Megachurch Pastor Resigns Over Allegations He Concealed Son’s Sexual Misconduct
Eastview Christian Church in Bloomington, Illinois, one of the biggest megachurches in the state, announced during their Sunday service that they have hired attorneys to investigate their church culture and practices after longtime senior Pastor Mike Baker abruptly stepped down following allegations that he covered up his son’s sexual misconduct.
Back in 2016, Baker’s son Caleb was a pastor at Eastview when he resigned from his role and headed off to become a pastor at Central Christian Church. Following his departure, Eastview says they received allegations against him, but nothing came of them.
In 2016, after Caleb Baker left ECC, the Elders first became aware of specific allegations of possible abuse through letters purported to be written by adult victims of abuse. The Elders at the time acted. However, the purported authors of those letters denied that they wrote the letters and stated they had not been victims of abuse.
A former colleague of Caleb disputes this. She claimed that Eastview knew full well that Baker was a cheating scumbag, but chose to conceal it and let him leave in peace rather than be confronted and exposed.
In 2016, while I was on staff at Eastview, Caleb was let go after multiple women in our congregation came forward, disclosing inappropriate sexual relationships he initiated. Instead of being honest & transparent about this, leadership chose to let our staff and congregation believe he was choosing to leave to join a new church staff instead of being terminated directly for his misconduct.
Despite asking lots of questions and continuing to raise concerns about what was happening, I was told to be quiet and to stop asking questions & then had the privilege of throwing a go away celebration party and standing in front of our students to announce his send off, knowing something wasn’t adding up.I found out in the coming weeks after speaking to elders what allegations had been made (& substantiated) & that this “send off” was a termination for sexual misconduct.
Last month, Central Christian Church announced that they fired Caleb, now the Lead Student Pastor and Associate Preaching Pastor, after catching him in an illicit sexual affair. Following the announcement, two women associated with Eastview contacted CCC. They asked why they hired him in the first place, knowing he was a predator with a storied history of moral failings, which took CC leadership aback. Pastor Cal Jernigan explained the circumstances that saw Caleb come and be employed:
Let me be crystal clear here… We were NOT informed of “charges” made against Caleb at Eastview when we hired him. In 2016, Caleb’s dad, who is a peer and longtime friend, did inform me that there was an accusation made against his son by a woman who felt Caleb acted inappropriately toward her. He assured me his leadership team had investigated this charge and it was proven to be an unfounded and unsubstantiated claim by someone who had it out for his son. He felt his son’s future in that small town was forever going to be defined by this accusation. A conversation then ensued about the possibility of Central hiring him so he could have a fresh start in a church where his dad wasn’t the Senior Pastor, didn’t have any privilege of being “the Pastor’s son,” and didn’t have this accusation hanging over his head. I asked all the questions I felt I needed to ask, and I made a decision to hire Caleb.
…..What has now become blatantly obvious is that I didn’t dig deep enough into the allegation made against him back then. All that was going on behind the scenes at Eastview was not revealed to me and since I wasn’t aware of it, I didn’t know, or think, to probe deeper. I put too much trust in my friendship with Mike and didn’t put Caleb through the normal interview process. In hindsight, I made a wrong call on this. And yes, I take full responsibility for it.
Eastview Christian Church has contracted Wagenmaker & Oberly, a trauma informed third-party investigation team, to lead their investigation. Members of Eastview will be able to “provide a clear and safe path for victims to communicate directly and without the involvement of Eastview’s leadership or Elders”
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How sad – I feel bad for this congregation.