Over the past three months we have been traveling to various malls around the Dallas and Houston area to set up our display and share about Pine Cove with the community there. We gave away lots of free t-shirts and enjoyed talking about our winter camp, Winterfest, with people stopping by to check us out. Also, we got to hang out with some of you! If you were able to join us at one of the malls, thank you! We had a blast! And everyone, make sure you stay tuned for future events we’ll need help with in the spring.

Winterfest is December 17-19th

On that note, we wanted to remind you about Winterfest 2010. We are in full swing of getting the word out about this awesome weekend experience and we’d love your help! Do you know anyone who might be interested? This event is great for people who want to try Pine Cove out before signing up for a full week of camp. Winterfest is December 17th-19th and is all the excitement of summer camp packed into a weekend! Winterfest is for 2nd-12th graders and will be crammed full of fun activities, awesome music, great counselors, all-camp games, delicious food, bible studies, and even a special concert by Christian recording artist Sanctus Real at our Tyler location for 8th-12th graders, and Worsham at our Outback location for 5th-9th graders. The camp will be all decorated for Christmas, and who knows, it might even snow!

Don’t forget to join our Pine Cove Ambassador Facebook group to stay connected with us and other campers who are helping out. Also, please let us know if you need any more materials to give out to potential Pine Cove campers.

We are looking forward to a fun and festive Christmas season and hope to see you and your friends at Winterfest! Thanks for your help in spreading the word about Pine Cove’s ministry and have a great few weeks until Christmas!

We want to thank you for joining our Ambassador team and let you know how thrilled we are to be working with you this next year! There is a lot to do before next summer, and we are so grateful to have some help. So many of you are eager to get started and we want to let you know what is happening next.

During the next few weeks, we are working on connecting with each of you, either by phone or email, and talking about how you are able to specifically help this year. Then, in late September and early October we will be mailing out our Ambassador Kits which will include promotional material about the ministry of Pine Cove, as well as your very own official Ambassador T-shirts!

As you know, our passion is not to exalt the name of Pine Cove, but to exalt the name of Jesus through the ministry of Pine Cove. We want to be used by God to transform the lives of people for His name and His glory. We know that many of you have incredible testimonies of how God has touched your life while at Pine Cove and we want others to have stories like those too.

We are looking forward to getting to know each of you in the next couple of months! Keep an eye on your mailbox for your official Ambassador Kit! Also, do not forget to join our Pine Cove Ambassador Facebook Group if you have not already done so! It is a great way for us to stay connected and get to know each other better. If you have any questions or ideas please feel free to contact us! We are looking forward to another great year!

Sincerely,

Chris “Quacktastic” Drake

We have already heard stories of lives being transformed, relationships being renewed, and marriages being saved!!  If you helped someone learn about Pine Cove this past year, then be encouraged because you helped them come to a place where God is at work.

As I reflect back on the past fall and spring semesters, I am thrilled with all that we accomplished as a team.  We added a new camp fair to our schedule, two new school districts to our flyer distributions, and one MASSIVE Free Family Day in Tyler!

We could not have pulled this off with out the help and support of our Ambassadors.

We are in the process of recruiting Ambassadors for the 2010-2011 school year and we would love to have you be a part of our team.  If you would like to participate, please fill out and submit this form.  This will help us know how you would best like to serve.  (If you were an Ambassador in the past, please fill this form out to confirm you want to help again this year.)

More information will come throughout the summer, so check back here OR…on our Ambassador Facebook Page for more details.

Until next time,

Chris “Quacktastic” Drake

We had so much fun at Winterfest in December!  Kutless and Seventh Time Down performed an amazing concert for the Ranch, Timbers, and Shores campers, and all five of our camps were full of campers and counselors ready for a weekend of Pine Cove fun!  Nearly 25% of the campers who came to Winterfest had never been to Pine Cove before- what a blessing!  Hopefully these kids were filled with the Holy Spirit and had such a blast that they will come back and join us again this summer!

This spring our marketing staff will be traveling all over the state (and even some out of state!) visiting camp fairs, conferences and more.  These events are great ways to tell people who’ve never heard of Pine Cove all about camp, and get parents and kids fired up about the summer!  We definitely need your help at these events, so if we’re coming near you, please write these dates on your calendar and come see us and lend a hand!

Austin Family Camp Fair – Saturday January 30th
Houston Camp Fair – Saturday Febuary 20th
Bridge Point Church (Houston) – Sunday, February 28th
San Antonio Camp Fair – Sunday, February 28th
Weekend to Remember (Woodlands) – May 1st
Dallas Kids Expo – Saturday May 1st – Sunday May 2nd

When you signed up to be an Ambassador in the fall (thanks for doing that, by the way!), you indicated a few specific areas you could help us out with, like organizing a flyer distribution or hosting a group at your house to share with them about Pine Cove.  Now that spring is here and the few remaining months before summer are looking shorter and shorter, we’re getting ready to call upon you for help!  In the coming weeks we will be getting in touch with you about the specific ways we need your help, so get ready!

