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and Herald Publishing Association. In 1938 theMaster Guide Manual and Ideals for Juniors ereublished and also Stamp Collecting hich herote in colaboration ith er in . hurber.ro 19 8 19lder ond ser ed as one o theAssociate ditors o the Youth's Instructor andas also on the book coittee o the e ieand Herald Publishing Association. In 1950 lderond's book or senior youth, The Quest of Youth,as ublished.In 1931, in order to de onstrate the JuniorWork, a s ecial in estiture o all class le els, asheld during eetings o the General Con erence.i ty three aster Co rade Pins ere a arded atthis ti e as ell as nu erous ins in the three otherclass le els.In 1930, Henry . lloitt as elected GeneralSecretary o the V De art ent and in 1933he beca e associate secretary o the GeneralCon erence Secretarial De art ent, a ositionhe held or 5 years. Al red W. Peterson Þlledhis lace, as General Con erence V GeneralSecretary, in 193 , a osition he held or t el eyears. A. W. Peterson ga e igorous leadershiin the youth ork. lder Peterson as called tobe young eo le's secretary o the AustralasianDi ision in 19 3.At this ti e, any youth leaders and educatorsbelie ed that the Scout rogra had so e excellentideas. ut they also elt that it ould be di Þcult orSe enth day Ad entist juniors to join the oy orGirl Scout organization because o Sabbath, dietaryand other di erences. So they used the Scoutrogra as a base and de elo ed clubs o theiro n.lder ldine W. Dunbar beca e an AssociateSecretary to the V de art ent in 19 3, ollo inghis ser ice as Young Peo le's issionary VolunteerSecretary or the PaciÞc Union. He beca e theGeneral issionary Volunteer Secretary in 19 .lder Dunbar as best kno n or his 39 yearspwwww M v RTF m 2 - 46 E BvfEfwmm f R v wEBfw pmpvfv wmffFf - Mmw wm wm pvTE wf M p mmffp mpf 2fpfM4 pf w vvvpw Ewp pfv4m mvp mmBfwf fv vBfffp mv pfwE EmM p m4 f wvp MfmM46Eww f13

of work with youth. He led out in organizing thePathÞnder Club and was instrumental in settingstandards for the youth organization's Master Guidelevel. Elder Dunbar devoted his life to helpingyouth learn of God's love and the plan of salvation.In 1946, Elder Laurence A. Skinner and ElderTheodore E. Lucas became Associate Secretariesof the General Conference Youth Department.Both men worked to enhance the PathÞnder aswell as Senior youth programs. Elder Skinner hadpreviously conducted Trailblazer Clubs (a programwritten by Henry T. Bergh) in the North PaciÞcUnion and well understood the need of dedicatedleaders to work with the youth of the church.Summer Campuring these formative years, summer camps inthe Adventist church were just beginning togrow. The very Þrst camp was held in Australiain 1925. In the North American Division theWisconsin Conference held a girls camp, followingCampmeeting, August 4-14. Followed by aboys camp in Michigan, at Townline Lake, withdirector Grover Fattic MV Secretary, in 1926. Thefollowing year both Michigan and Wisconsin heldyouth camps for boys and girls. An interesting sidelight to these camps is that to attend the junior musthave completed and been invested in the FriendClass. Illinois heldDthe PathfinderCounselors atdanrseentluary Volso next page)Junior Missionmp in 1933. (ACangniaiTrerIdyllwild Summ14

