Our Story.

​Pine Haven has a long history of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and calling young people into a relationship with Him and into His service. We held our first official week of camp--a high school week--in July of 1941. The vision of a camp, however, started years before in the hearts of Paul Millard (Minister at Worthington Church of Christ and President of Minnesota Bible University), Harold Milliken, G.H. Cachiaras (Dean of Minnesota Bible University) and Don Lawrence, to name a few. Paul Millard had started a youth conference in Worthington, drawing more than 400 students. Later, Harold Milliken along with Mark Maxey and Ronald Keeler started a camp week at Itasca State Park.


In the 1930’s developers had purchased land around the southwestern shores of Long Lake in hopes of developing a vacation paradise. The Depression and WWII would prove too much economic strain for the developers and they sought ways to reduce their loss. John Cachiaras explains what happened next: “By the merciful amazing providence of God these developers were brought into contact with President P.A. Millard and Dean G. H. Cachiaras of the Minnesota Bible University. The Burris-Pilkington Co. transferred ownership of 400 lots to the Minnesota Bible University in the first days of January, 1941.” Eventually, the college was able to transfer ownership to the Minnesota Christian Churches/Churches of Christ.

Pine Haven Christian Assembly sprung out of the vision for a Christian camp that would help young people grow in their faith and inspire them to full-time Christian service. Since that first week of high school camp in July of 1941 Pine Haven has expanded her programs to serve campers of all ages. Land and facilities have expanded over the years as well. Regardless of the physical changes, Pine Haven has been faithful to its purpose of proclaiming the Gospel message of Jesus Christ through quality programming and continues to be a vital part of faith formation for many young people.