Bio

Dan grew up in Greenville, SC, in a Christian home close to the campus of Bob Jones University, where his parents served on staff. God graciously saved him at the age of four, and he was blessed to have a wonderful Christian education and a strong local church. Following his first year of seminary, Dan went on a mission team to Australia. While in North Queensland, he was profoundly influenced by the families and ministries of the missionaries on the field. Through their influence he saw the need to train men for ministry in their local context. 

Amy grew up in a solid Christian home in Williamson, NY, and also attended a good Bible-preaching church and Christian school. God providentially directed Amy to Bob Jones University, where she became involved in Mission Prayer Band and went on a mission team to Mexico in 1995. Amy and Dan met in graduate school and were married in May of 2001.  Dan finished seminary training in 2007 and gained ministry experience through a two-year internship and a part-time staff position at the Bakers’ sending church.

The Lord has blessed the Bakers with three children: Joshua, Emma, and Genevieve. The Bakers arrived in Northeast Queensland in December 2016 and moved to Cairns in July 2018. They serve in a team context within an established local church with members and regular attenders from many countries (e.g., New Zealand, the Philippines, England, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, various Pacific Islands).

While the Bakers share the load of preaching, evangelism, personal discipleship, and counseling with their teammates, they focus in particular on developing Australians for spiritual leadership and formal ministry. They also assist former coworkers who are planting a daughter church on the north side of Cairns. The goal of the mother church is to plant three churches in the immediate region. The lack of qualified lay leadership in the church plant has highlighted the immediate necessity of training Australian spiritual leadership as outlined in 2 Timothy 2:2 for both the mother and daughter churches.