(FW) – Pastor John Baker, founder of the faith-based Celebrate Recovery ministry designed to help people break free from their “hurts, habits, and hang-ups,” has passed away. Baker’s death was announced Tuesday via his ministry’s Facebook page.
“To say this took us by surprise would be an understatement,” wrote Mac Owen, national director for Celebrate Recovery. “John touched more people with the healing power and grace of Jesus Christ than anyone else that I have ever known personally and one of those lives was mine.”
Owen and his wife, Mary, described Baker as their “dearest friend and brother.” Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered 12-step program based out of Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. Baker and his wife, Cheryl, founded the ministry in 1991 as a result of his own struggle with alcoholism.
According to the ministry’s FAQs page, Baker, a “functioning alcoholic” who had lost connection with his wife and children, initially found help through Alcoholics Anonymous and began healing. However, over time, “he found emptiness in AA because he could not refer to his personal higher power, Jesus Christ.” READ MORE
