04.09.10 - i love days off.

Caribbean Cole Slaw
Fresh cabbage tossed in a light vinaigrette, garnished with craisins and toasted walnuts.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Grilled boneless chicken breast marinated in caribbean jerk rub, served with red beans and rice and sauteed vegetables

Rock Cake
Cake with almond glaze and toasted coconut

Jess, Andrea and Nicole.

So I'm using left align text just for Johnny Koster who said my center text really bothered him. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I LOVE Fridays. We finally found a day off that works. We tried to make Tuesday our day off and for some reason we ALWAYS had something to do on Tuesdays. So we moved it to Friday and for two weeks in a row now we've actually had a DAY OFF.

We went to Mercyhurst today for our friend Andrea's meal. She is in the culinary and wine school there and this was the meal that she prepared. We met Andrea and Nicole working at Camp Mission Meadows. Andrea and Nicole actually made us our wedding cake, here's a pic.

photo by Sheena Stropas

I hope you guys are taking days off and enjoying time with good friends and good food :)

JIM BAKER

04.08.10 - photos from this evening

Didn't touch the white balance on this pic, I've never seen the sky so purple.

Just going for minimal and soft.

It's been so long since I shot last that when I went to look for my camera tonight I totally couldn't find it at first. Nate Blick has some new work up on flickr and I told him on sunday that I haven't been out to shoot forever. He said he just read that if you haven't taken your camera out in two weeks you've got a problem.

So I went out tonite with Sam a student from the youth group that I've been teaching photography to, and solved my problem.

Now that its getting nicer I've got some photography gigs coming up that I'm looking forward to!

Leave me some comments of what you think of the photos.

JIM baker

03.04.10 - HE IS RISEN!

(not a tomb at all, actually lava tubes... closest picture I could find taken 02.27.08)

He is risen indeed!

HAPPY EASTER!

2 services today at Praise Fellowship you can watch online. Then we're headed to Ohio to spend some time with Jess' family. I'll get back to blogging this week... hopefully.

JIM BAKER

03.23.10 - mo loco attack

breakfast at U TOP IT Kailua Kona Hawaii

I don't know why but I've been thinking about Hawaii A LOT latley. Here's a hawaiian breakfast from a restaurant in town. It's called the mo loco attack.

It's made up of a pan crepe, fried rice, hamburger patty, egg, brown gravy with a side of spam and kona coffee too.

I've been real busy this week, but I'll try and get another Africa blog up this week.

In the mean time check out Seth and Jamie's blog. They are doing an awesome job of keeping us updated on their Kenya trip. They stayed in the same place we did when we got into Kenya. Jamie is a third grade teacher and is recording vlogs to keep her class updated!

Aloha!
JIM baker

03.16.10 - as promised another Africa blog SUNDAY morning

Sunday morning, Brian and Devo introduce themselves and are interpreted into Swahili to the congregation of over 600 people.

Worship was loud and joyful. Click here to see a video of some of the kids dancing.

Bishop John brings one of the students forward whose parents were killed in the election violence.

Second time preaching a sermon and I preached to a church of 600 in Kenya. I brought a simple message of God's love for them and their authority as sons and daughters of Christ. I also encouraged them to dream big dreams because we were all reaping the fruit of John Okinda's big dream.

Brian blows bubbles with some of the kids after the service.

Heather and Arielle are asked by the students to sing the US National Anthem... the students respond by singing theirs. Click here to hear them sing it.

Jess serves some of the female leaders in the church cookies. I will let Jess write a blurb about what she experienced here and post it soon.

While Jess and Anne were talking to the female leaders, Brian, Dave and I were talking to the pastors.

I was utterly humbled by this group of pastors. When I asked them to articulate their struggles as pastors someone stood up and said that their main struggles were as follows...

1. Our congregations are made up or orphans and widows 2. They have not eaten and do not have money for food 3. They do not have clean water

The group was so hopeful and I reminded them that without the supernatural intervention of God nothing would change. If Jesus could turn water into wine and He said that we would do greater things then maybe we need to be using our authority to be turning dirty water into clean water. A bold thing to say but it flew out of my mouth.

The group really wanted ownership of what they were doing and were not just looking for handouts. They were so grateful for the things that we were assisting them with but desperately wanted to become self sustaining. We were handed a micro-finance proposal.

While we were there we were able to buy them 3 acres of land with a river running through it which will start them in agriculture so that they can be self sustaining.

During this pastors meeting is when I first started to feel sick... I left this meeting to go to the bathroom and it was all down hill from there...

I'll post more soon and promise to leave all of the graphic sick stories out of it.

