From the
CEO
Administration >>
David Jones | Chief Executive Officer
Paul Biles | Chief Financial Officer
Billy & Janice Jones | Directors Emeritus
Program Services
>>
Kelly Reat | Retreat Director
Seth Gordon | Summer Camp Director
Kara Gordon | Recreation Manager
Jennifer Jones | Discipleship Manager
Kim Newton | Media Manager
Facilities
>>
Mike Newton | Facilities Director
Matt Wall | Special Projects Manager
Alfredo Villegas | Maintenance Manager
Jeff Bailey | Maintenance/Construction
Vickie Keller | Housekeeping Manager
Robert Perry | Equipment Operator
Maria Rodriguez | Housekeeping
Charles Wilson | Maintenance/Construction
Steven White | Maintenance/Construction
Food Service
>>
Michael Kase | Food Service Director
Willie Mae Meyer | Cook
Autumn White | Cook
Claudia Lopez | Cook
Heather Villegas | Cook
Kathy Paluch | Cook
Angela Bailey | Cook
Shirley Orts | Cook
Natalie West | Cook
Shawna Valerius | Cook
Amelia Lara | Cook
Tejas Board of Trustees>>
Paul Godley | Temple
Steve Adell | Houston
Reby Lawler | San Antonio
Kay McWhorter | College Station
Ron Pitts | Houston
Amy Jatzlau | Giddings
Max Tidmore | Houston
Charles Verheyden | Temple
Randy Walker | San Antonio
Gaines West | College Station
David Turner | Houston
>>
Gift Shop
Shannon Gutierrez | Gift Shop Manager
This issue of Pages magazine was created with Adobe
Indesign and Photoshop CS2. Pages magazine is part of Tejas
Ministry Inc. Magazine designed by Hannah Martin. Photos by
Esther McClure, Schylar Clark, Andrew Waite, Tyler Williams,
Kaylon Wappes, Mikaela Andres, and Hannah Martin.
ITejas. I summer of 1980, Westbury Baptist Churchand arriving atTexascamp their youth Icamp at Camp
n the
of Houston,
held
recall driving from Houston with my Dad
the
after dark. remember the
game room and the pool, but not much more. I was twelve years old and Camp Tejas was just some
ranch-type place out in the middle of nowhere. That changed a few months later when my parents told
us that Camp Tejas was about to be our new home.
Westbury Baptist purchased the camp in the late fall of 1980 under a ministry called Westbury
Foundation. My parents took over as the managers in February 1981 and that’s when everything began. It
was a new start for the camp, and a new start for my family.
As a twelve year old, the adjustment from Houston to the middle of nowhere (just south of Giddings)
was fairly easy and a lot of fun. There was not a camp instruction manual for my parents, but it wasn’t
long before they discovered help from other Christian camps and caught on to the many facets of
camp management. As a family, there was some time of adjustment, but Camp Tejas and Giddings, Texas
soon became home.
The reservation calendar was sparse that first year, but after a few brochures were mailed out, the
phone started ringing. Less than 2,000 people came to the camp in 1981 and the attendance has
increased every year since then. Our 2010 attendance will be close to 15,500.
A few more brochures have been mailed out over the years and our staff is filled with great servants
who have been blessed with wonderful talents. Buildings have been built, trees have grown, and guests
continue to come. A foundation of ministry has been built over the last 30 years that is impossible
to measure and fully understand. We have no idea how many lives have been changed. We just hear
stories and thank the Lord for all He does.
The past 30 years will be a launching pad for the next 30. We have no idea what will actually happen
over the next 10,950 days, but we are beginning to make sense of the vision. It’s a vision that will use
this ministry in ways that we never imagined in 1981. But the most exciting part of it all is that our vision
is nothing compared to the Lord’s plans. This is His ministry, and He will do with it exactly what He wants.
The year 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of Camp Tejas as a Christian ministry focused on providing a
place for churches and other Christian organizations to retreat and focus on their relationships with the
Lord and with each other. We do a lot of things, but there is nothing more important than maintaining a
small piece of land in central Texas where the Lord can work in the hearts of His people.
We look forward to the days ahead.
CEO, Tejas Ministries, Inc.
camp tejas
Magazine 2010 andrew.indd 3
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10/29/2010 6:20:10 PM