03.01.2010 - where did February go?

Where in the world did February go?!

Anyway, I'm feeling better, my stomach is pretty normal, I'm still pretty tired though all the time. Malaria test came back negative, which means either I never had it OR the meds killed it.

We had a retreat this weekend. The time4revolution group got together which is a group of 4 youth ministries in the Warren PA area.

Our theme for the weekend was something along the lines of "Chilling Out." We met up at Camp Mission Meadows and by the end of the weekend I had over a foot of snow on my car.

Aaron led worship all weekend and did a great job.

J brought a real solid message of not giving up on God because He doesn't meet our expectations.

Rick came up and preached an awesome message that I wished I would have heard in high school. Outlining that from age 15-25 this is the decade of decision. And that you have to decide on 4 "M" words.

who is your MASTER
you can have many masters, but only Jesus is going to love you

what are you going to do with your MONEY
give!
live below your means
stay out of debt

what are you going to MAJOR in
do research see if there are jobs in the field you want to go into

and who is going to be your MATE/MARRIAGE
choose well

I spoke during the evening session and just had the kids intention themselves on Jesus during the worship time. And then we just sat in silence and I encouraged them to listen to Jesus. I brought a simple message of God's unconditional grace for them and said that they would never be able to chill out until they knew who they were and who's they were. We ended the evening praying for kids which was awesome.

PJ spoke the next morning. His premise. Not everyone who poops on you is your enemy and not everyone that cleans you off is your friend.
(Come on.. it's youth ministry)

He taught from Proverbs 27:6-7
⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.
⁷ He who is full loathes honey,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

He encouraged the kids to pick friends that wouldn't just comfort them and agree with them, but friends that would get in their faces and speak hard truth to them. And also ended with verse 7, saying that when we aren't getting our fill of God that we run to stupid things. He also encouraged the kids to MAKE COMMITMENTS and said that if we don't commit to things we don't grow.

Another Africa blog this week I promise.

JIM baker

02.08.10 - 3:47am

Jess and me right before we left Masai Mara

Its 3:47am right now, jet lag. At least I'm not up with a stomach ache like I was last night.

Africa was awesome. We were so blessed to be able to go. John and Pamela Okinda are doing AMAZING things for the kingdom of God. Our team was so honored to come alongside them and provide any help we could.

It was a quick ten day trip, but I feel like we accomplished a ton and learned a lot.

While we were there John and Pamela invited another 4 orphans into their own personal home. They now have a total of 12 orphans living with them.

I'll write more about the things we did in future posts. Consider this an introduction.


* * * * *

From a photography standpoint...

I took 4,427 photos while we were there. Most of them, portraits for sponsorship of the nearly 300 students that John has.

I set out to take 10,000 pictures, or 1,000 a day, but wound up getting diagnosed with malaria last monday and spent quite a bit of time in bed.

The 5dm2 and the 24-105 treated me real well, I'm VERY glad I was able to get the new camera before I went.

Masai Mara is AMAZING. I seriously highly recommend going if you ever have the chance to go. It was a great way to end our trip. I had no clue that you actually got THAT close to the animals.

I'll post soon about more photography thoughts I had while in Africa.

JIM baker

01.22.10 - why a vision statement is important

out and about with the 5dm2 // jamestown NY // jan 2010

In a previous post I asked other youth pastors if they could sum up what they were trying to do in 5 sentences or less. We had an awesome ongoing conversation with 26 comments. It challenged me to think about a lot, and it made me realize how blessed I am to be in such an awesome network of people.

While I'm not impressed with grand vision statements if there is no real evidence of those things getting done, I think that having a tangible vision statement helps put parameters and borders on what we do. We can examine everything we do with, "does this help us achieve the things we've set out to achieve?" A vision statement helps keep us focused and on track. In a world where there are pushes, pulls and well meaning suggestions in every direction, we could use some parameters.

I'm still working on my 5 sentences. They need to be given more thought because I want you to hold me accountable to them. I encourage you if you have a vision statement for your ministry or for your life share it with us and ask yourself if the things you're doing are in line with that.

JIM baker

01.20.10 - one week till we leave for KENYA!

The Africa Team! Photo Courtesy of Josiah Blick.

Jess, Jim, Anne, Heather, Dave, Arielle, Brian and Devonne.

Next week at this time we will all be on a plane headed for half way across the world to Migori Kenya.