Take some time after reading this to pray for the pastors and church in Kenya.

JIM baker

P.S - leave COMMENTS!

03.15.10 - who sucks at blogging? I DO!

Old Ellicott City, MD - 2007

30 sec exposure 10mm 20d

I think I might get this blown up and put it on one of my bare walls... I miss just going out and shooting for fun. I think there is a fun shoot in the works coming up this week.

Anyway I put this picture up because I feel like it depicts my past week well.
"FLYING BY."


Tim Lease and Jon Lawson and me (taking the pic) at McMobile in the middle of the night

Tim Lease drove in from Maryland through the night saturday the 6th for Jon Lawson's wedding. We took Jon for the usual pre wedding tradition of a mani pedi... check out the video here.

KT worships - photo by Rick Rohlin

Okay so last week...a group of Warren PA youth pastors went up to the Warren County Christian School for spiritual emphasis week. We got served breakfast every morning, led worship and spoke to the high school group.

Our theme for the week was 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

When it was my day to preach I preached on vs 26a
"Therefore I do not run..."

I even backed it up with another scripture

1 John 2:6
"Whoever claims to be in him must WALK as Jesus did"

Haha... then I taught them about the importance of CONTEXT. And I wrapped up the teaching talking about the aim of living a Christian life is based in obedience, which is based in trust, which is based in the character of God. Because God is LOVE and loves us, anything He asks us to do or not to do is in our best interest. Living obediently to God takes us on adventures.


photo of Mark Krebs' fruit medley waffle we get in Tennessee sd870

Monday night our youth ministry Higher Calling meets. I shared my testimony from high school with them. And challenged them with something that I've been realizing. The gifts of spirit are free because they are gifts. But the fruits of the spirit require cultivation. You can walk in anointing and power without character and it will lead you to failure.

Saturday night we took a group of the youth to go see To Save a Life. It was a really well done movie. Lets all admit it sometimes Christian media can be CHEESY! But it dealt with real life issues that teens face in high school. It didn't spark any great conversation when we tried to debrief but I think kids are still thinking about it.

Pray for our youth that we'd be able to have open and honest conversations.

I'll post another Africa blog this week. Seth and Jamie Rainwater are headed out to Kenya on Saturday!

These blog posts would be SHORTER if I wrote them more often...

JIM baker

03.02.2010 - more about AFRICA!!

Anne our team leader giving Bishop John a laptop that many people from Praise Fellowship helped buy him! He just kept saying "praise God, praise God" over and over again.

Before every meal someone would pour HOT water for us so we could wash our hands. There was only one source of running water on the grounds.

A shot of one of our meals. Rice, mango, french fries and chicken. African chicken is TOUGH.

We were given a tour of the grounds. This is one of the student dorm rooms. The dorm rooms held 10-12 kids.

Oh the joy of digital photography. Dave shows some of the kids a picture he just took of them.

The only source of clean running water. A well that is overused every day.

A student sits alone in a classroom to study. Bishop John's school has some of the highest test scores in the nation.

We went to the NAKUMATT which is similar to a Costco or a Sam's Club. It was about an hour drive to get here but everything was much cheaper in price compared to the local markets.

Brian piles up loaves of bread for a special treat of peanut butter sandwiches for the students. (Pictures coming soon!)

Each student got a bar of soap, a roll of toilet paper, and a bar of laundry soap. We spent around $1,000 USD on food and supplies. I asked Bishop John how long what we bought would last. He looked at me and said it would last about 3-4 days. Food is not cheaper in Africa. And when you feed 300+ people a day it gets expensive FAST.

JIM baker

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

02.18.10 - hey

hey everyone... sorry for no update yesterday, I'm still not feeling good, I went to the dr today... keep praying for me I've been laying pretty low, I'll keep everyone posted as to the lab results I had taken today.

I'm also going to be using twitter and facebook a lot LESS during lent.

JIM baker

02.16.10 - from Nairobi to Migori

We woke up on Friday morning and I took a quick walk around the premises to see it in daylight. The warm morning reminded me of Hawaii. This is when I tweeted this video.

The team ate a breakfast of pancakes, with a room full of other missionaries, Jess said it reminded her of a YWAM base.

Brian led us in a quick devotional before we left for the airstrip.

This was our pilot Amanda. I took the picture mainly because I thought it was funny that she was using a Garmin GPS.

Why is Devo looking so smug? Well he just saved all of our lives. As our pilot was speeding down the runway ready to take off she suddenly aborted the take off. She thought the "door ajar" light was malfunctioning. It was not, when we started for take off the back door flung open and Devo closed and latched it.

