Sunday morning Chapel services at Okontoe have been a mainstay throughout our history. They’re an essential part of our ministry to our staff and volunteers, our guests and our neighbors in the area.
These services have taken on different formats over the years, depending on current staff. But the foundation has always been Jesus-focused worship, solid Biblical teaching and warm fellowship.
In 2026, we decided to pursue becoming an official Eagle Brook Church Viewing Group, as several members of our Board participate in Eagle Brook locations. EBC’s leadership has been overwhelmingly positive about our partnership, which has been a big blessing for us.
(Eagle Brook Church is a multi-campus church based in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.)
We have confidence that the teachings will be Biblical sound and align with our own statement of faith (see below). Our staff has freedom to offer prayer for those who may want it following each service, and we’ve been blessed by most attenders staying to meet new friends and connect with old ones.
Guests, staff, volunteers and lease site holders at Okontoe are always invited to join us on Sunday mornings. We’ve also extended the invitation to the resorts, lodges and restaurants on the Gunflint Trail for their staff and guests.
It’s been a wonderful way to connect with other believers and help introduce the gospel to those who are in our area and curious about what this Jesus thing is all about.
Our Statement of Faith
(coming soon!)
A Short History of Our Chapel Building
Nancy Patten, who served side-by-side with her husband and Director Mark Patten for 40 years at Okontoe, offered us the following history of our Chapel building:
“Unless the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain who build it.” Psalm 127:1
The [original] A-frame Chapel had been an anointed place of worship for a couple of decades. We saw God move in many amazing and powerful ways. The logs for it had been harvested off the property, but we eventually had to tear it down due to carpenter ants all through it. Just the cement slab was left.
“I remember Kenny L. sitting on a folding chair in the middle of the cement slab praying for hours that God would provide for another chapel to be built,” remembered Nancy. “It was definitely ‘holy ground’ where God had moved mightily in the early years of Okontoe.
The first stage of the new Chapel was when John (Mark’s brother) brought a team who he was training for a missions trip to Kenya where they would be helping build a church. Mark gave them some wilderness training in exchange for John teaching his team some of the skills they would need in Africa. They added a smaller slab for the entryway and laid the block for the walls.
We met in the Dining Hall for services during the years we had no Chapel. We had our sleigh ride business at the time, so during the winter months, we used the horses and sleighs to bring people to the services there (we didn’t plow out there because our of sleigh ride route)!
In 1999, the big Blowdown hit. A million trees across the Boundary Waters region blew down, including countless trees at Okontoe. But not one hit a building or vehicle on our property.
The blessing from the Blowdown was that Earl Jacobson brought his portable sawmill to Okontoe and cut lumber from the salvageable trees. The stud walls and rafters all came from these trees.
The log siding came from a generous donation in memory of a very dear veterinary friend who had cared for our horses. Other donations for windows and all the lighting and fans came from friends on the Gunflint Trail. The labor for the different stages came from many volunteers through the years who willingly offered their skills.
“For several years we met and worshiped in the unfinished Chapel,” said Nancy. “Then some friends from a nearby Christian camp told us about many stacks of lumber they had that had been milled from the Blowdown. They were just going to burn them because they were so warped and old. They offered whatever we could salvage.
“As our crew went through the piles, we found a significant number of boards that were useable. So Earl came to Okontoe again with an industrial planer and edger. All the walls in the Chapel above the wainscoting were built from that reclaimed lumber.”
The cross that hangs in the front of the Chapel inside was made of these original boards before they were planed.
Nancy said, “Mark would often share that our lives were like the wood in that old cross—beat up, scarred, and broken—but that as we received what Jesus did for us as He died on the cross, our lives could become new and beautiful like the walls in the chapel.
“We took seriously the mandate to establish and maintain a ‘prayer altar’ where God’s presence could freely come and go. We saw God touch many people as they would just step in the doors and could sense His presence. He has been so faithful!!”
Our desire at Okontoe is that this Chapel, the Lord’s house, be a place of His presence for many years to come as we seek His will and presence there as a house of prayer and worship.