one of the most rewarding parts of the job. I realized early this summer that after my testimony, students were more likely to come to me and talk. I loved talking to the students and hearing their stories and sharing mine. That has been my favorite part of this summer. Getting to know people and making connections has been the highlight of this experience.

I am so glad that I applied for staff and got to spend the summer working for Impact. Getting to use my love for carpentry and my love for people has been a great experience. I loved getting to see a new side of Impact that I never got the chance to see as a student. While I will not be able to work on staff again, I would if I had the opportunity and would recommend it as a great way to spend the summer having fun and serving God.

Filed Under: stories

Impact Mission Camps Provide New Opportunities for Students to Serve

September 9, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

Posted: 8/22/19 at 3:20pm. Article by Glenn Maddox.

Impact Mission Camps, in its 26th year overall and its second year of five-year partnerships with communities where it serves, gave students and partners new opportunities to share God’s love through service this summer.

For the last several years, the theme for Impact has come from the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, with themes such as Hungry, More than Welcome, and Robes of Hope. This year, we practiced Just Visiting—being one expression of the presence of Christ by visiting, forming relationships, and serving.

Over the course of the summer, over 700 participants served during six weeks of camp—repairing 60 homes—ensuring families would be safe, warm, and dry. Students also had new opportunities to serve this year and created new ways for partner churches to engage. They were part of a community lunch celebration in Chesterfield, hosted by the local faith community.

Kids in grades 3-5 got to be part of the overall mission experience in Bluefield, serving each other, the youth campers, a homeowner, and the wider community. In Danville, we saw a new partnership begin with the Pittsylvania Baptist Association, Averett University, and Impact to create pathways to year-round engagement.

And on the Eastern Shore, Impact participants helped expand Splash Camp, a summer camp that provides much-needed childcare and shares the gospel, to a second site. During our two weeks in Jones County, Impact participants served homeowners still displaced by Hurricane Florence as part of the overall BGAV Disaster Rebuild efforts there.

Participants went home ready to explore how they can be part of God’s mission, how God may be calling them, and how their worldview needs to expand in light of what they experienced this summer.

They learned new ways their churches can engage their communities by learning about Fresh Expressions, saw a glimpse of what a life of faith beyond high school may be like from collegiate ministers who served as camp pastors, and saw that they will always have a home away from home at Impact as several former staffers came back to serve as worship leaders and as the camp coordinator.

The work for next year has already begun, and the work of our faith never really ends.

Filed Under: stories

Impact! Kids: Learning Lessons of Church Leadership

September 9, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

Posted: 7/31/19 at 3:30pm. Article by Glenn Maddox.
Kids are not the future of the church.

We hear a lot about how churches need to invest in children, youth, and young families because they are the future of the church.

At Impact Kids in Bluefield, a kid-friendly mission camp that coincided with our youth construction mission camp, we saw that the future of the church is right now. Children in grades 3 through 5 (or 6, depending on where their churches group sixth graders) participated fully in a missions experience tailored to them.

The theme for the week was “Just Visiting,” inviting kids to learn about how God visits us and calls us to visit others in return. They learned how God can use them to show love to the world, and they then spent each afternoon expanding their circle of care.

They learned through lessons, videos, and a Tyvek suit relay race about ways churches can serve the wider community through Disaster Response. They learned how to be part of community and how to create a community that reflects the Kingdom of God.

They served each other as campers by making individual gifts for each other, they served homeowners who were receiving home repairs by creating teacup flowerpots for each crew to share, and they served homeowners directly by doing yard work alongside the teens doing construction on the site.

One of the leaders said they looked like a “plague of friendly locusts” as they descended on the yard and cleared every leaf and weed from the site.

After cleaning the yard, they had a birthday party for Mrs. Cecil (she turned 94)—complete with cupcakes and a joyful rendition of “Happy Birthday.” After the kids sang, Mrs. Cecil said, “With all my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, I’ve had a bunch of birthday parties this month. But this one tops them all!”