camp in 1928, and other conferences followedtheir example. Early youth leaders of these campsincluded Arthur W. Spalding, I. Smith, GroverFattic, Roy McKenzie, Wilbur Holbrook, Eldine W.Dunbar, F. G. Ashbaugh, and C. Lester Bond.The West held its Þrst summer camps in 1928.Julia Nelson directed a camp in Angeles NationalPark for the Southern California Conference.Central California Conference held its Þrst campat Wawona when Eder John F. Simon took boysand girls to camp in the woods of Yosemite.Mrs. Emma Simon, a schoolteacher and parent,was the cook at this Þrst adventure. At Julian,near San Diego, camp directors Guy Mann andLaurence Skinner held a camp for the SoutheasternCalifornia Conference. Arthur Spalding, a guestfrom the General Conference, told pioneer storiesat campÞre each night. One of these stories wasabout John Fremont, a PathÞnder. Explorer JohnFremontÕs name is very familiar in California and atthe capital, in Sacramento, you can Þnd a lot abouthim.The name ÒPathÞnderÓ caught the imaginationof the youth leaders in Southeastern California, andthe next year a second camp was held at Idyllwild,in the San Jacinto Mountains. In 1930 this15

campsite was purchased by the Conference, and apermanent summer camp facility was built on the151/2 acres and was christened the ÒJMV PathÞnderCampÓ. The Conference used the site for more thanthirty years before it was sold so a larger campcould be purchased. A new permanent camp wasdeveloped at Pine Springs Ranch, in 1961, on 480acres in the San Jacinto Mountains.PathfindersIKn the mid nineteen twenties, John Mc im, aScoutmaster decided that something should bedone for unior youth in the Anaheim, CaliforniaSeventh day Adventist Church where he was amember. e had a oy Scout Troop but li e otherAdventist youth leaders, he believed that the churchneeded its own club, patterened after the Scoutsbut with an added spiritual emphasis. nder thedirection of the Southeastern California Conferenceouth irector, uy Mann, John Mc im and hiswife ertha wor ed together to have a club forboys and girls. illa Steen and her husband r.Claude Steen, members of the ullerton Seventhday Adventist Church wor ed with the Mc im s.The boys and girls clubs met wee ly and were veryactive in community parades with a marching bandand doing community outreach as well as going oncampouts and day outings. Mrs. illa Steen startedup the range County Junior Choir, which sangin many churches in the area. They called the clubPathÞnders.At the Santa Ana Seventh day AdventistChurch, ester and one Martin felt the need tooffer a similar club e perience for the boys of hischurch. hen they loo ed for a place large enoughto hold these meetings they contracted r. TheronJohnston, an ophthalmologist and a member ofthe Santa Ana church. r. Johnston and his wifethel had moved into a large home in 1929 andthey graciously agreed to allow their home to bea meeting place. ncidently that home was still-jHBkUYBDGkWKkK 'kWOLIW-xkDEI16DFD-

standing in 2003. The boys met downstairs, in thebasement workshop area, with Mr. Martin as theirdirector and Dr. Johnston as the assistant director.Dr. & Mrs. Johnston had two daughters. Theireldest daughter, Maurine helped her father set upfor the club meetings, but when the boys appeared,she had to vanish, and complained strongly that itwasn't fair. So it wasn't long before her mother, Mrs.Ethel Johnston, and Ione Martin became the girl'sdirectors.Now the question arose, ÒWhat will we call thisclub?Ó As the name ÒPathÞnderÓ was now part ofSoutheastern Conference junior youth vocabulary,these church members decided to call themPathÞnder clubs. Things went well for a while, butthen some of the older Santa Ana Church membersbegan thinking that the club activities were bringingthe world into the church, and they were stronglyopposed to that idea. The club activities were similarto what PathÞnders do todayÑcrafts, games, naturestudies, cycling, Þeld trips, and so on. The churchboard voted to request that Martin and Johnstondisband their club. The board sent them threateningletters stating that if the clubs were not disbandedimmediately, church discipline would be applied.Needless to say, this ended this club in SoutheasternConference, at least until after World War II, whenthe GIs came home and were ready for action.In the Õ30s and Õ40s, one man who kept theclub idea alive was Laurence A. Skinner. Afterworking as Junior Youth Leader for SoutheasternCalifornia, he was called to serve as Youth DirectorÞrst in Hawaii and later in the Southern CaliforniaConference. While there, he organized church clubsfor juniors, but he was counseled by the GeneralConference to keep the name JMV rather than goingto another name like PathÞnders. In the early 1940s,Elder Skinner became the Youth Director for theNorth PaciÞc Union. One of his Þrst undertakingswas to promote the Trailblazer Club, which wasorganized very similarly to what would later become17