So here's a little bit more detailed post about what we'll be doing while we are over there.

photo courtesy of Rick Rohlin

John Okinda runs an orphanage, a training school for Christians, a high school, and a teachers college. One of our main objectives in going over is to get a headshot portrait of each of the 200 orphans so that we can find sponsors for them.

Along with meeting with the District Commissioner of Migori, Mr. Julius Mutul, we will have opportunities to teach, preach, love on and most of all learn from the people of Migori, Kenya.

Our team is made up of 3 different parent/teen pairs. As the youth pastors of the congregation sending us, we are truly honored to be a part of such an experience that will deepen these family relationships for a lifetime.

Here's John's website. And here is a satellite view of where we will be staying.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and financial support!

JIM baker

01.17.10 - Dan Mohler

dan preaching friday night // iso 3200 5dm2 :)

So I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of hype to the leading up to Dan Mohler coming and speaking to our church... I was getting a little sick of hearing his name. (I'm just being real.) But the hype was underplayed, Dan Mohler was amazing, some of the best teaching I've sat under.

Friday night, Dan brought a strong message about our identity because of the finished work of Christ. This quote blew me away.
"The cross of Christ speaks more of our value than of our sin."

Saturday morning he just shared testimonies and gave practical ways to see God move in power in our every day lives. When asked about overcoming the fear of man when we're 'doing evangelism' he responded with this
"the love for man takes away the fear of man."

The pastoral staff went out to lunch with him saturday afternoon for lunch and we had the privilege to hear testimonies of some of people that Dan walks with. Crazy stuff, crazy in a good way. Crazy, like Jesus was serious when he said

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." - John 14:12

Saturday evening, and both services this morning were packed with more great teaching and ministry. I plan on getting the whole weekends teaching on cd to hear it again.

If you haven't heard Dan Mohler speak, you should check him out.

God's GOOD.

JIM baker

01.13.10 - what are we working towards?

photo by me // feb 2008 // kailua kona hawaii

This post stems out of my own frustration, of trying to figure out what the real goal is of our youth ministry. What is it that I want the students in our ministry to walk away with? What do we want their lives to really look like? I think this question has to be asked before we start trying to do anything. Identifying the goal to see what we're working for.

For those of you involved with any ministry, can you sum up what you're trying to do in five sentences or less? What are your ultimate end goals?

If our goal is vague, then what are we really working towards? "Living a Godly life" isn't specific enough, what does that look like?

As we are trying to figure out what to do with our youth groups, with our congregations, small groups, with the retreat we're planning, with our very own lives do we ever stop to ask "what's the point?"

I challenge you to think this over, and post your five sentences or less here in the comment section. Then ask the question, if these are the goals, is what we're doing moving us in that direction? How can what we're doing be tweaked to be more effective to help us reach our ultimate goals?

JIM baker

01.11.10 - remain

on a walk with the 5dm2

REMAIN - verb
continue to exist, esp. after other similar or related people or things have ceased to exist

Saturday the 9th about twenty of us twenty-somethings gathered for two hours in the PF cafe for some musical worship led from an electric guitar. The sermon time seemed more like an honest conversation between Corey Errett who was "preaching' and us, the congregation.

I would guess that the biggest age demograph of people leaving the church would be between 18 and 30. Why?

Is it that church isn't relevant or is it that authentic community is hard and requires effort from us twenty somethings. "Real life" has set in, and everyones schedule is a lot busier than it was in college when community came easy.

It's our time to be the initiators, the decision makers, the influencers. The very reason you probably don't come to church is the very thing you need to be respectfully and honorably talking to your church leadership about and bringing change.

Come REMAIN with us Saturday Jan 24 2010 in the PF Cafe. Feel free to ask hard questions, we don't promise any answers though. Be ready to take initiative and responsibility for your faith, we aren't going to blame anyone else anymore. Lets be the change we want to see in the church.

JIM baker

01.01.10 - happy new year

NYE @ camp mission meadows 2009

Jess and I brought in the new year with over one hundred kids grades 7-12 from six different churches at Camp Mission Meadows.

Andy Frudd from Bemus Point Methodist brought an awesome message about allowing God to unload our backpacks full of junk and start the new year fresh. I presented the simple gospel message of God's love and plan and an awesome time of worship followed led by Ben and Liz Blick.

Andy encouraged the kids to pray for one another. A teenage boy whom I didn't know ran up to me sobbing and just clung on to me. I had the privelage to minister God's love and truth to him as he spewed tears and snot all over my shoulder :)

What an awesome way to bring in the New Year.

God I ask that 2010 would be a year that we realize how much You love us and that you have so much more in store for us than we're currently living in and that You'd free us up to walk in those things.

