Staff Profile: Alex “Licks” & Gabby “Proms” Barnholdt

Camp has a way of bringing people into your life who tend to stick around. Sometimes it’s a spouse. Sometimes it’s lifelong friendships. For the Barnholdts, it was both! Before they even knew it, God had been weaving Gabby and Alex’s stories together. Somewhere in the stitching, He threaded Pine Cove right through the middle—turning “Licks” and “Proms” into a dynamic couple that inspires everyone they meet! Their fun-loving senses of humor, genuine care for others, and beating heart for Jesus makes them a blessing to every square foot of Crier Creek and beyond. Keep reading to discover how they got their camp names, what they’re most excited for as summer approaches, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way!

Tell us a bit about yourselves! 

Gabby: So much of our story and lives randomly intersect. We’re both from the same area in DFW. I grew up going to a school in Mansfield but lived in Arlington, and Alex lived and went to school in Arlington. We actually never knew each other growing up, but we knew similar people the whole time, which is kind of funny. Then I went to Texas A&M, graduated in 2020, and now we’re back in College Station, which is really fun and has felt full circle and like a coming home for both of us. We’ve really enjoyed living here. We lived in Dallas before, and we craved a slower pace of life and really wanted that.

Alex: Before my Pine Cove summer staff career was over, I worked at every type of camp: youth camp, now family camp, and even had a summer at City! In between summers working at Pine Cove, I was interning at a church in Fort Worth. Gabby started the Watermark Institute at the same time I started working for a ministry called K-Life. I was the Men’s Director for Fort Worth K-Life from 2021 to 2023. It was awesome and super fun too. We loved our time in Dallas. Then we moved to College Station right when 2023 started.

What’s your job, and how did you get to Pine Cove?

Gabby: I’m the Executive Assistant in the College Station/Columbus area. So TJ’s the boss and I help him! I first learned about Pine Cove when I was in college. I was in a Christian sorority called Phi Lamb. My big in Phi Lamb, Ashley Upchurch, had worked at Pine Cove. She said, “Hey, I think you should apply. I think you would really enjoy it.” So I applied. 

When it came to full-time, Alex and I always thought we would come back to Pine Cove. We just had a feeling. We loved it so much. I was working at Watermark in Dallas and he was working in Fort Worth, and we were driving opposite directions every day. After about a year of that we felt like it wasn’t sustainable anymore for our marriage or our life. So we started praying for the Lord to open doors wherever He saw fit. 

We picked three places we hoped we could move: Fort Worth, College Station, or Tyler. Literally the next day, TJ Connor—who’s my boss now—called to check in. He had been our director at camp and he married us, so we stayed in touch with him. Alex told him we were praying about what’s next. TJ said, “This is kind of crazy, but I have an assistant job opening. Would Gabby be interested?” So we started the process, I got hired, and then we moved here. It was crazy because we had just prayed, “Lord, open doors or close them,” and He opened a door literally the next day.

Alex: When we moved, I didn’t have a job. We kind of just moved in faith like, “Alright, we’ll give it a shot.” That summer I worked at Crier Creek as the Program Director and toward the beginning of the summer I was offered the job as Crier Creek Men’s Director. That was such an answered prayer for us because we both wanted to work at Pine Cove so badly.

How’d you guys meet?

Gabby: We both started the summer of 2017, and worked four summers together at the Timbers. He was the drummer for two summers. I feel like our second summer we really became friends. I had a crush on him and he was oblivious. Our third summer we came back for leadership. I was a senior counselor and they were looking for the fourth senior counselor guy. The week before leadership weekend they added Alex.

Alex: I said no to TJ four times that year because I was supposed to go on a mission trip to Ireland for the whole summer. 

Gabby: Really our leadership summer was where it all started. We became really good friends. Then Thanksgiving of my senior year he asked me on a date!

