FROM OUR DIRECTORS
W
hen we look around the camp we can’t help reminiscing back to when we ?rst came to Camp Tejas. Our ?rst group
was around 50 guests and we wondered how we were going to be able to take care of that many people. Now we
regularly host 200 guests each weekend during the retreat season and many of our summer groups now bring
300 students. In fact, this past summer we had more people on our staff than that ?rst group we served back in 1981!
Over the years we have grown in many different ways. Changes abound in our facilities with new and remodeled
buildings along with numerous changes in our recreation area such as adding the covered gym, climbing wall, lake front
activities, and the swimming pool complex. Landscaping has also enhanced the overall look of the camp grounds. These
changes have added to positive guest experiences and are a part of God providing a place for you to rest and draw closer
to Him.
As the facilities and guest groups have grown, so has the scope of the ministry. In 1981 we offered food service,
lodging and conference space. These services continue to be a main part of the ministry for our guests with the addition
of full recreation programming, when requested. However, in recent years the ministry has also grown beyond our gates
with the growth of the Tejas Summer Ministry Team program and Tejas Global Ministries. We hope you will take the time
to read about these ministries in this magazine. Through all of this growth God continues to amaze and challenge us. The
only area that has not changed is our desire, along with the staff, to see lives yielding to Christ. This past summer was an
amazing time to see God at work in the lives of campers, counselors, and camp staff. The Summer Ministry Team, made up
of high school and college students and internationals, is to be commended for a job well done! God continues to bless our
discipleship program with more students participating from diverse backgrounds and from an expanding list of states and
countries. We want to thank our full time staff, from of?ce and kitchen to maintenance and housekeeping who, once again,
were so faithful to take care of the numerous tasks they are called on to do during summer camp and during the retreat
season.
We also say “Thank You” to our wonderful volunteer board members and their families, not only for their words of
encouragement, support and wisdom, but for their examples of true servanthood as they so faithfully pitched in and helped
whenever needed throughout the year. This group of Christian men and women volunteer their time in order to help us
serve you now and in the future. Many thanks go to other volunteers with the SOWERS, the Texas Baptist Men, and various
church groups. Several projects would not have been completed without their help.
This year was the 25th Anniversary of the Camp Tejas ministry. On July 1st, over 300 of you came to help us rejoice and praise God for what He has done here over these past 25 years. This was a wonderful time for us as we re?ected
on the past, served in the present and watched God lay out plans for the future of Camp Tejas. The Lord provided us the
opportunity to purchase 100 acres north of and connected to the camp. This new area will have a retreat center and will be
called the Meadows Retreat Center. We have already started preparing for construction and when the new retreat center is
completed, Camp Tejas will have doubled its capacity. Work will also begin on expanding our largest conference facility, the
Marmax Auditorium. The expansion includes adding an additional 100 seats, installing a new sound system and enlarging
the stage with additional stage lighting. These plans for continued expansion are exciting and are all centered around a
desire to provide a retreat center that serves our guests in new and better ways.
We hope you will read through this magazine and discover our plans for the future and what God is doing through
this ministry. As wonderful as these plans are, they can only be carried out with the help of the thousands of families that
have entered these gates throughout the past 25 years. We ask that you look carefully at the different ways you can help
us prepare a camp and retreat center for the next generation of Texas families along with ways you can help us impact the
lives of people around the world. God has blessed us with wonderful supporters over the past 25 years and we hope you
will decide to help support us during the years ahead.
In summary, let us say God is good and God is sovereign. He is in control, even in our ever-changing, unsettled, turbulent world. It is and will always be amazing to see how God can do what he does in this ministry and in so many others,
in spite of us. At the end of the day, all of us need to continue to ask, are we 100% committed? Just think what God would
do if we were all totally focused on Him all the time, calling on Him to help us with every decision, every word spoken, every
thought and every action. What a difference there would be everywhere…in our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our
camps. What a challenge!! As we choose to spend more time with the Lord in Bible study, prayer and service, we will get
to know Him more and more on a personal level and then we will grow toward being all that God created us to be for His
Glory!!
We are looking forward to serving you in 2007.
God bless you,
Billy and Janice Jones
Camp Tejas Directors
881264 Camp Tejas Mag.indd 2
12/8/2006 2:29:22 PM