the basic outline for PathÞnder Clubs.Although the Santa Ana church hadrejected the PathÞnder idea and McKimof the Anaheim-Fullerton Church haddisbanded his club because of ill healthit would not be long until the PathÞnderclub idea would become a permanentpart of the Southeastern CaliforniaConference and in all the PaciÞc Union.In the mid-1940s, regionalconferences were organized and WalterKisack, director of the Lake RegionConference Youth Department, startedthe Þrst camping program for AfricanAmericans. In 1955 Leon Davis, who- 2002ce Skinner 1905Laurenfollowed Kisack, transferred to NewYork and developed such outstandingcamp programs at Victory Lake Camp in HydePark, New York, that more campers attended hiscamps than any other camp in North America.In 1946, Elder John Hancock was called fromhis pastorate in the Santa Ana church to becomeYouth Director for Southeastern CaliforniaConference. This happened right in the middle ofthe camping season at Idyllwild, and my ConferencePresident, Elder H. H. Hicks, called me on thephone and said, ÒJohn, we want you to comeimmediately and be director of our Idyllwild JMVCamp and also Youth Director for the Conference.ÓWell, this was quite an initiation for me! But havingserved at camp as a counselor in previous years, andwith the support of friends there at camp, I knewthey could get through the summer. God blessed,and we had a very Þne camping season. After theseason was over, my wife Helen and our three smallchildren moved from Santa Ana to Riverside. TheConference bought a new parsonage on GardenaDrive by the Santa Fe railroad tracks. We usedto say that the railroad ran through the middle ofthe house. I set up my ofÞce in the Conferenceheadquarters, which was located in Arlington.18

At the end of the summer and after we weresettled, a mother came into my ofÞce and said,ÒElder Hancock, I wish that summer camp couldlast all year long!Ó Well, I was a bit surprised atthis comment, and remarked that I was sure thecounselors were glad the camp didnÕt last a wholeyear. In those days, our staff was comprised almostentirely of Conference workers and pastors andteachers, and the Conference Committee assignedthem to work at these 10-day camps. But when Isaw the earnest expression on this motherÕs face, Iinquired, ÒWhy do you wish this to happen?Ó I willnever forget her reply. She said, ÒBecause my soncomes home from camp with the light of heaven inhis eyes.Ó Well, this motherÕs response made mewonder, ÒWhy canÕt summer campÑthe activitiesand the fellowshipÑlast all year?ÓI was acquainted with the Trailblazer program,that Henry T. Bergh had written, as Elder Skinnerhad given me a copy. In fact, I had all theorganizational plans in my ofÞce. I got these out,looked at them, and decided to call Stan Jefferson,the pastor of the Riverside Church where my wifeand I were members. He was a good friend, so Iasked, ÒStan, would you be interested in joiningme and getting a club going for the boys and girls10-15 years old in your church?Ó StanÕs responsewas an enthusiastic "Yes!" You see, his daughterwas in that age bracket. I consulted with severalMaster Comrades and other workers who hadhelped at Idyllwild. They offered good counseland encouraged me to go ahead. So we did. Butwhat would we call such a club? Why, whatelse in Southeastern California Conference but aPathÞnder Club? In my ignorance as a new youthdirector, I didnÕt know that the General ConferenceYouth Department did not want the name of JMVto be changed. I guessed that if Henry Bergh andLaurence Skinner had Trailblazers in the NorthPaciÞc Union, we certainly could have PathÞndersin our conference, especially since that name wasso prominent in youth ministry history.19

