Skill and Sacrifice

Around here, large things happen fast. Since coming to the camp, I've been amazed by the scale of the construction and remodeling projects and the speed with which they get done. This speed is something that would not be possible without the skill and sacrifice of volunteers such as the Texas Baptist Men, Mobile Missionary Assistance Program (MMAP), Campers on Mission and Sowers. These folks descend upon Camp Tejas during the retreat season like a small swarm of bees and things start happening. They don't like to stand still for a moment and part of my job is to make sure they have something to do and the materials to do it. This has been a learning process for me because they seem to get done with things so quickly.

Retreat, for me, is so much of what I see around me. The ability to relax in mind is deeply affected by what I see. These servants are making a tremendous difference in what our guests see. So much has been done already this season to improve the appearance of the camp. From paint at Four Seasons to outdoor lighting and sprinkler systems across the Meadows Retreat Center; from repaired masonry at the main camp to trash can covers all over the place.

The transient nature of their service -moving from one project to the next and spending so much time away from home- is inspiring to me. I hope that I have the energy and means to serve in this way if the opportunity comes. Thank you, volunteers. Thank you all for your service to Him and your help to us.

Mike Newton, Facilities Director

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Matt 6:19-21 (KJV)

A Celebration of 28 Years

Saturday evening was a celebration of a tremendous era of Camp Tejas. On February 14, 1981, Billy and Janice Jones began their service here. Their lives changed drastically when they moved from their comfortable Houston suburb to the rural central Texas area of Warda. With a few dollars in the checking account and fewer groups on the spring calendar, they ventured into the Christian camping world not knowing what to expect. They quickly figured out what groups needed, where the water values are, and how much grass had to be mowed. Less than 1,500 people came to the camp in 1981. Over 15,000 have stayed with us in 2008. Their amazing personal service in the hands of the Lord has laid down a foundation on which the next generation will build. We are immensely thankful for our history, and extremely excited about our future.

Billy and Janice officially retired from their director positions in October. Tejas Ministries will provide a home for them as long as they are willing and able to live in it. They will continue to work part time for the camp until the Lord leads them in another direction.

You can find both parts of the Jones retirement video here: http://www.youtube.com/camptejas

David Jones

A New Step For Camp Tejas

If you didn’t catch it, then I’ll fill you in – the title for this blog is a cheesy pun. Yes camp Tejas is taking steps forward each year with new building projects, but this year we literally added a new step. If you have ever eaten a meal in the camp Tejas dining hall you know that there are times when it can get crowded. One of the most crowded areas is the area just past the end of the salad bar next to exit door where you take dirty trays. People getting food go through the area to find a seat while others finishing their meal are going through the same are to take their tray to be cleaned. Congestion builds fairly rapidly and it slows everything down. Although there are large plans to revamp the dinning hall, small fixes can make a big difference. Thats where the new step comes in. Recently a small railing was removed at the end of the salad bar to allow for a better flow of traffic. In theory guests going to find a seat can take the new step up toward the drink machines, while guests taking their trays can use the old step. So far things have worked out quite well except for the couple of falls we have had. So when you come to visit, be sure to watch your step.

Seth Gordon
Recreation Director

Mud

A huge goal of the recreation we provide here at Camp Tejas is to be unique. Just about every camp has a swimming pool and a recreation field and just about every camper that shows up at camp has played basketball and football at some point in their life. So here at Camp Tejas we try out best to think outside of the norm – what is a camper going to remember doing at Camp Tejas for years to come? One of the most fun and unique activities we provide is our Tejas mud games. We start off with a giant arena full of dirt, till that up so all the dirt is soft and then we add water – lots of it. The end result is a giant mud pit and I'm sure you can imagine what fun can happen when you combine 200 or more campers and a giant arena full of mud. Usually we lead a number of relays and then give the campers some time to simply enjoy the experience. Above is a picture of the post mud game clean-off. If you ever think of a interesting unique activity that 200+ campers might enjoy, be sure to let us know!


