Regional Industry & News

BEMIDJI — “Who would have dreamed in the prohibition days of the 1920s that the site of a moonshiners’ hideout would someday be transformed into a Bible camp?”

Ruth McKinney poses this exact question in her book, “Mission to the Northwoods: The Story of Oak Hills Fellowship,” which details the fellowship’s history up until 1979 — the year of the book’s release.

Fast forward to 2026, Oak Hills Fellowship is honoring its centennial in celebratory fashion with a weekend of events Sept. 25-26, on the Oak Hills campus south of Bemidji.

Such an event will serve as an opportunity to reflect on the 100-year history, as well as look forward to the fellowship’s future. Events — which include myriad activities such as a Run For The Hills 5K, Bible workshop and other family-friendly events — are open to the public regardless of Oak Hills affiliation.

“You don’t have to be affiliated with Oak Hills, a graduate of Oak Hills, or an alumni in any way, shape or form,” OHCC Vice President of Advancement and Marketing Leesa Drury said. “We want this to be something open, as people want to learn more about the fellowship — maybe even ways they could volunteer or just what the history is.”

Getting its start

Oak Hills Fellowship’s story began with Wilbur Sheridan Cummings, who moved to Bemidji in 1920 with hopes to develop a camp ministry.

With the support of an advisory and prayer support group, Cummings and his wife, Julia, accrued $250 to purchase 14 acres of land overlooking Lake Marquette in September 1925.

While several acquisitions of land have brought the total current acreage to nearly 200, the Oak Hills Fellowship was incorporated to make use of the modest amount of land the Cummings’ had purchased to realize their vision at the time — following the departure of moonshiners from the area.

“Donald Hoganson of Bemidji recalled that as a young boy he heard the nocturnal dipping of oars in Marquette Lake as the moonshiners transported their brew to Bemidji,” McKinney’s book states. “One day, the moonshiners found themselves surrounded by government agents. No one was killed, but FBI agent Herbert Peters was shot in the left hand with a lawbreaker’s bullet.”

McKinney adds that the moonshiners left the Bemidji area after this raid; following acquisition of the land, Cummings stumbled across a 50-gallon still abandoned by the former moonshiners.

“He connected the still to the cookstove in the camp kitchen and was able to convert it into a hot water heater,” the book continues. “The heater served for 12 years until our country urgently needed copper during World War II and the old still was sold to Uncle Sam.”

The aforementioned camp — Camp Oak Hills — is the oldest of the four “quadrants” that comprise Oak Hills Fellowship; the remaining three include Oak Hills Christian College, Church Ministries and Center for Indian Ministries.

‘Grow in the faith’

Operating in tandem, OHCC President Martin Giese noted several tenets of the fellowship that Cummings held important.

“From the start, Oak Hills Fellowship was interdenominational — did not affiliate with any particular denomination, but was here to serve people on a fairly broad base of theological backgrounds,” Giese said. “There was a vision to reach families, individuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to help them grow in the faith.”

The fellowship has aimed to accomplish this vision through myriad ways. Camp Oak Hills offered its first youth camp in summer 1926, and has since expanded its offerings across generational divides. Namely, women’s retreats have been well attended.

Having recently celebrated 75 years, OHCC enrolls every student as a double-major: one major in a student’s chosen field of study and one major in Biblical Studies. The college also offers a certificate program in Rural Leadership and Ministry, which Giese credits as the only program of its kind in the United States.

The focus on rural ministry spills into the fellowship’s Church Ministries quadrant, which assists rural churches in their search for a pastor. Such a task harkens back to the 1920s through 1940s, when 22 churches were planted and ministry carried out in 47 different communities throughout northern Minnesota.

“There was great need here,” Director of Church and Community Relations Jim Hodgson said. “The goal all along these 100 years — from the planting of these churches, the women’s conference, etc. — was to help people’s lives be healthier: physically, emotionally, spiritually.”

The Center for Indian Ministries aims to strengthen churches in the context of Native American communities throughout North America. This quadrant encompasses the Mokahum Ministry Center in Cass Lake, which conducts outreach to these communities.

The CIM also oversees the B.U.I.L.D. Program — Biblical United Indigenous Leadership Development — which brings ministry training directly to Native leaders by request, and also hosts the United in Christ Conference, the next one being set for June 15-17, 2027, in Bemidji.

A time of change

As the fellowship prepares for the weekend’s festivities and the next 100 years, organizers encourage the public to attend the centennial celebration as a way to gain in-depth knowledge of the people and stories behind the fellowship that they may not have known otherwise.

Among them, Giese noted excitement for the fellowship’s continued offerings alongside its adaptation in a time of rapid change. Adaptation may include greater online offerings at the college, Giese mentioned as one example.

But in the midst of change, the fellowship’s mission remains the same.

“The pioneer spirit that established new ways of doing things in the 1920s and continues with us today … we want to find new ways of communicating, equipping, training and serving the greater Bemidji area — and ultimately, the folk who have needs throughout the world,” Giese left off. “We’re really thrilled about that.”

More information on the centennial celebration’s events and the Oak Hills Fellowship in general can be found at oakhills.edu.