A view of Nairobi from the air.

When we landed in Migori, which was an airstrip not even on the GPS, we were met by Bishop John Okinda, his wife Pamela, almost 300 elementary and middle school students, the high school students, the teachers college and local pastors and congergants. We had over 500 people waiting for us when we hit the ground.

Many of the kids had never seen a plane before. So the Amanda the pilot allowed Bishop John to choose some kids to sit in the plane.

There was a ton of pushing and shoving as kids wanted to get on the plane.

We were welcomed with various songs and skits by the different groups. Click here to see a short video of this performance. This performance brought me to tears, and made me feel like I was actually in Africa.

JIM baker

02.15.10 - Okay finally a BIT more about Africa and some pictures

The Africa team and some of the staff gathers at Praise Fellowship on Wednesday Jan 27th to pray and say goodbye to family.

A shot from the window of one of our 3 flights. Which I don't remember.

Brian Adelgren getting his Kenyan phone set up in the Nairobi Airport.

Jess, Arielle, and Heather waiting patiently as our driver pulls up to take us to the AIM Mayfield Guest House.

The guys room complete with mosquito nets. Make sure you use those!

The dinner they served us at the guest house. It tasted more Mexican than African.

I'm going to try to go through the trip day by day with pictures and captions so you can get a feel for the trip a little better. We had 3 flights. Buffalo to Newark. Newark to London/Heathrow. And then London Heathrow to Nairobi.

The Newark to London flight was on a newer 777 and had individual touch screen tvs in the back of the headrests. Jess loves movies and long flights so she stayed up the whole flight and watched movies. I snoozed a bit and watched one movie. On this flight they served us chicken tikka massalla. I was pretty stokked about that.

The travel wasn't bad at all. Rick told me to avoid caffeine on the flights and drink tons of water and get up from time to time and move around and sleep when I could. Staying hydrated on the flights made them a lot more enjoyable. We arrived at the Mayfield Guest House in the dark. A few of us ate some dinner and showered and went to bed.

I'll write more about the day after this one tomorrow!

JIM baker

02.12.10 - quick post

Hey everyone...

Jess and I are in Columbia Maryland visiting my parents. Its been a great time of rest. My mom and dad have looked through all 4,427 photos from Africa. Only my parents and grandparents get the privilege of seeing EVERY picture. I try to be good about only putting my best work out there.

The trip here was crazy. Maryland is getting a ton of snow fall and they aren't used to it. While I was on RT 70 and had just passed the Maryland line a semi passed me on my left and my car spun out and I hit a snow bank. I was stuck facing the wrong direction and had to be towed out. It was pretty scary. Minimal damage to the car.

I've tried to sit down and write a blog about Africa a couple of times and just haven't been able to do it. I was going to on Wednesday but the internet cut out and yesterday I just could not conjur up a blog. I'm going to try my best to do things chronologically and take you day by day through Africa.

I got my facebook account back.

And Jess and I are headed out in a few to go meet up with Cory Pampalone.

My first pictureless blog.

JIM baker

02.09.10 - another early morning and some side notes

saw this in a gift store, shot with my iphone

After talking to some people back here, I'm not convinced that I really had malaria... I've heard that there is an incubation period and the doctor there diagnosed me with malaria only after being in Africa for a few days. I do know however I felt like I was the sickest I've ever been, I think it was just the food.

fried tilapia - taken with iphone

While I was in Kenya my facebook got hacked. Someone logged in as me and used chat to tell people I had been mugged in London and needed money transfered immediately. The sad thing is that it seemed a bit more believable because I had just been through the London Heathrow Airport to get to Nairobi. I've heard from a few people that were contacted by this hacker and luckily they realized it wasn't me and didn't wire him the $1,500 he was asking for.

So facebook deactivated my account and I'm now in the process of starting a new one. I've got about a tenth of my friends back. It stinks to be starting over from scratch but whatever. If you've got facebook and we're not friends I THINK this link should take you to my profile.

You can read more about this scam here. I'm still trying to figure out how I got hacked or phished or whatever it's called. I haven't figured it out. I am however glad that my password for the e-mail account I use with facebook is different than my password for facebook otherwise the cyber criminal could have taken over my e-mail account as well.

In other news... Robert Park has been released... you can read that article here.

Anyway... no one ever told me if you like the changes that I made to the blog layout... Are you enjoying the twitter feed on the blog? Is it okay to only see the most recent post and have to navigate from there? Leave me comments and let me know what you think.

Sorry if you were waiting for a more detailed Africa post... patience :)

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