Josh BakerKnown on the internet as “Awana-guy”, in the community as the “Puppet-man”, and among parents everywhere as just plain fun, creative, and passionate about teaching young people about Jesus, Pastor Josh will readily admit to being sold out to the mission of ministering to kids.
Knowing this is his life calling, Pastor Josh has poured his life into kids for twenty-six years through many different organizations and churches. He has served in such ministries as Child Evangelism Fellowship, Christian Camping, and Awana Clubs International.
He has taught in Bible clubs in homes all across Texas, witnessed to kids on the streets, been a camp counselor for seven years, been certified in lifeguarding and CPR for water recreation, been an organization administrator and media tech, and directed the seedplants of Awana clubs in some of the smallest and largest churches in southern Texas. He is also a traveling workshop presenter and inspirational speaker in the realm of Awana.
He has also worked extensively with puppetry, God Rod choreography, and drama and is currently developing ballooning, gospel illusion, and face painting to use to further enhance his effectiveness in reaching the current generation of kids and young people for Christ.
Pastor Josh has used many of these talents in his church ministries as a children’s pastor to show kids the awesome ways of God through Sunday morning messages to kids and big stage productions through yearly Vacation Bible School and SummerFest events, and weekly StudioK, and KidsTown Live! Sunday School shows with the help of youth drama teams, giant six foot puppets, black light and special effect presentations, and object lessons using Biblical artifacts like the widow’s mite and the wise man’s myrrh.
Pastor Josh is in his tenth year as the children's pastor of Capital Baptist Church's KidsTown Children's Ministry. His projects of note in Virgina so far have included four VBS experiences that have included professional Christian athletes, actors from the movie Facing the Giants, a scientist from CA who blew stuff up and set things on fire, and Rally times that have knocked the kids' socks off (not literally of course, but check out the article entitled Superhero). He's also directed several major community events (SummerFest in July and FallFest in October). These have featured guest performers such as the Ways, Norman Davis from the Food Network Cake Challenges, and Brett Myers of BAM Magic. These events have dished out tons of carnival-type food and BBQ, and entertained in upwards of 800 people with creative carnival games like Blacklight Mini-Golf, Extreme Candy Land, and Superhero Assault, as well as large inflatable rides like giant slides, joust, obstacle courses, a rock wall, and a bull ride. He has also built from scratch the wildly popular 930 KidsTown Live! show that is featured every Sunday morning. It features a stage show complete with energetic contempory music with handmotions, a live drama team, and creative story telling. Often this show features large scale productions of spiritually re-written popular kids' stories or movies. Some of the more noteable ones include: Wizard of Oz, Polar Express, Narnia, Monsters Inc, and Alice in Wonderland. Pastor Josh has also worked tirelessly to build a more efficient and smoother operating system by implementing policy manuals and proceedures, an increased level of security with background checks, and an easier network of communication and volunteering.
Pastor Josh is very excited to continue building a Children's ministry at Capital that will stand the test of time and through fun, relevant, and engaging experiences produce children that have chosen to love and serve the Lord with their life.