Seth Gordon
Recreation Director

Not the typical Best Western

On Wednesday we were preparing the camp for hurricane force winds as Ike was expected to pass directly over us. But as the hours passed and Ike's path turned more to the east, headed for Houston, we quickly became a place to escape the storm. The church groups scheduled to stay with us last weekend were all rescheduled clearing the space for evacuees. Some friends and family stayed with us, some previous guests, and even several families who used the camp in 2005 to evacuate from Rita. Over about 5 days, we had over 300 people stay with us, enjoy the breezy weather, the pool, and some good ole fashion AC. About half fled before Ike and the others afterward to find electricity.

Another group of evacuees were those simply looking for a place to sleep. We informed our local motels of our extra rooms and several families were immediately directed our way. For Houstonians fleeing the devastation of Ike, searching hours for a place to sleep into the early morning hours, and being directed to some camp several miles off the beaten path, it was quite an adventure. Several of us stayed up all night Friday and Saturday giving directions to the wary and assisting them to their rooms. They were very relieved to find a room, but a bit hesitant as to where and what it was. We're not the typical Best Western on the side of the highway. But after a good night's rest in a very unique hotel room without a phone, TV, or even a key, and a good Tejas breakfast, all reluctance disappeared. All together, we had a wonderful time visiting with old friends and making some new ones.

David Jones, CEO

The Dirtiest of Jobs

Each summer the staff come prepared to do a number of duties. Some of them are very fun and others can be . . . well let’s just say they aren’t anyone’s favorite. But one of the jobs that must get done around the camp usually goes on without many people noticing – the infamous trash run. After a good motivational speech, some of the staff gather on the back of a trailer ready to get nice and dirty. The “trash trailer”, as many have named it, roams the entire grounds as the staff empty every trash can at the camp. Sometimes this takes as many as 3 trips to complete, and in the end the camp is trash free – at least that’s the goal. Above is a great action picture of some of the 2008 staff working hard to empty the trailer into the dumpsters. Thanks to everyone who was a part of a trash run and took a good shot of trash juice to the face.

Seth Gordon
Recreation director

I Give Up

It’s one of my favorite things about summers at Tejas.

Once each week all of the girls gather in a conference room for Girls Discipleship. The teaching time usually begins about 15 minutes late because of all the chatter that fills the room. Most of the time there’s food, usually some form of chocolate; and the health conscious of the group snack on fruit. The opening prayer is sometimes started over the last few words of conversation as a tired staff unwinds from a long day and settles in for some time in the Word. We end the night in smaller groups, hearing the testimony of and praying over each person. With no ill-will toward the male of the species, it is the place where relationships are formed, real fellowship is enjoyed, and God’s Word is applied to all of our lives.

This year we have studied the surrendered life: embracing the concept that real strength comes in giving control to Another. We’ve covered topics like giving up our personal rights, letting God manage our time, surrendering our emotions, and in talking about our finances really addressed greed and selfishness.

I usually really like getting to teach the group of girls. I find that the process of preparing and teaching is a fulfilling one for me. But this topic has been different. To say that I have been challenged personally is a bit of an understatement. Jennifer Jones (who picked the topic and who assigned me to teach specific weeks of the study) says that it was the Holy Spirit that put it all together, but it’s been kinda fun to blame it on her. Thanks be to God, but I was convicted at every turn. Some weeks of preparation were rough. I found myself sitting down to prepare to teach, expecting to have a nice, neat outline ready in an hour or so, and found that the Lord was more interested in making me look more like Jesus than in me having an outline put together. More than once I would have an outline written, only to change it the morning of the meeting as I sat on my couch spending personal time in the Word.

While being refined is certainly not always fun, what an incredible Savior we have who refuses to leave us where we are. Even when we are in vocational ministry, He is not interested in where we have been with Him before, how we have seen Him move in the lives of others, or where we think we ought to be headed. In being obedient to be transparent in front of our SMT girls, I have found the blessing of a more intimate relationship with God. What a job! I can’t believe I get paid for this. And Lord, it’s Yours!