JIM baker

12.08.09 - patience, goodness, kindness

april 2008

God you're so patient. You are the best thing, yet you never force your goodness on anyone. You never demand the respect that You deserve. Why? Is that because you just want people to recognize your goodness on their own? To come to their own conclusion? I guess respect comes in its purist form when its given freely, and not done out of obligation and duty, guilt or coercion.

You were silent as they mocked you and crucified you. You even prayed forgive them father for they know not what they do. You are the king of kings and the lord of lords. You created man, and man tortured you to death.

You did it because you love us. You did it to expose our ugly sin, the depravity of our humanity without you.

God you loved us so much that you made a way for us to walk in relationship with you even though we messed it up. You are the initiator.

Help me to know this love better, and to love with this same love.

JIM baker

12.03.09 - what's the point?!

part of my photostory assignment for School of Photography
Kailua-Kona Hawaii 2008

Dude... Christmas is in 22 days. Thats crazy.

Anyway, last monday at Higher Calling I encouraged the kids to ask themselves what is the point in every area of their life. And then ask themselves if the way they were living matched up with that purpose. The room got silent when I asked that about church. The kids got real honest too. It was good for them to just think and answer their own questions. Sometimes you simply have to present a question and let them draw their own conclusion.

At the beginning of the meeting we always share testimonies and two people shared how God had healed them in the past week miraculously. During worship I felt that God wanted to heal people that evening as well. So I went forward and I asked if people who had pain in their body to come forward for prayer.

I prayed for one student's back and asked him if he felt anything and he said no. I then reminded him that even Jesus had to pray twice for a blind man. (mark 8:22-26) So we prayed again and I asked him to test his back out and a grin came across his face as he was moving his back in ways that he could not before without pain.

I came up to another student an laid hands on him and asked him what was wrong, lower back he said. I prayed for him and asked him what he felt. He looked at me surprised and said as I prayed he felt heat running through his whole body and felt his back pop like fifteen times and the pain left.

Jess prayed for a girls ankle and felt tendons moving around as she prayed. She asked the girl if she was moving her ankle and the girl was like no, and she tested out her ankle and the pain was gone. The girl that just received that healing then prayed for another girl with a right ankle sprain that had kept her out of dance and that girl was moving around her ankle without pain and tears in her eyes surprised and grateful at what God had done.

It was interesting to me that it was two lower backs and two ankles that got healed that night. That there was almost a theme for what God was doing.

Christianity isn't boring when we're seeing God do supernatural things in our midst.

JIM baker

11.30.09 - an offer you probably shouldn't resist

Seese Family - Columbia MD 2007

For a donation of $200 (tax deductible) towards our Africa Trip (click on link for more info) I will do family portraits for you for this year's christmas cards and christmas gifts. Final edited photos on cd, you print as many as you want.

Normal photoshoot usually $499
first TEN responders only
1 location, 1 outfit, up to 1 hour of photography, limited to 1 hour of travel from Jamestown NY
E-mail me jim@worshipplace.org
to see more of my portrait work click here

Blog readers get first dibs, if I don't get much of a response it's being opened up to everyone else.

JIM baker

p.s sorry for the lack of blog posts, I was traveling and I haven't felt that great, I'll try and get a blog update up soon

11.23.09 - great day yesterday

haha thanks to jon barnes for the fun graphic

So yesterday was my birthday. I started out the morning by preaching at church which I think went really well. I shared my story with the church and preached a little bit about some things that were on my heart.

Then my wife and I, Sandi Walrod and Eric and Stacey Clark headed out to Erie to see The Blind Side which was seriously such an awesome movie. Then we went and ate indian food (which I LOVE) at the Raj Mahal.

Today my wife and I are going to get some home made Indian food at Pastor Rick's house and we're going to meet Aruna Swauger who works with Equip India.

And tonite Aaron Reinard is speaking to our youth.

A fun filled day.
JIM baker

p.s leave comments i LOVE THEM!

11.19.09 - "value creates obligation" - Dean Sherman

a Darrell Hill workshop that I took photos for inHawaii Jan 2009

This past sunday was the best church service I seriously have ever been in. It was so evident that God was in the room with us and so sweetly revealing His love. Pastor Rick preached a simple message about our worth and value because we were made in the image of God. He made a bold statement that I agree with that if you take out Genesis chapters 1-16 out of the bible (the creation story) then humans are stripped of their worth.

Simply put, we have value because we were made in the image of God, no other created thing was.

