About Johanna & Chris...


Johanna Ida Scott

Johanna was born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. During her childhood years, she attended Tabernacle Baptist Church. It was there that she heard and understood the Gospel and received the Lord as her Savior in November of 1992. During her years at Tabernacle, she was introduced to Deaf Ministry. Her time there would plant a future desire to further her Deaf Education and minister to the deaf. Soon after she turned fourteen, her family moved to Puerto Rico in October of 1999 because her father accepted new employment. She graduated from high school in 2003. With a desire for missions, she knew the Lord wanted her to study at a Bible College. The doors of opportunity opened up for her to continue her studies in Puerto Rico at Calvary Baptist Bible College. After five years of studying there, she received her bachelor degree in Deaf Ministries and Elementary Education. Johanna is enjoying her first year teaching her fourth grade class at Calvary Baptist Christian School. Her past two summers have been dedicated to serving at New Life Bible Camp in Pennsylvania where she first met Chris. She will be serving there once again this summer and will be planning for the wedding in August.



Christopher Ray Sirbaugh

Chris was born in Cumberland, MD and grew up in Paw Paw, WV. Chris was very active in church along with his family and came to know the Lord when he was about 8 years old. Chris graduated high school in 1992 and attended Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, WV where he double-majored in Computer Science & Psychology. It was there in 1993, that Chris dedicated his service to the Lord and to be used in whatever way the Lord wanted. Chris graduated from A-B in 1997 and went on to work in Fairmont, WV at New-Bold Enterprises, a sub-contractor for the Department of Defense. There he worked for about 10 months as a Software Engineer. He felt there had to be more to life than the day-to-day work that he had been doing. He was reminded of the commitment in college and his joy of working with youth and camping ministry. He never considered that to be a "real" full-time job. Chris began to pray and with the encouragement of several close friends, he decided to take a step of faith and moved to Olive Branch, MS and attended Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Germantown, TN. He lived there for three years, helping in a church plant, speaking at numerous churches and developing a passion for missions after two trips to Brazil. Chris graduated in 2001 with a Masters in Christian Education and then accepted a full-time position at New Life Bible Camp. Chris has been serving at New Life for the past 8 years and has led three teams to Brazil. He is waiting to see what the Lord will have for he and Johanna after marriage.



How They Met...

In the Spring of 2007, Johanna had been praying about what to do for the summer and had told the Lord that she would be willing to stay home or go wherever the Lord wanted her. Through the prompting of a friend, Johanna had learned about a small camp in Pennsylvania and asked the Lord if this is what He wanted her to do. Meanwhile, Chris, having been at the camp for nearly 6 years had been praying that God would bring someone into his life and that He would show him what He was leading him to do. On June 5, 2007, Johanna & Lisa (a co-worker) had flown to Baltimore and were picked up by a previous camp counselor. They spent the night there and on June 6, Chris drove to Hagerstown, MD to pick them up at a McDonald's parking lot. On the drive back home, they had a good chance to talk and get to know one another. Chris felt very comfortable talking with her and was immediately struck by her beauty and personality. Johanna also felt Chris was very easy to talk with and enjoyed his company. With the roles that each had at camp, there were some hurdles to be crossed and towards the end of the summer, it seemed as if God moved and showed each of them that the other was interested. Through much prayer, God gave peace to each one and the two committed their relationship to God and to His glory. Chris had the opportunity to fly to Puerto Rico in December of 2007 and meet her family and see the churches and school in which she was a part of.

In the spring of 2008, Chris began praying about the future and proposing to Johanna. On August 2, 2008, Chris took Johanna & Jeana (Johanna's sister) to Shawnee State Park. There, on a walk around the lake, Chris proposed to Johanna at sunset. The two have enjoyed getting to know one another over the past couple of years and have been praying and preparing themselves for marriage. They plan to serve at the camp for at least a year after marriage and pray to see where God will lead them in the future.