Originally from southwest Ohio, D. Alan Baker has been in ministry for more than 40 years, primarily in the United States and Europe. He has served as a lead pastor, assistant pastor, missionary, evangelist, professor, college campus pastor and pastoral coach. He has served, and continues to serve, on a number of ministry advisory boards.
Between 1993 and 2013 he and his family were privileged to serve as Assemblies of God missionaries in France and Belgium where they were part of church plants in the French Loire Valley and the Belgian Borinage. He also served an international church and worked with pastors and local congregations in evangelism and leadership development. While a missionary, he was a member of several boards, including the AGWM Belgian Field Executive Committee and Global University Belgium Board.
In the US, he pastored Indiana and Delaware congregations for fourteen years. Even while pastoring in America, he was active in world missions, ministering in Belgium, Ukraine and China.
From 2008 to 2013 Alan was honored to serve at Central Bible College as Missionary-in-Residence. After teaching and mentoring students for one semester, the CBC Board of Administration appointed him Interim Vice-President for Academic Affairs. He continued his service to CBC as Campus Pastor from 2009 to 2013, overseeing campus spiritual life and daily chapels, teaching in the classroom and mentoring future pastors and missionaries. He taught courses in ministry, theology and missions. While at CBC he continued traveling extensively, ministering in churches and conferences across the US.
In 2014, he and his wife Tricia launched Journey Pastoral Coaching, a ministry whose mission is helping young ministers build strong for a lifetime of healthy and effective ministry. Over nine years later, Journey has grown into a mutual investment ministry where its members actively share the coaching ministry, ministering to each other and to dozens of young ministers outside of Journey. During this time, he has served as a coaching consultant to pastors, churches, and ministries, helping them create and launch local and regional coaching ministries.Alan is a graduate of Miami University (Oxford, OH) and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (Springfield, MO). He attended Southeastern College (Lakeland, FL) and L’Institut de Touraine (Tours, France).
He is the author of three books:
Those Who Turn Worlds Upside Down – a stirring look at God’s mission for the church.
When the Call Comes – Sharing the Journey With Those Who Mourn
And his most recent book, Pensées: A 40-Day Devotional For Pastors.
All are available here on journeypastoralcoaching.com, as well as at online booksellers.
Alan and his wife Tricia have been married 44 years and are blessed with two wonderful daughters and sons-in-law, and six beautiful granddaughters.
Questions People Ask . . .
Do you have a favorite Bible text? Job 19.25-27: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart faints within me!”
How did you meet Christ? I met Christ through two friends in high school who, as I often say, “would not let me go” – they shared Christ with me and cared about me in a way that made me look. At the same time, I was asking myself the proverbial question, “What is life?” My friends not only had the answer, but at just the right time. I actually received Christ as Savior in a Sunday morning church service at First Baptist Church, Hamilton, Ohio.
What well-known people have inspired you in your walk with Christ? There are so many. A short list would include Jim Elliott, Elisabeth Elliott, Martin Luther, Jan Hus, William Tyndale, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Leonard Ravenhill, Os Guinness, Francis Schaeffer, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, William Seymour, David Brainerd and Dallas Willard.
What authors do you like to read? There are so many. The short list: Dallas Willard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gordon MacDonald, Os Guinness, Nancy Pearcey, Dallas Willard, Harold Senkbeil, Voddie Baucham, Peter Kreeft, James Emery White, Paul David Tripp, Elisabeth Elliot, Francis Schaeffer, Albert Mohler, David F. Wells, David Bryant, Jim Cymbala, Rod Dreher, Leonard Ravenhill, Henri Nouwen, Randy D. Reese, Gary Collins, Eric Metaxas, Chase Replogle, and Thomas Sowell. Check out the Journey Library page for favorite books and current reads.
What kind of books do you enjoy reading? Theology and practical ministry, certainly. I also have a passion for economics, presidential biographies, The Revolutionary War, The War Between the States, and World War II), guitar history, biographies, cultural issues, the Cincinnati Reds (origins through the Big Red Machine ), and the Ohio State Buckeyes Football Team.
Do you have a list of favorite books? A current Top Twelve list of my top-shelfers would include (not in order):
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- The Cost of Discipleship- Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
- Back to Virtue- Peter Kreeft,
- Total Truth – Nancy Pearcey,
- Ordering Your Private World – Gordon MacDonald
- Soul-Keeping – John Ortberg
- Renovation of the Heart – Dallas Willard,
- Deep Mentoring – Randy D. Reese and Robert Loame
- Prayer – Tim Keller
- Prophetic Untimeliness, by Os Guinness,
- In the Gap, by David Bryant,
- Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson,
- The Vision of the Anointed, by Thomas Sowell.
