MBC History

This is a page where we gather some of the history of the ministry of Muskoka Baptist Conference (now called Muskoka Bible Centre).

Most of our current collection of digitalized sermon audios were recorded from that Bible conference grounds. So it can be memorable to both reflect on God’s blessings and to understand that place for a bit of context, leading up to and during the time period of when many of the speakers we feature on our website, came to MBC.

MBC celebrates their 95th year in 2025! So this is a year especially of remembering some of its history. For some of that time, MBC has been Canada’s largest Christian conference/campgrounds. You can see some of the photos from past and more recent years on their website at this link.

Book

The book, Muskoka Miracles, is very interesting to read for both history (up to the 80th anniversary) as well as encouragement of reading about how God worked in this Canadian ministry. This book is available at this (non-affiliate) Amazon link.

(This is the only available book about MBC that we know of at this present time. They do though produce the issues of “Resilient Magazine”, such as “Spring 2025”.)

MBC and Music

Please go to this page on our website for the song “Into His Image” and other links.

Videos

Here are some old films which MBC is adding to their Youtube collection:

MBC 1930s and 1940s –

MBC 1969 and 1972 Promotional Video –

MBC 1930s to 1970s

Slideshow

Here are some more pictures of MBC from our (immediate and extended) family’s albums:

Stories

(These are ones which, to our knowledge, have not been published anywhere. They were instead told to people.)

How God Answered a Couple of Prayers –

Here are just a couple of stories which I was told by an elderly usher and his wife (who occasionally helped us in children’s ministry). ‘Uncle’ Elmer (called that by youth staff) and ‘Aunt Marie” became friends of mine over the summers I worked at MBC. He’d tell us about life at MBC when he was a young person working there and had a couple of favourite stories he’d tell over and over.

These were told as true stories which happened at MBC years ago when Elmer was a teen/young adult. Sorry, I do not remember the other names in these stories. (Perhaps someone else who knew of these stories will remember and be able to let us know.)

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There was a man who walked very closely with the Lord, a man of faith who desired God’s will to be done. He was well-known as someone for whom God often powerfully answered his prayers….

The Night the “Mice” were Pesky –

‘Uncle’ Elmer had a friend about his same age and these two guys used to get into some mischief while helping MBC in the summer-time! One night, ‘Uncle’ Elmer and his friend decided to play a joke on this old prayer-er.

He lived alone in his cabin. They crept quietly up the outside of that cabin, somehow getting in, and lay on their stomachs in the attic area at bedtime, watching this older man fall asleep.

Then they made “mouse-scratching” sounds on the wood until he woke up. “Scritch, scritch, scratch!”

Sleepily, the man prayed aloud, “Lord, please help me to remember to get a mouse trap when I go into town (Huntsville) in the morning.”

They waited and he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Again, ‘Uncle’ Elmer and his friend made the mouse-scratching noises. “Scritch, scritch, scratch!”

Again, the older man awoke. This time he prayed, “Lord, please make it TWO mouse traps that I remember in the morning!”

Again, they waited and he fell asleep. And again, they made the scratching sounds to disturb him and wake him. “Scritch, scritch, scratch! Scritch, scritch, scratch!”

He awoke and this time –

“Better yet, Lord,” the elderly man prayed aloud. “Please just kill those mice right now!”

‘Uncle’ Elmer told us that he and his friend scrambled down out of there in a real hurry, for they knew this man’s reputation of his prayers being answered!

The Night the Lightning Struck –

This old man lived in a simple cabin at (or near) MBC.

One evening, he had been particularly feeling lonely and discouraged, kind of wondering if God cared to notice (even while knowing that God did – but we all can have those moments of discouragement). His prayer that night seemed to relate to a prayer of “I wish I could feel again, Your loving care for me here, Lord”.

There was a storm approaching Mary Lake in the middle of that night.

This man awoke and sensed that God was wanting him to get out of bed for a drink of water. He was really puzzled and didn’t want to get up, hesitating and arguing that he didn’t need a drink!

“Why, Lord?” he’d pray. “I don’t get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water! That’s not what I do!”

But, a short time later, he did get up and out of his bed, and walked across his cabin towards the container of drinking water.

As he approached the dipper/bucket, a lightning bolt suddenly shot right through his roof and burned just a hole, right in the middle of the mattress he had just been on!

He was quite impacted by that experience, recognizing God’s personal care for him!

The Bible character, Job, also had an experience in his time of suffering and discouragement, when God spoke to him about some of the things which only God has the power and care to do –

“Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt…. Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
from Job 38:25-35 (NKJV)

The Calm in the Storm

(For the background to this story from 1993, please read Mark 4:35-41.)

“He stilled the storm to a whisper, the waves of the sea were hushed.” Psalm 107:29

It was the Friday Campfire Night for kids 7-11 years old at the Fellowship Centre where I served on the team of summer youth staff. However, one of those unique Muskoka thunderstorms changed our plans for having the program outdoors. (The marshmallows would have been floating in the puddles!)

Children gathered into the old and rustic camp building while the kid’s ministry staff tried to patch up the windows that were letting in the wind and rain. (It was a very old building and it was the final summer for its use. Most of the time, we did not mind the fresh air naturally flowing through but this time, the soaking wind was a little nasty. But that CAN be camp life, right!?)

Our scheduled Bible lesson for this night was from Mark 4: 35-41 and it was my (Joy’s) turn to tell the story. I had barely started telling the story when the hydro went out. Here we were, crowded into a small, weathered, wooden building in the dark, not close to any other building – with the real sound effects of thunder and pouring rain showers!

The Bible story went on…..

The  disciples were afraid.

The storm was tossing their ship and Jesus was asleep.

They woke Him and cried, “Master, do You not care about us?”

Then Jesus stood up and said, “Peace! Be still!”

Suddenly, the wind stopped.

The rain stopped.

AND the hydro came back on!

The story was concluded and we were struck with amazement!

Have you ever been in that type of situation? You have faith in God but in the moment of distress, you forget that He is personally watching and caring for you, right there, where you are?

The rest of that evening was rather quiet. I think all of us there would remember this experience for a very long time, perhaps every time we read that Bible story again.

Not only did we marvel at Jesus calming the storm back in Bible times, but this experience demonstrated His power and care for us now.

God still was (and is) in control of everything, including storms, and although He allows them to continue for a while, His almighty power brings peace beyond our understanding.

I am reminded of a sermon by Bob Dowie (and on this website) where he mentioned Hebrews 13:5b – about God’s promise to be with us regardless. He told us that the message in this passage is true whether you read it forwards or backwards (see below) and that we can be sure that God is with us and cares for us whether our life is feeling “right-side up” or “upside-down”!

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” means the same as: “You forsake, nor you leave, never will I.”

So today, if you find yourself in the midst of a storm or in the comfort of peace, remind yourself that He IS (that’s present tense) ever-present, even in your situation.

A Song: Sometimes He Calms the Storm