Natalie West
Summer Camp Director

Dooploma

With the swift approach of the new wastewater plant comes the need for an on-site, state licensed plant operator. Upon our arrival at the camp, one of my first assignments as the new Facilities Director was to complete a correspondence course and take a state exam to receive a class-D wastewater operations license. Well, I am happy to be reporting back that the "paper work" is done and as soon as the plant construction is complete we can all safely flush, knowing that what we send downhill will soon be processed into clean (non-potable) water to hydrate those meadows fields.
Matt Wall, our Project Manager, will begin studying for his class-D license in the very near future.

Mike Newton
Facilities Director

Swimming Under the Late Night Moon

One of my favorite activities during the summer months is a pool party. Many groups enjoy coming down to the pool during the evening to splash under the moon. As the first summer hosting two groups at once, I was questioning whether or not the pool was going to be able to stay as sparkling clean as it has in the past. Luckily with the great cleaning work of our supervisors, the pool has remained as clear as ever before and remains one of the most popular recreation areas of the summer.

Seth Gordon
Recreation Director

Rec in the Meadows

The last time I posted (some time back in may) I wrote about the creation of the new Rec fields - so far they have been working great. During one of my favorite weeks of the summer I took the this picture down in the meadows and it really made me realize how neat it is to have a Rec field literally in the middle of the meadows - we even have a windmill next to it. Hopefully it has provided as much fun as I have enjoyed on it. Although the fields are not up to professional sports team standards, they are far better than the areas we have used in the past.


Seth Gordon
Recreation Director

May the Geeks Unite!

Ok... Ok... you thought this would be posting about retreat items and summer camp, but you are trumped on this one. The IT guy of Camp Tejas is coming out and taking over. The last post was about controlling Lights and A/C units from computers (which is really cool). This post is about the use of DD-WRT, updating our wired network infrastructure and installing an internet filter.

First off, DD-WRT is a way to have more control over our wireless access points around the camp. I have been playing with a couple of test routers over the last year, and now I am starting to "revamp" our wireless boxes around the camp. Since we have been adding wireless access points over the last several years, each box has its own settings and web pages. With DD-WRT I am able to have a common interface for all (or at least most) of our wireless access points. Today I finished revamping our Dining Hall and Tejas Home boxes, I also got ready to install one for the Office, Tejas Inn and SMT Office. Hopefully with this open source product, administration of our wireless network will be a little easier.

Second, I have been playing around in attics this week. Since getting here, I have been using non-kosher methods of getting network access faster between buildings at the camp. In the early 2000's we used wireless bridges between our main buildings. This helped a whole lot, but with the advance of technology, our solution was not keeping up. Applications, shared files, Internet, VOIP phones and printers needed more bandwidth. My "cheap" solution was to start using old 4 pair phone lines that were run back before I was born (not really, but a while ago) as network cable. Today's standard speed is 100 megabits, but on some connections I am lucky to have 10 megabits. With all that said, I have started to replace old lines with new ones and have installed 1000 megabits switches to help speed up our network. In the near future I plan on replacing the lines between buildings with Fiber Optic cables. This should really speed things up and hopefully be a versatile solution for the future of technology at the camp.

Lastly, the newest addition to our family of network products is an Internet filter. This solution by Intgerity Online will help safeguard our staff and guests with the waywardness of the internet. It helps to filter internet content and blocks bandwidth consuming games and applications. In the future we plan to add an email component to this solution to help with spam.

These are the happenings of the IT guy.

Paul Biles
Retreat Director

Control that A/C

As summer gets hotter, the A/C works longer. One of the new improvements at Camp Tejas is the addition of a product from XCI Corp, the network thermostat and light controller. With these products we are able to control and monitor the air conditioning in all the new rooms at the Four Seasons and control the outside lights. Right now we are able to check on and make temperature changes to all 12 private rooms. We have the equipment and are in the process of adding control to the large conference room and the outside lights.

With this system, we will also be able to control and make custom timers for all the outside lights around the building. This helps us both in energy savings and also man power. Before we had to send someone around to turn outside lights on whenever guests are here, now we will be able to do it from our computers and save a lot of time.

