When he left, some people sent letters to the elders, saying they were sexually abused by him. The elders asked the authors of the letters, but the authors of the letters denied that anything happened.
Fast forward to 2022, when it came out that he had an affair in Arizona, the Eastview elders wanted to look into why he left in 2016.
This is what has led to Mike Baker, the father of Caleb and senior pastor at Eastview, to resign. The church website has a lengthy statement detailing the timeline of Caleb’s allegations and how he left back in 2016. Mike Baker is facing allegations of a “abusive power dynamic and cover up by church leadership” and he took to YouTube this morning, Monday Feb. 27.
“So when people say, ‘Mike Baker is covering things up’…I didn’t know,” said Mike Baker in a video. “One of the most trusted members of our staff, back at Christmas time, resolved that there is no conclusion here.”
“In 2016, after Caleb Baker left Eastview, the Elders first became aware of specific allegations of possible abuse through letters that purported to be written by victims of abuse. The Elders at the time acted. However, the authors of those letters denied that they wrote the letters and stated they had not been victims of abuse,” wrote the elders in a statement. “Since receiving the July 2022 letter, the Elders initiated a process for a third-party to conduct an audit of Eastview as a workplace. The report from that audit was completed in Jan. 2023, but the Elders determined that the audit was not thorough enough. Thus, the Elders requested a second, more detailed audit.This second audit request was finalized by the Elder team in the beginning of February, before the recent allegations on social media.”
The recent allegations on social media? Abby Smith, the ex-wife of another Baker brother Mikey Baker, made allegations of abuse against Mikey.
“Mike Baker resigned yesterday as head Pastor of Eastview. It is a small sliver of justice for some, but for most, it seems like a band-aid that Eastview has put on too big of a wound to try to stop more bleeding. The church and Mike continue to delete comments and block individuals who refuse to offer blind loyalty. Another abuse of power by trying to control a narrative that they will not address nor take responsibility for,” said Smith on social media.
Smith, prior to mentioning Mike Baker’s resignation, made a post about alleged abuse she endured from Mikey Baker.
“As a lot of you know, I was married to Mikey Baker, son of Pastor Mike Baker of Eastview. For 4 years I was mentally, emotionally and physically abused, but never helped. The Bakers knew, yet chose to turn a blind eye to their sons actions. After what seemed to be the longest night of my life in December of 2014, I sat with Mikey’s mother, Sara, at 3 am in their home. She had come to get Mikey after he threatened to break both of our dogs necks in front of me to ensure my love and affection was his, and only his. While Mikey talked to his father in the basement, I sat with Sara and broke down about the constant abuse I endured at the hands of her son. I told her that he needed to stop drinking, we needed therapy, he needed therapy with someone other than his father and that we should live apart while we worked through it. Her response is one of my most vivid memories. ‘If you give him an ultimatum Abby, you’ll lose,'” stated Abby Smith in a social media post.
A loyal Eastview attender told Cities, “This is the work of Satan trying to bring down Mike and Eastview due to the impact we are having in the community. As long as Eastview continues to preach from the Bible and stand on the Word, they have our support and tithes.”
