We are a movement of Christ followers committed to making an impact on our community and the world. We engage college students and marketplace professionals. We exist to serve and work in cooperation with and in support of the African American church with programs that include our college chapters, summer mission trips in the U.S. and Africa, and a national network of those engaged in youth and young adult ministry.
Discover the story behind the beginnings of one of the nation’s best kept secrets: The Impact Movement.
Impact is the product of the prayers and dreams of a group of Christian leaders who met in 1987. Founded as part of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), the ministry gained formative roots as a national student conference in 1991.This inaugural conference in 1991 was pioneered by Dr. Tom Fritz, a Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) staff member who served as director of InterCultural Resources. Impact ‘91, held in Atlanta, GA that December, encouraged and mobilized people of African descent involved in CCC college movements across the nation. More than 500 students from high schools and colleges across the U.S. attended and their lives were significantly changed.
Charles Gilmer assumed the leadership of the national Impact Conferences from Dr. Fritz in 1992. The national conferences continued with Impact 94, followed by Impact 96. At the 1996 conference, Dr. Charles Gilmer announced our vision to see Impact be more than a conference, and become a movement. Here, The Impact Movement was officially inaugurated as 1100 of the 1850 conferees at Impact ’96 committed themselves to being a part of an African-American movement to help fulfill the Great Commission. Changing the focus from a conference to a movement was needed in order to fully encompass the mission and vision of Impact to be a movement of evangelism and discipleship on the college campus, extending into the African-American community and ultimately permeating the world.
After 10 years of incubation under CCC, in 2002 The Impact Movement filed incorporation papers as an independent 501.c.3 organization with Dr. Gilmer as its President and Chairman of the Board.
Impact works to see God redeem communities of African descent. This can only happen as we allow God to use us as agents of change. We use the Impact National Conferences to build momentum, train leaders, and give newcomers a venue to join us. The conference has become a rallying point for those of African descent, high school and college students, alumni, church leaders, educators and marketplace professionals. Since its inception, these bi-annual conferences have together hosted more than 10,000 conferees!
We want each community of African descent to become a reflection of God’s redemptive power. We each play an important role in seeing this vision happen and we are excited to see what God has planned!