History

(The History pages are being built. At this early stage there may be grammatical errors, major missing components and the need for images. Much of the historical information is taken from a document prepared by Tim Enander, first full-time director of the Lutheran Bible Camp Association. We welcome corrections, suggestions, additional stories and other names.)

This story is about the early days and humble beginnings of Mount Cross Lutheran Bible Camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.

Beginning in the 1920’s.  Lutherans had been retreating at the Christian Conference Center at Mount Hermon–a camp  a few miles from the present Mount Cross.  Mount Hermon did not offer much of an opportunity for youth groups to get together; it was more of a family camp.  So a group of Lutheran pastors banded together to find a place to offer more opportunities for the youth. Much of the credit for establishing Mount Cross goes to Pastor Brown.

Every year for about 25 years, the Lutherans reserved a week or two at Mt. Hermon in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a Lutheran retreat camp.  Pastor Brown said, “The second year I was there, I made a motion to form a committee to look for a site that the Lutherans could buy.  They asked me to head up the committee.  If I had realized all that was entailed in that position, I doubt if I would have had the courage to accept.”  On the committee were Paul Frykman, an Augustana pastor from Palo Alto as Secretary; Ross Hidy, a ULCA pastor in Berkeley; Clarence Bradley, a Studebaker dealer from San Bruno ELC; Pastor Spener Petersen, UELC Danish pastor from San Francisco; a pastor from the SUOMI Synod (Finnish); and Andy Foresberg, a used car salesman from Oakland, California.  They looked at over 200 sites.

“We narrowed it down to a one-hundred acre site between Ben Lomond and Felton.  It was adjacent to the highway, but set back from it.  The San Lorenzo River ran by which could be used for swimming.  An old fruit orchard could be leveled for a recreation field.  An old, old redwood which the WRENS had used for R&R during World War II was on the property.  It had a number of bedrooms, a kitchen, and a fairly large meeting hall with a huge stone fireplace.  We negotiated with the real estate man who had bought it.  We got him down from $90,000 to $40,000.  (Note: Tim is not sure what the final purchase price was.)  We sent out a flyer to all the Lutheran churches in Northern California telling about a “Picnic with a purpose.”  We wanted as many Lutherans as possible in on the final decision.”

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