Because I had majored in art in high schooland at Chico State College, I decided to design asleeve emblem for the new club uniform. I didnÕtwant PathÞnders to be another Boy Scout Troop,although the Scouts had been very kind to work withC. Lester Bond and others, letting them use muchof the material in the Scout Handbook. I wantedPathÞnders to be Christ-centered, so I thought abouthow this emblem should look. It would be in theshape of a triangle, with the three sides representingthe spiritual, physical, and social aspects ofchild development. I put a shield in the center tosymbolize faith in Jesus and a sword on top of theshield to represent the Word of God. These emblemswere made up in a local embroidery shop.While the emblems were being made, we hadto decide on a uniform. We were able to get suntanuniforms for men and boys at Army Surplus storesright after the war, but for the girls, it was indeeda different story. My wife Helen and some of themothers whose children would be members of theclub went to work to make girlsÕ uniforms. Helensearched the pattern companies for the right pattern.The Conference then bought bolts of green cloth,wholesale, which we stocked in our ofÞce. Werecruited a college ministerial student, Francis Hunt,to be the club director.In the fall of 1946, the PathÞnder Club madeits debut in the Riverside church. There were about15 boys and girls in that club. Their parents werevery supportive. We didnÕt have a clubhouse, so weused the school ground of the Clafßin MemorialRiverside School. GIs who had returned and werenow students at La Sierra College led the drills andmarching. Vocational Honor classes were held inparentsÕ homes.One of the most popular classes was BAKING,taught by Helen in our little home on Gardena Drive.The class was popular because at the end of eachclass, the boys could eat all the goodies they made.After all, someone has said a boy is an appetite20

with skin stretched around it! Well, we took thosePathÞnders on outings to county recreational parksand on Þeld trips.We also decided to teach Master Comradeclasses for the counselors. LawrencePaulson, a lay-worker who had started aclub in Glendale in 1947, often came overand helped us with these classes, whichwere held in a classroom at La SierraCollege.Lawrence and I worked closelytogether during those days. He named hisclub PathÞnders and used the emblemwhich I had designed. I visited hisPathÞnders Club Birthday Party aftertheir Þrst year, and he had 150 clubmembers at that time. Incidently, I Lawrence W. Paulson 1901 - 1998consider Lawrence Paulson to be oneof the greatest all-time PathÞnder club directorsin our denomination. From 1947 onward, he wasresponsible for organizing and directing twelvedifferent church PathÞnder clubs in Southernand Southeastern California Conferences. Healso helped in PathÞnder Leadership Institutesnationwide. Even in his retirement years, hecontinued to be active in PathÞnders.After the Riverside and Glendale clubs beganto prosper, other clubs sprang up here and there.In Central California Conference Henry T. Berghencouraged a Mrs. Lorna Esry, a member of theSunnyvale Seventh-day Adventist Church to starta PathÞnder club. By the spring of 1949 ElderBergh had organized 23 PathÞnder Clubs in hisConference.Elder Bergh was also the Þrst Youth Directorto use PathÞnder Area Coordinators throughouthis conference, in 1949, to better serve all the clubleaders.In 1949 the momentum was so strong thatElder E. W. Dunbar, Youth Director for theGeneral Conference and Elder L. A. Skinner, who21

