History of SAMBICA

1919: The Start of SAMBICA

In the early 1900’s, Reverend Paul Rood of the Swedish Tabernacle Church made a proposition to his congregation to purchase a piece of land on the lake to enjoy during the summer months as a church. The proposal was put to a vote and the congregation voted no. Rev. Rood and his friend John Isaacson of Isaacson Ironworks got together with six other families and purchased the property on their own, and the establishment was named the Sammamish Bible Camp Association!

1920s-1930s: Investing in Youth

 Young People’s Conferences at SAMBICA began in the 1920s. High school and college age students came from all over the greater Puget Sound to hear some of the greatest traveling evangelists of the time. In those early years, SAMBICA was the only “light on the lake” during the winter months as the majority of Lake Sammamish was undeveloped. All meetings were held in platform tents along the shore until the construction of the Tabernacle (read more about the history of the Tabernacle).

The first boys' camp was held in the early 1930s when Dr. Annis Jepson and his wife Ruby became the leaders of the camp. Dr. Jepson, a chiropractor in the city of Issaquah, and Ruby, world-renowned opera singer, developed the property into a summer camp for boys, and the invitation was extended to girls shortly after.