By controlling the A/C, we are able to make sure rooms are not turned all the way down to 60 degrees and left that way, or in the winter up to 90! The thermostats will limit the range and also automatically cut it off when the group leaves. This should decrease our energy costs by being proactive in our efforts to control that A/C.

Paul Biles
Resident IT Manager

Still awaiting the big storm

Last summer it was too much rain. This summer - no rain. Actually, we have not had enough rain here at the camp to create runoff since early April. Our entire area is in a drought, but it must be the worst immediately around us.

I've included a little weather map to illustrate a very common theme for the last three months. The rain heads our direction, it parts, moves around us, then merges back together on the other side. This weather map is from the storm that blew through last night. This image was captured about 30 minutes after is blew by us. No rain here. I don't know how, but no rain. Looking at this map, you would think we got some good rain. For some reason, it's just not in the Lord's time - yet.

Nonetheless, when it comes to summer camp, the kids have a lot more fun in the sun than in the rain. It's a little hotter than normal, but all the activities are open - with the exception of the entire new lake. Some of the new lake is now open, which includes the slide, rope swing, and swimming area, but about 2/3 of it is still awaiting the big storm.

David Jones, CEO

Anybody out there?

Well it has been a while since any of us have posted to this site. I think that it is very much a representation of how busy the last couple of weeks have been. Summer staff arrived and have been training for the last two weeks. This weekend they are all on mission trips to the Houston and Waco areas. I am sure Natalie, Seth, David or Mike will post on that later.

This weekend we have the pleasure of hosting our last two retreat groups of the Spring season. There is a family group from Houston staying until Sunday afternoon and a children's group from Austin that will be heading out later this evening after supper. I am very greatful for the youth from Giddings who are helping out this weekend and for Arthur, one of our past summer staff and intern.

Alfredo, and his boys Freddie, Ceasar and Louis are still here and working on our lakes. Yesterday they started a siphon from the small lake by Billy's house to the new lake in the meadows. We were able to drain about a foot off that lake and today they will be moving that siphon over to our main swim lake by Marmax. The last couple of weeks we have been building up the lake level to store up all the water we can. Now is the time to start transfering that water down to the meadows.

Prayer Requests:
1. Several staff on the mission trips caught some sort of bug and haven't been feeling well. Please pray that they will not be discouraged.
2. That God will provide the water needed to fill the new meadows lake.
3. Our maintenace crews, they are working non-stop to get last minute projects done for the summer camps.

Paul Biles - Retreat Director

Behind the Scenes: God's Beauty

One of the tasks we do while guests are here is to check the conference rooms in the morning. We refill water dispensers, clean up messes and take out the trash. While taking the trash to the dumpster, which would normally be one of those errands I like to do quickly, I had to pause and look at God's creation. The sunrise that morning was amazing! I only had my phone camera with me and it didn't catch the full magnitude of God's beauty. The sun was coming over the horizon and in the far field I could see 20 or so cows grazing and then in the field closer to me were 10 deer grazing as well. It is times like this that I would love to express the importance and need to get away from everyday life. Even though I live out in the country and work at a retreat, I too need to make sure to get away from hectic schedules and relax with God. Whether it be here at Camp Tejas, at your local park, your back yard or your kitchen table, I encourage you to take time to enjoy God's beauty and relax in it.

Paul Biles - Retreat Director

A New Sitting Place

We are working on new places around the camp to sit, pray, and listen. There are LOTS of great places - just not enough benches. Thanks to a wonderful donor, our little fishing dock is now larger and it includes what we believe will be one the favorite spots to meet with the Lord. The dock was completed yesterday afternoon and at 6:50 this morning, a guest was there enjoying the peace and waiting for the sun to rise from behind the clouds. This bench will be used by thousands for many years to come.

Let us know if you too would like to provide the resources necessary to build a bench (or even a dock) that would provide a place such as this one. The name of the location will be your choice.

