On October 25, 1941, the Southern Missouri District Council purchased a 20-acre grove of cedar, walnut, oak and dogwood trees jutting out as a thumb peninsula in the Lake of the Ozarks about six miles northwest of Bagnell Dam. The owner, Vera Wroten, sold for $2000. According to Wm. Nelson Sachs:

The camp was started under the leadership of Superintendent Ralph M. Riggs, who contacted his friends, Mickey Stevens and family, who lived in the area near Lake of the Ozarks. The land they chose was owned by a Baptist family. The wife (Vera Wroten) was very spiritual and it has been told that she had received the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues. Her family didn’t understand her spiritual experiences – especially when she told them that she had a vision in which she saw springs of water flowing out of the hilltop of their land and the water turned into rivers that would be shared with all the world. When the Assemblies of God purchased this land for a campground it was easy to understand the vision as hundreds of young men and women from the various camps have been called of God as ministers and missionaries.

The first camp meetings were held in 1942. A large number of canvas cabins were erected in a semi-circle around the center of the grounds, equipped with wooden floors and side walls. Campers could rent a cabin for $8 for ten days. Meals were served in a dining hall, built from native lumber – 20 cents for breakfast, 25 cents for lunch, and 20 cents for supper. A tabernacle was constructed for services, with sawdust floors and wire screens.

In those years a district camp schedule included lots of services. According to Darrell Massey, who first began attending camp in 1943:

The first meeting would be a prayer meeting, early morning, then breakfast. After that, there would be a morning service. Then the noon meal. After that there would be an afternoon service. In the early evening there was a service at Meditation Point while the youth had their service and after that service we would go back to the Tabernacle for the evening service.

Over the years the camp has served as a place for Pentecostals to assemble and seek the Lord. Darrell Massey recalls one service in the 1940’s:

Ira Stanfield and his wife were singing songs down on Meditation Point. They started singing the song “We’re Marching to Zion.” The power of God fell during that song and the people were really blessed by the Holy Spirit. When that service was over we marched up the hill still singing “We’re Marching to Zion” and into the Tabernacle. There was such a wonderful move of the Spirit. There was no preaching, but oh! – the altar call. About ten o’clock that evening the service ended.

Initially the plan was to keep a large central open area for camping, surrounded by lots available only to Assemblies of God ministers for ninety-nine year leases. One hundred and sixty-three private lots were staked off along the south-east and west fronts, according to records in 1942. Later the district sold lots and expanded to Assemblies of God members the right to purchase, and later still all eligibility restrictions were lifted.

As is often the case in the development of a campground, Cross Pointe had problems from the beginning. Wm. Nelson Sachs wrote:

Due to the thinness of the soil, there was a constant problem with the sewage systems. One of the boy’s dormitories was so dilapidated it was nicknamed the “Chickencoop.” The gravel road on the camp was constantly in need of repair, and besides that, the two and one half miles from the state road to the camp on the county road was always in need of repair. Because of the history of these needs there were some who wanted to sell the camp and start over somewhere else. Year after year the appeal for money was for the same needs that we appealed for the past year. Of course, people tired of these same situations and lost heart to support.

Early mistakes were made, according to Wm. Nelson Sachs: “to raise money for the camp they sold off the lake front lots for pittances.” Brother Sachs himself purchased one lot for $60. Early plats of the peninsula show double rows of lots east of where Buildings 4 and 5 are today, lots where the climbing wall now is situated, and lots where the hotel sewage treatment building is now located. Over the decades the district has purchased back lots in an effort to acquire more land for the expanding campground. In the early years the lots could be bought back economically. Brother Sachs himself sold back his undeveloped lot for $60. As the years passed, reacquiring the lots became more expensive. For instance, in 1981, the district purchased Brother Freeze’s property for $14,000. In 1983, Jesse Bryant’s property and E.L. Hances’ property were purchased, and Rev. E.P. Wright donated his lots near the tabernacle. In 1985 the Butenbaugh’s property was bought back for $20,000.

Up into the 1980’s the last few miles of road to the camp were still gravel. In 1987 Y-19 was paved all the way into the campground. The camp pool was built in that year also. From the beginning there was a shortage of land on the campgrounds, according to Brother Sachs.

At the 1994 district council, a camp Master Plan was adopted, including a new girl’s dormitory (already approved in a 1993 Special Called district council), multi-purpose building, and hotel. In 1999 the old gymnasium, a small metal building without air conditioning, sometimes referred to as the “Sweat Box,” was removed and a new multi-purpose facility, 20,000 square feet, was built on the site of the chapel, which was relocated to its present site due to shortage of space.

As we approach seventy years of camping ministry at Cross Pointe, we can rejoice at the impact this campground has had on our constituency. Over a quarter of a million campers have travelled to this peninsula of land and experienced the move of the Holy Spirit.