Camp Impact Archive
INFLUENCE by Rick Weber
Bobby Bowden has the attention of hundreds of high school boys. They’re listening because he has more wins than any coach in major-college football history. But they’re going to find themselves listening for a different reason. Bobby Bowden “The Legend” is about to become Bobby Bowden “The Evangelist.”
“There is no reason for any of you young men to walk off this mountain not bein’ saved,” he says. “If you are not saved when you die, it is your fault. The same things I’m tellin’ you, I tell my football team. I don’t give a dadgum what is politically correct. Boys, when someone tells you that you’re not politically correct, tell them you’d rather be spiritually correct.”
Bowden leaves, knowing he’ll be back. He’ll return to the FCA’s Black Mountain #1 Camp at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in North Carolina because he always returns. He keeps coming back because he believes “there isn’t anybody in America more important” than these campers, because he believes they will have a great opportunity to witness to others.
“There’s a great need for our young athletes to have positive role models,” says Bowden, who first appeared at the camp in 1968. “It’s beneficial for them to be in an atmosphere with other athletes seeking the same kind of spiritual help, as well as being under the influence and care of leaders who have the answer—a Bible, prayer and a Savior. Not only have I seen hundreds, probably thousands of lives changed through FCA, but it keeps getting better and better. I’ve seen high school and college programs change for the better because of FCA.”