was now Associate Youth Director for the GeneralConference, believed it was time to move forwardwith the whole idea. Elder Skinner contacted J. R.Nelson, PaciÞc Union Youth Director, and said,ÒJoe, can you bring your local conference youthdirectors in the PaciÞc Union together and askthem to develop the PathÞnder club idea?Ó ElderNelson said, ÒWeÕll do it,Ó as he was really in favorof PathÞndering. So, from 1949-1950, this wasdone with great success and dispatch. The PaciÞcUnion Conference Youth Directors, at that time,which were involved in working with the newprogram were: John H. Hancock and Lee Carterfrom Southeastern California Conference, MillerBrockett from Southern California Conference,Henry T. Bergh from Central California Conferenceand Clark Smith from the Nevada/Utah Conference.The Pathfinder Songn the spring of 1949, the PaciÞc Union youthleaders met for the MV DirectorÕs Council.IAmong other items that were worked on, JohnHancock suggested to Henry Bergh that he writea PathÞnder song. Henry replied, ÒIÕm no songwriter. IÕve never written a song and I am nota musician.Ó In a letter written to the WorldPathÞnder Director, Michael Stevenson in 1984,Elder Bergh wrote, ÒI dispatched that idea veryquickly. But along in May 1949, I was driving to aSabbath appointment at Monterey Peninsula fromSan Jose (70-80 miles). I was riding along thinkingabout PathÞnders and about our need for the songand started thinking about a tune. What would bea good tune for a PathÞnder song? Then I thought,well, I could write the words. So I tried to composea poem.É I started thinking of what things wouldI want to put in the poem for a PathÞnder song. Ithought about the JMV pledgeÑpure and kind andtrue, with a message to go to the world, and thingsstarted to fall into place. I pulled over to the side ofthe road, took a piece of paper out of my Bible, and22

began to write:Oh, we are the Pathfinders strong,The servants of God are weFaithful as we march alongIn kindness, truth, and purity.A message to tell to the world,A truth that will set us freeKing Jesus the Savior's coming backFor you and me.W ll, I h u h , h Õs d.É I k fff my S h pp m d dh d ys d s d hum u . Th Is dsh ds h h u . I h v s dp dly h G d v m h u c us I mmus c d I h v vs f s c . Th L d jusv m . I pull d ff h s d f hd, u d h sh f p p v , dpu d Þv l s f s ff. I ku h u mus cld, s I s d humm h u h sh u h my m d d pu d s hs ff.É Th vh I h m , I sk d myf M m pl y h s h f m f m h d sh p . W c c d h I h d m spl c dh d s d h u jus s s d y. I s lls Õ c Þd hs d u hfP hÞ d S , s I sWy H p ,h s p s l f d f u s d h muc s ld c f h d p m V c f P ph cy. Isk d W y d d h m z . H sck d s d, ÔI Õs d s Ñ h d dpu l sh !Õ S m m ph d f us mu P hÞ d clu s ( h C l C l fC f c ). I h k h h Þ s m s llyduc d c f c - d sc l s hP hÞ d OfÞc Õs C vAsc l m ,M y, CA, J u y f 1950.Ó A s dh s s y s h f m Eld B h. "Iet o g t t at not batoo oagain orabbat a oint ent an got ownt e roa a wa an tarte toa t neentarte inging t e wor wit t at t nea e aire eatet at o ga e e t e t ne be a e anot ai ian ana e ne er writtena ong be ore or in ee ortga e it to ee o t e i eo t eroa t rne t e eet o a er o er ant own e ine or a taneweno g abo ti to be ab e to reait o tarteing t e t ne t at wagoing t ro gin antting ot on t etaat e ening w en got o e a ewi e iria to a t i t ing or e ro t e oton t e age e orre te w ere ai a et e ot an got t e t ne t a it i to atiwa n t on ent t at it wa goo eno g or aat n er ong o ent it to a ne oo erw o i a er ona rien o o r an t eiaire tor or t e ra io rograoi e o ro ea ea ne to e it it an to ar oni e it e entit ba an ait a goo ong go a ea anb i it o we i eogra e it or e a ongo r at n er b in t e entra a i orniaon eren e t in t at t e r t ti e it wa reaintro e on a on eren e wi e a e wa at t eat n ereron ention ini i

3 Contents Dedication 5 About the Author 6 Story of Pathfi ndering 9 Early Beginnings 10 Summer Camp 14 Pathfi nders 16 The Pathfi nder Song 22 Camporees 26 Witness Through Roses 28 Teen Pathfi nders 31 Pathfi nder Leadership 31 How Summer Camps Began 34 Important Dates & Events 47