But the kids weren’t just there to learn—they were there to lead. They led the rest of the camp by teaching them the proper way to sing “All the People Said Amen” (hint: you have to yell “Amen” really loudly).

They took the lead in the community on the day they visited the pool. One of the boys wanted to jump off the high dive, but he got a little nervous and climbed down. An Impact staff member offered to help him, but before we knew it, all the kids—and then everybody at the pool—were chanting his name, encouraging him to jump. And he did!

His smile when he came up out of the water showed us more clearly than anything that kids have a lot to teach us about Just Visiting and welcoming others into community.

In the end, Impact KIDS showed our churches what’s to come for them in their lives as part of God’s mission, especially as they grow into youth and adults. But the kids who served during the week showed their churches that they’re not just the future of the church.

Kids are a critical part of what the church is and what the church needs to be—right now.

Filed Under: stories

Impact: More Than a Mission Camp—A Family

September 9, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

Posted: 7/10/19 at 9:40am. Article by Mikayla Barnes.

I have been a part of Impact Mission Camps as a camper, staff member, and now as on-site coordinator since 2009. While on staff in the summers of 2015 and 2016 I was able to meet so many wonderful people.

Since I have been a part of camp for ten years now, I have had the opportunity to meet and bond with other fellow Impacters over the years and when I became a staff member I was able to reconnect with previous crew chiefs, youth leaders, and even some campers.
Mikayla Barnes

Mikayla Barnes

One that really stuck out to me most though was my very first crew chief, Stanley Clayton, who even seven and ten years later could tell you exactly what I—not just my crew, but me as an individual—did on our job site that summer.

Stanley has been to Impact for many years and is an awesome, godly man, and being not only recognized and remembered but also gratified by him means more than words can describe. It truly touches my heart to see God working in all of us. Stanley is only one of many people who have touched my heart through the Impact family.

Starting back with Impact after being away for almost three years was a major adjustment. I have finished college, I am now married, and I have started graduate school, but it was like I never missed a beat. We have now completed two camps and are in the midst of the third this summer, and tons of people have recognized me, given me hugs, asking me about my life like they saw me last summer or even last month.

I have been welcomed back with open arms and felt like I was missed, which is a true blessing. This is because Impact is a family. I had a crew youth leader in 2013 who was with me in the hospital the very next week at camp because he just so happened to work at the same hospital my grandmother was in. He was there for me and prayed with me and my family, because I was a part of his family—the Impact family.

In summer 2016 another crew chief became like a father figure to me and treated me as his own when my now husband came to visit. He took on that role very well. Then three years later, that same crew chief welcomed me back into his family at camp in Bluefield. He acted as though he had seen me every step of the way in the past three years, when I had not seen him once. Last week, he pulled me aside after the last night of worship and felt as though he needed to tell me just how proud he was of me, how much he has seen me grow, and how God is using me in amazing ways.

God spoke to me through him that night to help confirm my calling to Impact, because of this family it has created. Impact is not just a summer mission camp; we are a family, bonding together summer after summer.

Filed Under: stories

International

September 6, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

We will be leading a team to the Baptist World Alliance Youth Celebration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You can find out general information about the congress at bwa2020.org/youth. Stay tuned for updates!

Churches seeking a customized experience can choose from options below

Capitalizing on partnerships around the world, we can help your group serve internationally, with all of your arrangements handled by our office. Groups will receive training and support from our office and partners in the host country. Average cost is $65 per day plus airfare. Contact us for more information and to plan your international experience to:

  • Austria
  • Canada
  • Haiti
  • Norway
  • Panama
  • Romania

Filed Under: 2020

Eastern Shore – July 26 – August 1

September 6, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

Participants will serve in Northampton County, in the area around Cape Charles.  Campers will learn about other ministries in the community and opportunities for deeper engagement in ongoing ministry.  Churches will have opportunities to establish long-term partnerships on the Shore.  Housing will be in a middle or high school.