Alex: I feel like the theme of our relationship has been friendship. She invited me to her ring dunk. I met her whole family at Gumby’s that night, and I asked her out a week later.

Favorite camp memory together?

Alex: Being on leadership together was really fun. I feel like we were best friends with everyone else that was on leadership and we’re still really close today. Another one was when Timbers staff went to Gulf Shores on a staff trip. We just hung out, played games, and laughed the whole time.

Gabby: We did a scavenger hunt at a mall and took pictures with all these random things. We have a picture of me, him, another girl on summer staff at the time, and then Hamilton Bromhead. Looking back at those pictures now is really funny because it’s like “wow, three of us are still here.”

What are your camp names and how did you get them?

Alex: My camp name is “Finger Lickin’ Good” or “Licks.” One night The Woods staff came over and they were asking different questions about my favorite foods and a pretty consistent theme was fried chicken: Cane’s, Slim’s, Chick-fil-A, Wingstop. I was also the drummer, and “lick” is a drumming term. So the guy combined the two and sold Finger Lickin’ Good and the room went nuts. It was one sell and done. 

Gabby: My camp name is “Promerainian” and I go by “Proms.” My name story’s kinda hard to explain. The short version is that I was originally named “Puppy Love” and later that night they were like “we can’t call you that. It’s similar to somebody else.” so they put me back up there and it was very quick. It was like, “Hey, do you like dogs?” I love dogs. They’re like, “What are your thoughts on rain?” I’m like, “Love rain.” And then they asked me if I had any stories about prom, which in high school I was prom chair. And so I planned our prom and then I went to prom with a really good friend of mine who I knew also happened to have a crush on me, but I was scared of that and all night I did not dance at my prom because I just spent the whole time trying to run away from him. And so anyways, they put all those things together and called me “Promerainian” and I go by “Proms.”

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Gabby: I’m really excited about Macy coming to work at camp. I’m excited to work alongside her and watch her lead. I also love getting to lead a small group of girls every summer—walking through the Word with them and getting to know their hearts.

Alex: My favorite part every year is pouring into a group of guys on summer staff. Watching them grow, laughing together, doing Bible study together—it’s my favorite part. And skit.

Do you have any iconic skit characters?

Alex: At Timbers, I had a character called The Crinkler. It didn’t really matter what the plot was. I would just come in and I would have a roll of toilet paper on me at all times. And I looked weird. Like think: weird wig, glasses, a tucked in grandpa fit. I would crinkle up the toilet paper and throw it on characters and I would make them fall in love. Because at camp, you have a crinkle if you have a crush. I would just mess with the plot and be a little suspect. A Crier Creek skit that stands out is when Marshall and I were these two dumb sheriffs called Saddle and Spur. And we were trying to solve some problems at camp. We’ve got a mounted deer in our dining hall named Beauford that someone stole. We were trying to find the person who stole Beauford. We had these huge inflatable horses, ponchos, cowboy hats, all fake. Think dumb and dumber, but we’re sheriffs. We would just drool as we talked the whole time.

Any fun side quests or hobbies recently?

Gabby: Yes! I was trying to think of a fun goal for the year and I decided that I want to cook my way through an entire cookbook! I’m doing the Dinner Tonight Cookbook by Alex Snodgrass and documenting it on Instagram. Alex taste-tests everything and we rank the recipes!

Alex: So good. I feel like I’m part of that one for sure.

What’s something God has used the ministry of Pine Cove to teach you?

Alex: If I could sum it up in one sentence—it taught me how to make life not about yourself.

Galatians 5:13 says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” That verse always comes back to me when I think about Pine Cove.

Gabby: For me, Pine Cove taught me what it looks like to abide, to disciple, and to be discipled.

So many people poured into me at camp, and then I got to go pour into others. The ministry builds you up and teaches you how to be a disciple-maker, and then you leave and do that wherever you go. Camp is such a sweet place where people experience freedom and abundant life—but it’s really preparing you to go live that out elsewhere.