David Jones, CEO

david@camptejas.org

Power to the Poopy

So where does all the poopy go? That's not a very common question. If our guests ever wonder what happens when the toilet is flushed, they don't express it to us in words. Well, unless they flush and it rises! Today, Bluebonnet Electric installed the power line to the new poopy station (commercial wastewater facility for those without toddlers). As the camp is growing, so is the flow of the unmentionables - things that we prefer not to discuss at the dinner table after the age of 7 or so. But there are folks out there who make it a topic of discussion on a daily basis. We may not talk about it daily, but it's close. We like to say that some of our best work is never seen. I don't know about our best work, but a large percentage of our time is spent digging ditches, gluing pipe, and covering it with dirt - only to run into it again a few years later when the next ditch is dug. Our new wastewater facility is underway and should be ready by June. I won't tell you where it is - so then you don't have to think about it.

David Jones, CEO

Recreation Fields

As the recreation director and as a person who loves to play sports it has been one of my biggest desires to have quality playing fields here at Camp Tejas. For years we have had descent areas to do different activities on, but never any areas specifically designated for recreation. Now my dream is coming true as we will have 2 fields designed solely for recreational purposes. They will be fenced in and will have sprinkler systems keeping them watered during the dry months. The picture above is of the grass being sprayed on – the fields will be ready by the beginning of summer 2008.

Seth Gordon - Recreation Director

Where am I?

This week has been one of those weeks where I look back and wonder... what in the world do I do this week? We did have a 2 day director's retreat, hosted 600 senior high school students on Wednesday, hosted a leader retreat on Thursday and Friday and then finished the weekend with 300 guests joining us here at Camp Tejas. This past weekend we had 4 groups here, of which 3 were ladies groups. I am sure that 7% of men here this weekend really felt out of place!

One of the projects I did work on and complete was updating our Camp Tejas facilities map. With the addition of the new facilities, this will make it a lot easier to explain to guest how to get to their room in the meadows. While working on it, I did think back to my first summer at Tejas in 1999. I know several people who go back to knowing what it looked like in 1981, but even in the last 9 years, this place has changed!

With the camp expanding more to the north, one of the major changes to the map is the orientation. Instead of keeping to our sideways 8.5x11, I changed it to be upright. This made a huge difference both in the ability to fit all the new roads and buildings, but the bigger part was that most of the time, I was always flipping our sideways map to help guests understand the direction they came into the camp. Hopefully, with the new map, next time you come to camp, you can help me answer the question, "Where am I?".

Paul Biles - Retreat Director

My Favorite Part

Summer is coming - whether we are ready or not - and one long work day sometimes seems to run into the next. It's a hectic time, but last weekend I was reminded of my favorite thing about Tejas. As one of the directors on duty, I was called upon to fill out an incident report (kayak tag can be hazardous to your health). The two college girls who helped me collect the necessary information for the form happened to be students at my alma mater (sic 'em). We struck up a conversation about majors and professors and classes that eventually took a turn. For nearly an hour I got to sit at a table in the Dining Hall and really fellowship with some sisters in Christ. We talked about church and missions and calling. That lead us to over-commitment and time management and some of the mysteries of God. Yea, we fill out incident reports and plunge toilets and refill the garbanzo beans on the salad bar -- but getting to work in a place that lends itself to real fellowship -- that's my favorite part.

Natalie West
Summer Camp Director

A&M Consolidated

Each year right before school lets out most high school students go through the pains of the infamous TAKS testing (you may know the older version called the TAAS test). But while the majority of students are stressing about testing, the senior students from A&M Consolidated come and spend the day at Tejas. This year we had over 500 students come and spend the day swimming in the lakes and pool, climb on the wall and zip down the zip line, and get one of the famous Camp Tejas burgers. After spending most of the day hanging with friends around the camp everyone gathered in the old Tejas rodeo arena for some serious competition relays like the classic tug-o-war. Congrats to all the graduating A&M Consolidated seniors!

Seth Gordon - Recreation Director

Our New 1908 Salad Bar Tables

Last summer, we were given a house in Giddings by Goodson Lumber (the lumber company that we use most often). The house was built in 1908 and stood on Goodson's new property. They were developing their new property last summer and needed the house to be moved. We took it - and have used most of it in our new 4 Seasons building and other camp items. Some of the other camp items include two new salad bar tables. The timbers of these tables were once the supporting timbers of a 1908 Giddings residence.