- Visit the JPC Library for more books from my favorites shelves.
Are you a sports fan? I follow The Ohio State Buckeyes football team. I watch the Buckeyes “with” one of my brothers (Florida) and an “adopted” member of our family in Michigan, texting back-and-forth during games.
What musical artists to you enjoy? I’m very eclectic in my music tastes. My favorite group is a male ensemble out of Cambridge University (UK), The King’s Singers. They are simply unsurpassed in musical ability and diversity.
As a guitarist myself, I’m a big fan of anyone who plays well. My favorites include my friend Doyle Dykes, Tommy Emmanuel, and Al Di Meola.
Christmas music begins November 1st and continues through La Fête des Rois (January 6).
I love jazz music and can listen to Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Nat King Cole, Vince Guaraldi, Diana Krall, Miles Davis & Ramsey Lewis anytime.
I learned guitar playing bluegrass and have definite favorites in this genre: Alison Kraus and Union Station, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, and Flatt and Scruggs.
Dan Fogelberg & Gordon Lightfoot sing the love songs I love to listen to; Francis Cabrel does the same in French.
In Christian music, I still love to listen to the artists who sang the songs that defined my early years in Christ: Phil Keaggy, Love Song, Randy Stonehill, Maranathan Music, and the Psalmist of the 20th-Century, Michael Card.
What do you do to relax? I enjoy playing my guitar for the music, meditation and the worship. Reading, writing, and swimming rank high on the list as does spending time with my wife and family and working around the house. Tricia and I enjoy watching an old TV show or movie in the evening and, in spite of our thousands of itinerating miles on the road, we still enjoy a leisurely drive on uncrowded roads.
In what cities have you lived? Together, Tricia and I have lived in:
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- Lakeland, FL (where we met and married);
- Michigan City, IN
- Montpelier, IN
- Fort Wayne, IN (our daughters were born here);
- New Haven, IN (our first itineration base we raised funds to go to Europe as missionaries);
- Rhode-St. Genèse, Belgium;
- Tours, France;
- Queveaucamps, Belgium
- Hyon, Belgium;
- Indianapolis, IN (2nd itineration);
- Waterloo, Belgium (twice);
- Columbus, OH (3rd itineration);
- Springfield, MO;
- Newark, DE;
- Orlando, FL (Tricia’s hometown)
Out of all the places you’ve lived, which is your favorite? Easily, the city of Tours, France. Tours is in the heart of the gorgeous Loire Valley and is within an hour’s drive of almost 400 historic chateaux, including the last home of Leonardo da Vinci. Tours is known in the French world as the capital of the French language, home of the best French in the world. Finally, it was in Tours that we first lived and learned language and culture. The people of Tours went out of their way to help our family assimilate; we owe them a tremendous debt. Our family home, though, will always be Belgium for it was there where we made most of our family memories
What are your favorite places to visit? Switzerland for its indescribable alpine beauty (you haven’t lived until you’ve driven its high mountain passes!); Scotland for its lake country (and Nessie); Venice, Italy for its totally unique setting and architecture (there’s no city like it); and anywhere in France. But my ultimate favorite is the stunning chateau of Azay-le-Rideau in the French town of the same name – the chateau, its gardens and town make Azay dreamlike. It was a favorite day or evening out when we lived not far away in the city of Tours.
Have you had non-ministry related employment? No, but I have worked outside the church world. My first job was as an early morning paper boy. I bailed hay during my high school summers. Between high school and college, I worked two jobs: as a dishwasher in a department store restaurant and on a renovation crew for my old high school. While studying at Miami University, I served four years as a customer service agent at UPS. While studying at Southeastern, I worked as an electrician’s apprentice, and as a general laborer in heavy construction (new power plant construction).
What are three things many people don’t know about you? I am a member of my high school athletic hall of fame; to pay my Bible College tuition I worked heavy construction where I had to walk beams up to 300 feet in the air; and I speak French.
What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done? I chased and caught five thieves who had thrown me against a wall and robbed me on the Paris subway. Yes, I retrieved my walled and all of its contents. No, I did not get hurt. Yes, the “exchange” all took place in French. No, I wasn’t afraid during the encounter, but yes I was afraid afterward.
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