Rick taught about the value of art, and said that these three things make a piece of art valuable.

1. The ARTIST is what makes the piece of art valuable
2. The UNIQUENESS of the piece of art
3. A BUYER

He related this to us as humans. ALL humans are valuable because we were ALL created in the image of God and the artist who created us is pretty amazing. We are all so unique. And we were BOUGHT at a price, a very expensive price, the blood of Jesus.

These seem like such simple facts, but sit and dwell on them for a while and ask God to make them a reality.
JIM baker

11.05.09 - serve the thing that shines

teapot 2007

I have the privilege of joining up with some of the other warren PA youth pastors for breakfast every first wednesday of the month at the plaza restaurant. The waitresses know the group well since they've been meeting for something like ten years, and the waitresses love spilling coffee all over the table when they pour it. But they keep your cup filled, I think I'm still awake now at almost 2am because of it.

Anyway I shared about what I wrote in my last post about my students being bored and Pastor J pointed out that the students we work with are so used to effortlessly being spoon fed new things every two seconds, if things aren't new, or it takes effort it automatically become boring. Hmm...

Jon Barnes, a former Maryland youth pastor and personal mentor, talked about this negative effect of modern technology which inspired a blog that I posted somewhere else probably a couple years ago. I might repost it here if someone asks nicely.

I'm not really saying anything here, I guess I'm just asking how do we engage and teach in this culture?

I don't think its an age thing, I think its an effect of microwaves and high speed internet which feeds our instant gratification and need for new. I find myself right now really bored with something trivial like my profile picture. I think I had more of a variety of pictures when I used to 365.

Anyway, not sure if this makes sense its 2am I need to go to sleep. Got thoughts on this? Leave em in the comment section.
JIM baker

11.03.09 - boring christianity

Model - Sophia Dorozio - Kona Hawaii 2008

Last night we were reviewing what Corey had talked about the week before at Higher Calling. Cages that hold us back from what the Holy Spirit wants to do.

One of our students said something to the effect of

"I think we're just bored with the stagnant routine."

I asked them to be honest and raise their hand if they were bored with their Christian walk. Almost every hand was raised.

I asked them if they thought the early church was bored.

They snickered and said no way, they were like healing people and stuff...

Maybe its good that our youth have gotten bored with stagnant Christianity.

One of the biggest things I took away from the conference we just went to is this...

Rivers FLOW and if water is just being poured in and its not flowing out then it becomes dead and stagnant.

What if when Jesus said "ALL authority has been given to me...therefore go..." He really meant it... and we were really suppose to live that way.

Bill Johnson said this at the conference...

"Its hard to have the fruit of the early church when we honor a book they did not have more than the holy spirit which they fully relied on "

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
JIM baker

10.29.09 - adventures on the road and VOA

changing spark plugs

So about 4 hours into our trip to baltimore Jess turns down the radio and asks "whats that noise?" and I hear a loud clicking from the engine... we pull up to the toll booth pay the toll and the car stalls out. I start it back up and get off of the exit and pull into a parking lot in time for it to stall out again. Real long story short, got towed, guy wanted $187 for a tune up, called Brian Adelgren, he told me that was a rip off, the Walrod family came to our rescue (they were headed to baltimore from jamestown NY too and were about an hour behind us) we picked up the parts on our own and Tim Lease walked me through how to do it over the phone. Car still didn't work correctly so I left it sitting at a gas station in Breezewood PA right off of the turnpike.

my spark plug changing friends
(Jess, Bob, Linda, and Sandi)

I am seriously surrounded by the most GENEROUS and AMAZING friends ever. The Walrods rerouted to come pick us up and Bob paid for the parts that I needed. Tim Lease took the time to walk me through how to change my spark plugs over the phone. My parents are driving us to Heidi Fraisers house and then she is going to drive Jess and I back to Breezewood on Sunday and Nate Adelgren is going to drive 4 hours from Jamestown to Breezewood and drive us back to Jamestown with our car.

worship last night at Voice of the Apostles

We are here in Baltimore for the Voice of The Apostles Conference. We have seen hundreds of people receive physical healings, hearing testimonies of creative miracles and metal in peoples bodies dissolving. Major things, minor things all being healed in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have sat under some of the most amazing teaching from modern day apostles like Bill Johnson, Che Ahn and John Arnott. It's been a blessing to be at this conference. Heidi Baker is speaking tomorrow.

God's GOOD.
JIM baker

10.27.09 - AFRICA!!!