David Jones, CEO

Board Members, Fishing Docks and Airplanes

Last weekend, one of our board members helped us make a vision for a bigger fishing dock come true. After our Saturday board meeting, Kelly went right to work with a couple of our workers to add the much needed dock space for fishing. They used our lift to push piers down into the lake bottom and then started adding on the joists and deck boards.

That same weekend, I was able to hitch a ride with one of our guests in his airplane! We flew over the camp several times and I was able to get some neat shots of the meadows facilities, the new lake and our guys working on the dock. If you look real close, you can see two red dots on the dock, they are Kelly and Jeff.

Paul Biles, Retreat Director

Locked Out

Each weekend we have an average of about 200 guests staying at the camp, and when you have a lot of people around something is bound to go wrong. Usually we have small problems that are quick and easy to fix, but other times there are more lengthy issues to deal with. It becomes a second nature for our directors on duty to respond quickly to solve the problems that arise. This past weekend was a particularly interesting weekend. We didn’t have many problems at all, but it was unusual to have two guests lock their keys in their car. Not only that, but the cars just happened to be parked next to each other – go figure. The first car owner luckily had a service that they were able to call, but the second guest wanted to attempt to get in with what we had.

After about 2 hours of attempted breaking and entering the guest remembered that she actually had a hidden spare key. The above picture is of our celebration. So the moral of the story: bring a spare, and remember that you have it!

Seth Gordon - Recreation Director

Behind the Scenes: Cleaning

One of the on going processes of camp life is cleaning. We have private rooms, bunk houses, public restrooms, conference rooms and a dining hall to clean each week. It takes several special people to come behind our guests and clean the rooms and restrooms and they are greatly appricated! Without them, our camp wouldn't look as wonderful as it does.

Recently had to say good-bye to two of our cleaning ladies, as they are moving to Kentucy to be closer to family. We have started the process of finding new help. It has taken a while to find the right people to fill in the gap of our cleaning staff. One of the new things we are trying out until the summer is having a evening cleaning crew. Two ladies from town come out after everyone leaves for the day and have been cleaning during the evening and the other cleaning lady, helps during the day. So far, everything has worked out really well. We hope to start one more person during the day in the next couple of weeks, right now a volunteer and one of our kitchen workers have been helping out the first couple days of the week. Please pray that God will provide the right people to fill a very much important and needed position.

Paul Biles - Retreat Director

Christmas in April?

Yes, we have Christmas lights up in April. Actually, the lights will be up all year long. Not because we're too lazy to take them down (although we do get lazy from time to time), but because we love the look of Christmas lights wrapped around the trees. They provide great lighting for the main road coming into the camp. Without them, the road is very dark, and not a fun walk for our guests without a flashlight. They create a certain elegance that everyone has really enjoyed. If these work out well with very little maintenance (as these have so far), we will make them permanent and even add more in different places around the camp.

Merry Christmas!
David Jones, CEO

Meadows Retreat Game Room

Back in the recessed areas of Camp Tejas we have had 2 old pool tables waiting to be re-finished. They were purchased a few years ago with the hope that eventually the camp would grow enough to use them. After a few years of being neglected and left to collect dust, they have finally been brought back to life and are currently in use at the Meadows Retreat game room. Right now the game room hosts the two pool tables and one foosball table and is used each weekend by a number of guests staying in both the Four Seasons and Barn 214. When you get the chance to come and spend a day at the camp be sure to stop by and check out the game room and the re-finished pool tables.

Seth Gordon – Recreation Director

MEGA Interns

Camp Tejas owes a great big THANKS to our six MEGA Interns!

With four of them here since September, and the other two joining us in January, we have had a great year with our largest-ever group of interns. They work weekends hosting retreat groups and then during the weeks doing a variety of jobs. They clean and paint and set up conference rooms. In the winter they unloaded fire wood, and this Spring they have helped to get the pool ready for summer. I'm not sure of how they got their 'MEGA' title, but they have surely earned it. All six will stay and work in different capacities for the summer, but will scatter in August.

