About the Camp

History

Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp began when the Johnson family, originally from Alaska, moved to Missouri to a property inherited by Cliff, the family’s father. Cliff and his wife Susie began to use the property as a campground in 1997, when two teepees were built and eight boys were invited for camp during the summer.

That year, Sagrada became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of the State of Missouri and in 1998 the Internal Revenue Service recognized the camp as tax-exempt. After the groundwork was laid, the camp became a partner with Angel Tree Ministries, a ministry serving the children of incarcerated parents through Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministry. Angel Tree provides the camp with the names and contact information of some of the children we minister to. Cliff continued his ministry as the Director of the camp until April of 2013 when he went home to be with the Lord after a struggle with cancer.

The camp was led by fellow staff member Richard Robbins through the 2013 camp season. Richard was joined by Abraham Godfrey in 2014 with Richard serving as the Program Director and Abraham as the Executive Director. In October 2014, unexpectedly, Abraham went home to be with the Lord. Richard again led the camp until November 2015 when Tracy Guppy came to serve as the Executive Director. Tracy served as Director until January of 2021. Dylan Yelton who had served as the Facility Director since 2016, is now serving as the Executive Director.

In 2016, Sagrada celebrated its 20th camp season, and in remembrance of our founders the “Chief Big Tick, Mother Hen Prayer Point” was built. This memorial is a pergola and a stone placed on the northeast corner of the property. We remember our founders, praising God for their work but also praying forward for the future and the campers, and for pointing them to Jesus.

Since the first camp with eight campers, Sagrada has blossomed into a six-week summer camp ministering to upwards of 200 children each year. It is the current desire of the Sagrada staff to continue to expand the camp, increasing the number of Angel Tree children ministered to by the camp.

Since 1997, many churches from around the United States have become involved in the ministry at Sagrada. Churches from Alaska, Florida, California, Ohio, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and many others have sent brothers and sisters in Christ to come and minister to the children and to grow individually in their spiritual maturity. Churches in cities from which the children come have volunteered their members, time, and vehicles to bring the children to the camp and to take them back home at the end of the week. Many believers have come out to the camp since its founding to help in the continual development of the property and its facilities. Like their church homes, Sagrada’s finances have been provided by the Lord, directing many of these members of our church families to give in support of this ministry and their loving obedience to His leading.

In the nearly 25 years since Sagrada’s establishment, we have seen the hand of God mightily at work. The staff, board, volunteers, and supporters of the camp look forward to the future work of the Lord here with great anticipation!

Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp - Articles of Faith 

I.  The Holy Scriptures.  We believe the Holy Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments to be the plenary, verbally inspired Word of God, sufficient in themselves to be our complete and final authority for faith and daily living.   II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:21.

II.  The Trinity. 

     A.  The Godhead.  We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in Three Persons:  the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, who are co-equal in their attributes.  Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19-20.  We believe that God is infinite, self-existent, sovereign (John 5:26) and unchangeable (Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17).  We believe that God decrees all things according to his eternal purpose for His glory.

     B.  The Person and Work of Christ.   We believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Eternal Son of God, who became incarnate in human flesh, being born of the virgin Mary.  That He died on the cross as the substitutionary Sacrifice for our sins; was buried; raised bodily again on the third day according to the Scriptures, ascended bodily to Heaven where He now carries on the work of Intercessor and Advocate in behalf of the Redeemed ones.   We believe in His personal, visible, glorious, imminent return for all his saved ones and His pre-millennial return to earth to set up His Kingdom.  John 3:16, Philippians 2:5-8, I Corinthians 15, Acts 1:1-11, Romans 8:34, Revelation 11:15, Hebrews 7:25, I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 20:1-6, Romans 5, Luke 24:39-43.  We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God (John 14:6, I Timothy 2:5) and that He is coming agains to make final judgment on all those who fail to place their trust in Him as their only savior from sin (Revelation 20:11-15).

     C.  The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.   The Lord Jesus Christ revealed the coming of the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Godhead.  John 16:5-7.

           1.  To the Saved:

a.  In regeneration.  John 3:1-7.

               b.  In baptizing.  I Corinthians 12:13 (positional–into Christ; not a baptism of power.)  We believe the present day “tongues movement” is unscriptural for today.  I Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 1:13, 5:18  (Source of power for Christian life and service).

