Hannah Zimmerman | Contributing Writer
IMPACT is going through some changes this year. We’re losing six of our Student Ministries Leadership Team (SMLT) members and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) leaders to graduation. That’s a big deal. So, we’re in the midst of restructuring the teams to better suit the ministry as well as the needs on campus.
For those of you who don’t know, I’ll introduce you to our team, starting with the graduating seniors: Ian Grigsby is a Math major who leads a Bible study and is a part of our Worship team. He’s probably the most social person out of the SMLT. Ryan Peterson is our entertainment, especially when he and Ian are together. He’s our resident math teacher and has been student teaching this semester, so he’s not around as much as we would like. Holley Withee is the quiet but profound voice on our team. She always has some sort of encouragement or wisdom to offer and she’s got great taste in music. Laura Eberly is my roommate, so I could tell you all sorts of dirt; actually that’s not true. She’s great and her teacherly self will provide an object lesson if need be. Laura has plenty of insight to offer the team as she’s been involved for a few years. Brett Heitkamp is the senior of the FCA leaders. He’s full of J-town swag, jokes, and Jesus. Obviously, if you know Brett well, he can be the life of the party, but he can also be quite serious and drop some knowledge when he has something to say. We appreciate that about him. And then there’s me. I’m the acting mother of the group and sometimes the voice of reason. But I also introduced something called the “swagwag” to IMPACT and a dance party at the retreat–so there’s that.
The rest of the leadership includes juniors: Brady Haye, Charlie Webster, and Andrew Laird; sophomores: Makenzie Mauntler, Ryan Mellot, Mark Eberly, Jana Timmerman, Michael Zellar, and Taryn Kline; and our lone freshman, Rachel Herrington.
As you can see, we have a great group of people leading the ministry this year, and the younger folk are more capable than they know to take it over next year. They’ve got great ideas and even better hearts willing to serve God in whatever way He calls them to on campus.
IMPACT has been a great group for me to get involved with on campus and I’m pretty sure if you asked most people who come to chapel, they’d say the same thing. If you’ve never been to a chapel, you live a sad, sad life. It’s a good time. You should check it out this week. Thursday. Anderson Auditorium. 11:00 a.m. We’re not a bunch of judgmental jerks, I promise. We’re just college students who happen to love God. So, if you can’t make it to chapel, come to a Bible study, or our BBQ, or a bonfire! You may surprise yourself.
If y’all have ideas, questions, comments, concerns, or essentially anything else, let one of our leaders know and we’ll do what we can to get it figured out.
Graphic by Aaron Burns
