Camp Sagola: One of Michigan's Best Kept Secrets

Camp Sagola is situated on 40 acres near Crystal Falls in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula (U.P.). It is owned by the Michigan Conference and has been managed by the District 1 churches. It is in the process of significant changes in both operation and leadership in the next few months.

Camp Sagola is the gathering place for the U.P. For years members have had the opportunity to attend annual spring and fall retreats along with camp meeting. Other ministry opportunities include, but are not limited to, Junior and Teen camp, Women’s Ministries, marriage retreats, teen snow outings, Outdoor Ed, and Emmanuel School of Evangelism training.

To give us a picture of how Camp Sagola started, Aaron Berger, a life-long member of the Wilson church and currently the Camp Sagola superintendent, shares a brief history—with the help of others.

In 1947 Pastor LaVern Pomeroy purchased the camp property with his personal funds.  

Twenty years later, Pomeroy, affectionally called “Sergeant Pomeroy,” heard about a hotel on Lake Superior’s Grand Island near Munising that was going to be removed. The hotel was free to anyone who was willing to disassemble it and remove it from the island. The Adventist men of the Upper Peninsula rallied to the call, and that winter, volunteers commuted back and forth across frozen Lake Superior to bring the hotel, piece by piece, back to Sagola. It would eventually be used to build a lodge fondly named Pomeroy Lodge in Pastor Pomeroy’s honor.

Many members and families volunteered their labor. Several members of note whose hands labored tirelessly through bitter cold were Jerry Snowden, Reno Ketola, and Walter DeGrave. In the summer of 1971, Russel Berger Sr. and Pastor Wayne Johnson from Escanaba laid the blocks for the foundation of Pomeroy Lodge. The lodge took several years to complete but was used almost as soon as the roof was on.

Although the lodge was built, there was no heating or plumbing in the building. The only bathroom facility was an outhouse. Ralph and Gary Berger addressed the needs by donating many long hours to put in both heating and plumbing.

As the years went by, other buildings were added as well: The Tricarten Cabin, all the small cabins, Nelson Lodge, the shop, caretaker’s house, and the bath house. The growth of the camp is a tribute to the Upper Peninsula church members who have invested significant time and resources. To financially support the camp, all the churches in the U.P. agreed to systematically give money towards the camp’s operation.

The management of Camp Sagola was the responsibility of the camp board consisting of a representative from every U.P. church, the pastors, and the district superintendent, who also served as chairman. The board established a small executive committee along with a camp superintendent to manage the day-to-day operations.

Overcoming Challenges

Over the years, however, as Sagola’s ministry began to broaden, and finances became tighter for both families and churches, the conference began to provide funds to support the camp. This included money for the construction of the bath house and caretaker’s house. Last year the conference subsidized almost 75 percent of the total cost to operate the camp.

The summer Junior and Teen camps were also run by the pastors with the help of a substantial number of volunteers from U.P. churches. In the early 2000’s the Michigan Conference Youth department began to send resources, including key staff such as lifeguards and counselors, from Camp Au Sable to help meet the growing needs.

One big challenge for Camp Sagola was that there was never a full-time caretaker. There were volunteer caretakers, but this was not ideal for a year-around-camp. In addition, the volunteer caretakers stayed in the house in exchange for taking care of the camp. With the increasing labor regulations and liability issues, it became necessary to reevaluate how the conference related to the caretaker position.

Another challenge facing the U.P. is long distances between church districts. Of the six districts in the U.P. there are three with a 2-hour drive between churches.

After evaluating both challenges, the officers concluded that the best course of action would be to add one full-time employee in the U.P. and offer to take on the management and financial responsibility of operating Camp Sagola. When the Executive Committee reviewed the projected budget for this year and the challenges and proposed solution was explained, it was approved. It was agreed that the conference would only move forward if the leaders in the U.P. embraced the proposal and were willing to work together in making the changes.

The U.P. pastors were consulted about how best to utilize an additional employee to grow the work more effectively in the U.P. and to address these two challenges. It was suggested to rearrange the six pastoral districts to reduce the distances between churches and to add a seventh district for a pastor-manager, who would serve as the pastor of one church as well as the manager for Camp Sagola. All the elders in the U.P. were invited to join a Zoom meeting to discuss the redistricting proposal. The elders unanimously embraced the plan.

A meeting was also set up with the Camp Sagola executive committee and the proposal was presented and discussed. After processing the whole situation, they recommended it to be shared with the full Sagola board at the next scheduled meeting. The board thoughtfully considered the proposal and after a lengthy question and answer time enthusiastically embraced the idea. The District 1 churches will still be encouraged to continue to send financial support, but the money will go towards programming, not towards the cost of camp operations.

Using the Camp Au Sable model, there will be an operating committee made up of seven employees and seven lay-people. Employees will be selected by position, and the seven lay-people will be selected by each pastoral district. The 14-member committee will be chaired by the conference president and comprised of the secretary, treasurer, conference association manager, district superintendent, pastor/Camp Manager, and one pastor from the Upper Peninsula, which rotates yearly, along with the seven lay representatives.

The camp board has been dissolved but the executive committee will continue to function until the new committee can be put in place. The summer camp program will also run as it did last year but next year will come under the direction of David Glenn who is the conference camp director. He will now be responsible for both the Camp Au Sable and Sagola summer camp programs. Pastor Nathan Polk began serving as Camp Sagola Manager effective June 1. He is also the pastor of Iron Mountain church.

Conference leaders are excited for the opportunity to work more closely with Camp Sagola. Their desire for Camp Sagola is for it to be a hub of activity in the U.P. for ministry and evangelism training, just like Camp Au Sable is downstate. This is not a takeover, rather it is an opportunity for a closer working relationship between lay-people in the U.P. and the conference in meeting the needs of the Upper Peninsula. Let’s continue to pray for the Lord to Grow Michigan!