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" - Romans 10:14-15

^"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - James 1:27

My heart is pounding with excitement and I have a huge smile on my face as I write this post. Jess and I are headed back overseas for a 10 day trip to KENYA!

We will be in Kenya late January early February. It seems like forever ago that I've done any international missions work. And this will be our first international trip as a married couple!

I have been asked to go and do portraits for some of the orphans at an orphanage in hopes of getting them furthered sponsorship. I'm excited to do something so significant with my photography.

Jess and I along with two other adults from our church, and two of our students from the youth group will be teaching english and the bible to students in the Msomi Academy.

Please click here to find out more about where we will be working!

JIM baker

If you are interested in supporting this trip financially or through prayer please contact us! jim@worshipplace.org

10.18.09 - presentation

I walked out after church to see a bunch of the cupcakes my wife made left over on the bake sale table. Everything else sold :(

Not knowing we were selling things individually, I brought the cupcakes to church in a tin. We then ended up at the last minute putting each cupcake in the only thing available, plastic bags. The bags ended up hiding and smearing the original design, making them quite unattractive to the potential buyer. Packaging is important, because it forms our first impression.

Woody Woodson is here at our church sharing with us this week. He is talking a lot about "what we see." We need to expand our vision and see what God is seeing.

When we look at people, do we see what God sees? Or do we judge the "book by its cover?" It's our call as Christians to look past the plastic bag that is stifling peoples inner calling and beauty and call those things forth.

When Woody prayed for me today he said a few things, that there is a depth with me and God, that I would have creative bait, and that this week people would come to know who they were because of being around me.

While I'm not fond of the word "bait" and don't consider myself uber creative, (like my friends Jon Barnes and Cory Pampalone) I'm more than okay with people coming to know who they really are .

My heart for ministry is rooted in people finding out their real identity. Stepping into what they were created for and falling in love with their creator. So stop and ask God right now, what was on your heart when you created me? What was my original design? And now ask God to help you walk in those things because it is where you will feel alive.

Some of my students came to me after church and said that the did not want to go to Woody's meeting on monday night, which will replace our regular meeting time. When I asked them why, they said he was hard to listen to. I replied two things. First, that I'm under our pastors authority and he asked that we be there, so we would be there. And secondly, myself included, we need to learn how to look past a persons style of communication and get the truth out of what they have to say.

God help us to look past the packaging.
JIM baker


p.s That's a lot of revelation from a cupcake.

10.17.09 - bake sale!!!

Tomorrow our church is having a bake sale to support the
New York City School of Urban Ministry
trip that Jess and I will be going on in November. Two of our students will also be going on this trip.

Jess being the creative one that she is decided to make these cupcakes in hopes that the kids like them and persuade their parents to pay tons of money for them :)

chocolate cupcakes

frosting (thanks donna adelgren) the first batch didn't really work out.

large gum drops
(does this answer your inquiring questions on facebook as to why I was going out to get large gum drops?)

Frosting the cupcakes.

Decorating one of the cupcakes with more frosting.
(yes thats a chop stick, sorry we didn't have any paint brushes)

and the final product! My wife is amazing. She is quite the BAKER isn't she? :) I had nothing to do with this whole project at all, just taking pictures and sharing it with you all.

JIM baker

10.15.09 - abide

(click on the picture above to see the story behind it)

I spoke in church this past sunday about John 15:9.
"As the Father has loved me, so I love you, now abide in my love."

This has become a life verse for me, that has changed how I do things.

It's Jesus speaking, and He's saying that with the SAME amount of love that God the father loves Him, that He loves us with that same amount of love. Stop and think about that, let it impact you a bit because its a huge statement. Maybe even stop and repeat those words... Jesus loves me the same way that God the father loves Him... and thats A LOT!!!

But it's the last part that gets me. It says abide (or remain) in my love.

Jesus is telling us to just stay in that place of being loved by Him.

I've tried to stay consistent in loving God and my level of love never stays consistent, but when I just focus in on the radical loving pursuit of Jesus... my natural response is to love Him back. I don't have to try or strive anymore, it's simply natural.

Dan Baumann a good friend of mine who was imprisoned in Iran for preaching the gospel says this...

"Everything we ever want to do for God should be the natural overflow of intimacy with God."

I think a key element for the Church to move forward in power is this. It's time to put away simply doing things out of obligation and duty, and it's time to be radically loved by Jesus and live in response to that. Not indebted as a servant, but freely giving because we've been freely given.

JIM baker

check out Pastor Rick's recent blog post on
"Everyone is a worshipper"