This week, before the hectic summer schedule starts up, we took the MEGA Interns on a little trip. It lasted only about 48 hours, but our two days of relaxation and fun on Lake Travis were wonderful. It was a small way to say thanks for some long hours.

So, Liz, Kristi, Kim, Beau, Brittany, and Meredith - thanks for working so hard and for investing with us in the ministry God has here at Camp Tejas. I lurve ya.

Natalie West - Summer Camp Director

From Mud to Sand

One of the newest recreation additions to Tejas is a second sand volleyball court. Our desire for this new court was to keep the sand in and the water out, and although we started with a small pond we worked our way to a very nice court. After excavating about 1 to 2 feet into the ground we dug a small trench to allow for drainage. Once the weather cooperated and things dried up, a drainage pipe was laid and then quite a bit of gravel was put down. Once the gravel was in place, a barrier was put on top to keep the sand from sifting through the gravel. Then the sand was added and the net was hung. The only thing left to finish up this court is a bit of grass and a few competitive players.

Seth Gordon - Recreation Director

Six Weeks and Counting

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

In just under six weeks the noise level at Tejas will begin its ascent to the roar that accompanies each summer. On May 19 the 2008 Summer Ministry Team will arrive to begin training. What that means on this side of April is recruiting, planning, recruiting, preparation, recruiting...

With just under 40 hired, we are ahead of where we were at this time last year, but still quite a distance from the hiring goals that we set. In my weaker moments that translates to what is commonly referred to as panic. The beautiful thing, however, is that in His grace and infinite wisdom, the Lord had me study and memorize a section of Romans 8 in the Fall. Among other things in the passage that He has so faithfully used in my life, verses 26 and 27 have come to be a rallying cry for me.

I don't even know how to pray most days. He has made it pretty clear that He is not about my comfort. So, when I ask that He bring staff (and bring them in a timely manner), my motivation is mostly selfish. I mean, it would make my life and job easier, not to mention that little issue of job performance, if we had more staff than we knew what to do with. The truth is that this is His ministry. He's got a plan. So, recently, in the light of Romans 8, I have been praying not for staff to come, but for Him to be glorified in all that happens here: in my work, in my attitude, in my walk with Him, in the way that college students are ministered to -- all of it. Because, even when I don't know what or how to pray, I can rest in the fact that the Spirit Himself is interceding for me according to the will of God.

Some of us on staff have started to meet on Tuesday afternoons to pray specifically for the summer, knowing that the Spirit is able to interpret our whines and sometimes panic-stricken pleas into the will of God.

Natalie West - Summer Camp Director

Behind the Scenes: Conference Rooms

Each week before guests arrive, conference rooms have to be cleaned and set up for the next weekend’s groups. It begins with Grace, our Reservations Manager, calling the group leaders and going through a list of items we can provide and setup. There are the number of chairs and tables, whether they would like a sound system or not and if so, how many microphones, stands, direct boxes and monitors. There are also the questions about video projection and whiteboards. These are only a few of the items we ask them before coming.

After Grace has all the information, the list is handed to our interns to make it all happen. Our interns are learning what it means to host groups and what the camping ministry is all about. Preparing our conference rooms and making sure our facilities are “guest ready” is one of the items they are learning. They will clean the conference room and then set up all the items requested by the groups.

This task is a big one. With the Meadows expansion we have added three more conference rooms, adding to our ability to host more groups on a weekend. This upcoming weekend we are going to be hosting six different groups. We are using every conference room at the camp.

Paul Biles – Retreat Director

Keeping the Water Out

After the first week in May, we will begin to fill this very large hole with water. We pray that the Lord will assist us with a few rain showers. Actually, one really big one would do it. Until then, we are removing as much dirt as possible to form our new lake. Some of it is being sold in our local community and the rest we are using for our own projects. The drier the dirt is, the easier it is to remove. So pumping water out of the hole is a constant activity. In the long run, this is a good problem. There is a massive layer of clay about 10 to 15 feet below the surface. This layer of clay will hold in the water so that this new lake will provide plenty of recreation for generations to come.
David Jones, CEO