Former Eastview pastor Mike Baker moves Song and Sword Church into downtown Bloomington, Illinois

Mike Baker, the former senior pastor of Eastview Christian Church in Normal, now leads Song and Sword Church, which moved this week into a downtown Bloomington sanctuary. An independent investigation into Eastview last summer found a toxic workplace culture and abuse of power. Baker had resigned from the megachurch months earlier, as allegations that he covered up sexual misconduct involving his adult son became public.

Baker began building a new congregation in Bloomington-Normal after leaving Eastview. Song and Sword Church expanded to in-person services at the Chateau in Bloomington, and on Oct. 6 it will hold its first services in a downtown Bloomington church previously occupied by City of Refuge Ministries. The building is a 30,000-square-foot church dating to 1888. Baker said the congregation’s key priorities are serving people in need and expanding its children’s ministry.

Eastview’s membership peaked under Baker at about 5,500 congregants. According to the source, the church has spent months on what it describes as transparent restorative justice, has restructured its leadership, and has admitted harm it caused, particularly to women. A spokesperson reported attendance at about 3,750 members in February, when Brandon Grant was hired as lead pastor. WGLT has not received a response to a request for updated attendance.

Baker’s son Caleb was also a pastor at Eastview. He quietly resigned in 2016 and was later dismissed from a new post at a church in Arizona after further allegations of sexual misconduct with a parishioner. Baker is described as maintaining that he is “largely innocent” of allegations that he abused power by minimizing his son’s use of God and the church to allegedly manipulate congregants and coworkers into intimate relationships with him. Baker characterizes his son’s behavior as infidelity.

In an open letter to Eastview parishioners published online in April 2023, Baker said he launched a new church almost immediately because he was concerned for his financial future and still felt called to preach. He said in an interview with WGLT that his preference would have been to preach at another church elsewhere, but that he received an early sense of calling to remain in Bloomington. Baker and his wife, Sara, have lived in Bloomington-Normal for nearly 30 years, and he began working at Eastview in 2007. He had anticipated retiring there at age 59.

The Eastview investigation identified an accountability gap that allowed Baker to act without oversight, and it recommended that the church strengthen its human resources department and reinforce policies on workplace conduct. Baker said Song and Sword has accountability built in, including an executive team, a pastoral leadership team, and a few paid part-time employees who assist with ministry. He also said the church’s approach is essentially unchanged, describing it as family-oriented, a model he said does not always fit a large congregation (Luke 12:48).

Baker stopped short of saying harm was caused to those affected by his and his son’s actions at Eastview. “I do not think it was as much harm as was indicated by some people that might have complained about it,” he said. He added: “There’s no doubt about it that pastors, especially of mega-churches, have targets on their back. When accusations begin to fly, it becomes very natural for that to happen.”

Source: Read the original report