Outback Full Time Staff

(L to R) Pat "Michelangelo" Preston, Conference Director; Katelyn "Latte" O'Rourke; Jeff "Backfire" Lay, Camp Director

Jeff "Backfire" Lay
Jeff “Backfire” Lay serves as Pine Cove’s Director of Youth Camping, Columbus. Jeff graduated from Texas A&M in 1997 with a degree in Business Management. He worked as the Associate Director at the Pine Cove Shores camp for 3 years before moving to Denver where he took several classes at Denver Seminary. He then returned to Tyler to pour into the Junior High Youth Ministry at Grace Community Church. In 2005, Jeff accepted a position as the Director of the Towers, where he helped expand the ministry from just overnight camping to also include the Castle Rock Day Camp and a 5 week urban day camp called Heights. Jeff met his wife, Jenny or "Special K," at Pine Cove, and they have 3 children, Hank, Landry, and Tucker. Jeff has a passion to creatively communicate the truth of the gospel so that lives will be changed.

Outback Summer Staff

Around here we have a saying that "Our staff is our program." By this we mean that we place a high standard on whom we hire for our summer staff position. The activities at camp are fun, the skits will make you laugh, and the music is loud, but it is the staff that will encourage, invest in, and model Jesus for your child. We interview thousands of college students to hire just a few hundred. Our screening process is intense and long, but worth it! We are committed to making sure your child is cared for physically, emotionally, and spiritually.