          2.  To the Unsaved:  Convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment.  John 16:7-8.

III.  Salvation. 

     A.  In Adam, man inherited a sinful nature and is helpless and unable to remedy his lost condition.  Romans 3:10-12, 23.

     B.  God’s greatest gift to humanity is salvation through His Son.   John 3:16.

     C.  Christ shed His blood for our justification and sanctification.  1 John 5:13, Romans 8:25, Galatians 4:4-5.

     D.  Salvation is acquired by grace through faith apart from either ceremonial or active works.  Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5.

     E.  Believer’s in the Lord Jesus Christ are saved for all eternity and shall never lose their salvation.  John 3:16, 5:24, 10:28-29, 1 John 5:13, Romans 8:38-39.

IV.  The Believer’s Two Natures.  Every believer possesses two natures, his fleshly nature received in his natural birth, and his divine nature received in his spiritual birth from above.   John 3:3-7, Galatians 5:7, II Peter 1:4.

V.  The Believer’s Separation.  We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God.  II Timothy 3:1-5, Romans 12:1-12, 14:13, 1 John 1:9-11, II Corinthians 6:14-7:1.

VI.  Missions.  We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all humanity.  Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, II Corinthians 5:19.

VII.  The Church.  We believe that the church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons.  Ephesians 1:22,23, 5:25-27, I Corinthians 12:12-14, II Corinthians 11:2.

The visible, local church is an assembly of believers gathered together in one locality for worship, fellowship, and proclamation of the Gospel.   Acts 2:41-47.

VIII.  Satan.  Satan is revealed in the Scriptures as a person, author of sin, the enemy of God and of the believer, the tempter leading to the fall of humanity.  Genesis 3:1-6, II Timothy 2:26, Revelation 12:10.

IX.  The Blessed Hope .  We believe the blessed hope of the Church to be the return of Christ for all His saints at the Rapture, when they shall be resurrected into the presence of Christ, to be forever with the Lord.  1 Thes. 4:1-8.

X.  Man’s Eternal State.  We believe in the conscious, bodily, resurrection of humanity.  The saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to eternal punishment.  John 5:23, 29; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-15.

XI.  Human Sexuality and Gender.   We believe God’s original design to create two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female, to glorify Him. (Gen. 1:27; Isa. 43:7; Matt. 19:4-6; Mk. 10:6-9).   The assignment of biological sex at birth is a gift of God and part of God’s glory in creation.  The Fall of Man into sin and God’s subsequent curse have introduced brokenness and futility into God’s good creation (Gen. 3:1-24; Rom. 8:20).     

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God.  (Matt. 15:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:9-10.).

We extend love and compassion to those whose experience of this brokenness includes a perceived conflict between their biological sex and their gender identity (Rom. 8:22-23).  We affirm God’s good design that gender identity should be determined by biological sex and not by one’s self-perception—a perception which is often influenced by fallen human nature in ways contrary to God’s design. (Eph. 4:17-18).  We affirm distinctions in masculine and feminine roles as ordained by God as part of the created order, and that those distinctions should find an echo in every human heart. (Gen. 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor. 11:7-9; Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Tim. 2:12-14).   

We believe that efforts to live contrary to birth sex, whether by behavior, attire, cosmetics, or even medical or surgical therapy, are resisting or rebelling against the gift of God and His will for that person, and therefore such behavior is sinful.    

XII.  Marriage.  We believe marriage is the first divine institution according to Scripture, and is essentially rooted in the created order, uniting one man and one woman in an exclusive covenant commitment for their joint lifetime, for their good and for the good of any children who may be conceived and born into this union.   (Gen. 1:28, 2:19-24; Malachi 2:13-16; Mark 10:11-12, Heb 13:4).  Marriage is based on the truth that men and women are complementary, the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman, and the lived experience that children need both a mother and a father.  We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other.   We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. (1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2-5)  Re-defining marriage to fit popular norms rejects these truths.  By encouraging the norms of true marriage—man-woman monogamy, sexual exclusivity, and permanence—the state strengthens civil society and promotes human flourishing, including the well-being of children.

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity.  (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31).   Hateful and harassing behavior attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the Articles of Faith of Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp, Inc.

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  (Acts 3:19-21; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Cor. 6:9-11).

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp, Inc. and to provide a biblical role model to the Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp, Inc.’s members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by Sagrada Scholarship Bible Camp, Inc. in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality.  (Matt. 5:l6, Phil.  2:14-16; 1 Thess.5:22).