Historical Timeline

Category: Florida Gospel Pioneers

This traces the history of Camp Horizon and the Florida Gospel Pioneers prior to the present day corporation.

  • The End of an Era

    The End of an Era

    Camp Horizon
    Orange Springs

    The minutes of the 1968 board meeting recorded that monthly income was $120 per month below the mortgage.  This is the last document in our collection.

    Within two years Camp Horizon closed and the property was lost. The purchasers of the Orange Springs property maintain a camp there to this day with some original buildings largely unchanged.

    Whether a camp was held in 1970 is unclear, but there was not camp in 1971.  Minutes of Evangelistic Horizons Unlimited, Inc show that a portion of the funds from the property sale was transferred to this new corporation that built a new Camp Horizon.

    This final photo is dated 1970 (though it could be from Summer 1969).

  • Camp Fla-Go-Pi

    Camp Fla-Go-Pi

    Summer camps were held at Camp WeWa at Plymouth Florida in 1962 and 1963.  The facilities are described as “quite old and the accommodations in general are not good”.   The minutes of the March 13, 1963 meeting of the Florida Gospel Pioneers indicated that a camp would be held again that summer.

    An early logo?

    Discovered in documents preserved by Esther Bradford is a booklet “Camp Fla-Go-Pi Savings Stamps”.  Children could purchase stamps for 25 cents.  Seventeen pages (4 stamps per page) would provide $17 toward camp.  That was likely the cost prior to 1962.

     

  • Until He Comes

    Until He Comes

    The first chapel built was Bethany Chapel By The Sea at South Patrick Shores in 1959. In 1960, The Hiawassa Hills Chapel property was purchased. Construction was completed in February 1961.

    In a document dated 3/31/1961 they list seven directors and an advisory board of thirty-two. They added assemblies in North Palm Beach, “Palm Bible Chapel” (1961), and a Servicemens’ Center in Key West (1962).

    1962 Key West

    Their goal at that time was to build a new chapel in Florida every year ” ’till He comes” and as the assembly grew, they could purchase their building at any time for the amount that it cost the Pioneers.  Those monies would then be put back into the work.

    Properties in Gainesville and Titusville were targeted for the next chapel projects (1964).  The chapel at Gainesville was built, but it appears that the Titusville property was never developed.

     

  • 1957-1958

    In their first two years they added two chapels. A small independent church building in the West Hollywood area (now Pembroke Pines) was purchased in 1957.

    In 1958 Boulevard Bible Chapel was formed. [In 1960 an addition was added as this meeting grew.]

     

  • The Pioneers are Established

    The Pioneers are Established

    The Florida Gospel Pioneers was incorporated in March of 1956 by five Christian brethren and grew to an advisory board of thirty men with “seven men given the responsibility to carry out the general policies prescribed by the Advisory Board.”

    Their theme verse was “There remaineth very much land” – Joshua 13:1.

    They helped established assemblies along Florida’s east cost, financed buildings, “furnishing a suitable building in which the evangelist can carry out his work is the primary function of the Florida Gospel Pioneers”.   Their fear, (as was common in America at that time), was that the communists would take control and open air preaching would no longer be lawful.

  • Orange Springs

    Orange Springs

    Camp Horizon at Orange Springs

    It was determined that a property should be purchased to establish a youth camp and conference center. An undated color brochure (c.1963) shows homesites for sale along two sides the a camp which is clearly marked as CAMP FLA-GO-PI.

    The Florida Gospel Pioneers purchaed land in Orange Springs in 1963 and the first camp was held in 1964 with 400 campers, 25 staff, and forty professions of faith. The camp was named Camp Horizon and they logo incorporated an indian which reflects their original camp theme, the Indian sounding “Camp Fla-Go-Pi”. In 1964 a separate camp board was created to manage the business of this ministry.

    The cost was $20 ($18 tuition and $2 registration).  Snak Shak recommended spending allowance was 15-20 cents per day. Transportation was available from five Florida cities at a rage of $2.50 (Orland0) to $6.50 (Hollywood). The first year, the camps ran Sunday-Saturday.

    Lots (100′ x 200′) were available for as little as $500 at 1% down and 6% interest ($5 down and $5 per month). By 1964 fifty lots had been purchased.

    In 1965 the rates were increased to $22 ($20 tuition and $2 registration). Snak Shak allowance was raised to 3o cents per day.  The camps were now Saturday to Saturday – likely due to transportation.  By 1967 the rates were increased to $32 ($30 tuition and $2 registration).

    The final summer was 1970.

    There were youth retreats around Thanksgiving 1970 and Easter in the spring of 1971. That was the last event at the Orange Springs Camp Horizon.

    Summer Camp 1971 was cancelled.