Finally, all of the Ambassador Kits have been mailed, so hopefully you’ve spent the last couple of months wearing your shirts, passing out brochures, and telling everyone you know about Pine Cove!  Let me know if you have not received your kit (email cdrake@pinecove.com) and we will mail one to you right away.

Thanks again for your willingness to help!

Celebrating the New Year,

Chris “Quacktastic” Drake

The Borders at Family Camp this summer.

Jeff and Renee Border were the ones who started this crazy idea.  God put it on Renee’s heart to connect Pine Cove families in her area for the purpose of fellowship and service.   Her hope is that God would use this group, connected by thier common love for Jesus and fondness for Pine Cove, to do great things in His name. 

Jeff and Renee opened up their home to about a dozen families and we gathered for some great conversation and dessert.  And remember, I mentioned service too, so Renee had everyone bring a package of socks for a local homeless shelter.

They have planned two more such gatherings: one in January to serve the summer staff and one in March to invite new families so they can introduce them to Pine Cove’s ministry.

I can’t describe to you how blessed we are as a ministry to have such supportive families.  I am excited to see how God will grow and use this group in the Austin community.

If you would like to organize something like this in your city, please let me know and I will gladly help get you started.  Or if you live in the Austin-metro area and want to get connected to this group, email me and I will put you in touch with Renee.  You can reach me at cdrake@pinecove.com or at 877-474-6326.

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 35 (NASB)

Let us be recognized by our love for each other.

Chris “Quacktastic” Drake

Ambassador T-shirt

Welcome to the start of another year of the Ambassador Program.  Let me start by saying thank you for your commitment to help spread the ministry of Pine Cove.

For those who are new to the program, I’m sure you have a ton of question.  Don’t worry, I’ll try to answer most of them.  For those of you who have been Ambassadors before, you will notice a few new things for this year…for example, you now have your own section of our website.  (http://www.pinecove.com/summer-camps/ambassadors)

This post will be a little longer then most, so please bear with me.  My hope is that this blog, which I will update once or twice a week, will be your connection to the program and ultimately to Pine Cove.  I will post about times when we need help, offer recommendations for you, and share  encouraging stories from other Ambassadors.  My goal is to make this something you want to check  in on regularly.  The easiest way to do that is to bookmark this link or to subscribe via the RSS button in the upper right corner. So, let’s get started, shall we…

Who is writing this?

Amy, Cooper, and I in New Orleans.

My name is Chris Drake and I work in the Marketing Department here at Pine Cove.  I oversee the Ambassador Program and can be your point person for any questions you come across.  I have been on full-time staff here for over six years.  In fact, my wife Amy and I met here and got married here.  We have been married for almost three years and have a 10 month old son named Cooper.

What is it exactly that I am supposed to do?

Hopefully on the form you submitted you saw that there were some pre-set ways that you can help: organizing a flyer distribution at your kids school, hosting a small event at your house, making an announcement at your church, etc.  While these are definite ways we need help, I also want to encourage you to think outside the box!  Is there something you think could help spread the word about Pine Cove in your community that we don’t know about?

Working a camp fair.

As for requirements, there really isn’t anything major.  We ask that you ocassionally wear the Ambassador t-shirt we are going to send you around town (to the gym, to the soccer games, to the grocery store, etc.) and that you commit to reading the monthly updates…either here on the blog or on the email we will send you.  The last thing we asked was for you to help in one of the pre-set ways…which most of you have already chosen.  But as I said earlier, don’t let my ideas box you in.  The beauty of this program is that you are the eyes and ears for Pine Cove in your community.  I want this to be a two way partnership!!!

Where do we go from here?

In the next few weeks we will be mailing you an Ambassador Kit.  The kit will have your Ambassador shirts as well a free “camper” shirt for you to give to someone you want to invite to Pine Cove.  There will also be a small quantity of brochures and DVD’s for you to hand out at church, to friends, to family, etc.

After that, one of our Ambassador Team will be contacting you to discuss the pre-set way that you chose to help out.  They will offer suggestions and direction to help you get that going.

Then just stay connected to this blog.  This will be where I will make the majority of the updates and post those really cool stories you all share with me.

Ok…I hope that helps explain a few things.  Feel free to post your comments…Remember, you are our eyes and ears. 

In Christ,

Chris “Quacktastic” Drake