Filed Under: 2020

Danville – July 19 – 25

September 6, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

In partnership with Averett University and the city of Danville, Impact sites will be concentrated in one area, all within walking distance of one another.  Churches will have opportunities to connect to local ministries where they can invest year-round.  Housing will be at Averett University.

Filed Under: 2020

Bluefield – July 12 – 18

September 6, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

We will serve in several communities in need around Bluefield college – in Virginia and West Virginia, working alongside churches from both states.  Churches will have opportunities to connect to local ministries where they can invest year-round.

Filed Under: 2020

Impact Kids – July 12 – 18

September 6, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

Impact Kids – a mission education camp that runs alongside and supports the Impact Mission Camp.  Students learn about the community, explore opportunities for mission service, engage in kid-friendly worship, and serve the families and participants of the Impact construction-based camp.  Housing is available as family units or as church groups.

Filed Under: 2020

Chesterfield – June 21 – 27

September 6, 2019 by Impact Mission Camps Leave a Comment

We will focus in the Route 1 corridor – an area of great need an potential for community development as part of a new redevelopment initiative the county has adopted.

Filed Under: 2020

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2021 Dates

  • Bridges for Hope/Bluefield
  • Roanoke
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  • Chesterfield
  • Eastern Shore

Impact Stories

  • Returning to Impact Staff

    Returning to Impact Staff

    February 4, 2021
  • Advent Devotional 2020

    Advent Devotional 2020

    December 2, 2020
  • Impact Kids

    Impact Kids

    October 5, 2020
  • Eastern Shore – July 25-31

    Eastern Shore – July 25-31

    October 5, 2020
  • Chesterfield – July 11-17

    Chesterfield – July 11-17

    October 5, 2020
Join us this summer for Impact RE:Created! Regist Join us this summer for Impact RE:Created! 
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We also have Virtual Camp if your group isn't ready to travel. 

Learn more at impactmissioncamps.org

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Interested in serving God this summer? Maybe you h Interested in serving God this summer? Maybe you have been going to Impact for a long time or maybe never. We would love to have you! 
For more information visit https://impactmissioncamps.org/staff/ or send us a message! 
Apply Today!
#impact2021 #ImpactReCreated #service #staff #Impactstaff #missioncamp #summerjob
Join us this summer for Impact RE:Created as we na Join us this summer for Impact RE:Created as we navigate 2021 and we start to reimagine our new normal. We will be creating new ways for participants to be part of Impact – in person at camp, virtually, or as individual groups. We missed everyone in person for Impact 2020 but God has plans for us to be Better Together as Impact is RE:Created for each of you!
Register at impactmissioncamps.org

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17

#Impact2021 #ImpactReCreated #ImpactMissionCamps #impactvirginia #youthcamp #missioncamp #missiontrip #jointhemission  #2corinthians #scripture
We are so stoked for next summer! Are you? Today We are so stoked for next summer! Are you? 
Today is the last day to register and lock in the early-bird rate! Register today, pay in March! Don't worry, registration is still open after today! 
Visit us at https://impactmissioncamps.org/register/

#Impact #impactvirginia #impactmissioncamps #impact2021 #summercamp #summermissions #youthcamp #missioncamp #servingGod #youthgroup
We cannot wait to see you all this summer! Registe We cannot wait to see you all this summer! Register by December 31 to lock in our early-bird rate! Register today and pay later! Visit impactmissioncamps.org 

#Impact2021 #impactmissioncamps #serve #mission #youth
Merry Christmas! Isaiah 9:2-7 The people who walke Merry Christmas!
Isaiah 9:2-7
The people who walked in darkness
  have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
 on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
 you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
  as with joy at the harvest,
 as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
 and the staff for his shoulder,
 the rod of his oppressor,
 you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
  and every garment rolled in blood
  will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
 to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
 and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
  there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
 to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
  from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

#Advent #Advent2020 #LOVE #Love2020 #MerryChristmas #truemeaningofchristmas #JesusChrist #scripture
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