updated 10/11/23
Podcasts: 8/5/22 for Officials [1st District Paul Cook & CEO of SBC Leonard Hernandez]
Baker is a small community, considered a small town with estimate 799 population [2021], located in the Mojave Desert near Interstate 15 and Death Valley Road; elevation close to 930 feet above sea level; Cronese Mountains are southwest of the community; cover 2.7 square miles, has summer temperatures frequently exceed 110 °F.
Demographics: .9 to 1 male to female; 34% married; 82% kids under 18; 33% speak English; 67% speak Spanish; 57% Hispanic; 19% white; 10% other; 6% native American; 4% Asian; The average household income in Baker is $43,476 with a poverty rate of 26.80%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to $670 per month, and the median house value is-. The median age in Baker is 29.2 years, 37.1 years for males, and 21.6years for females. Only 27% own their own; 63% rent. Education: 25% <12th grade; 52% high school grad; 5% some college
Established in 1929 by Ralph Jacobus Fairbank, an American pioneer who started several towns in the Death Valley area; it began as a station on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad in 1908 and was named for Richard C. Baker, business partner of Francis Marion Smith in building the railroad. Baker later became president of the T&T himself.
It is the site of a vacant, 223-bed for-profit prison formerly operated by Cornell Corrections which experienced a major riot on December 2, 2003, four weeks before it was temporarily closed. It was permanently closed on December 25, 2009. GEO Group purchased Cornell Companies, its owner, on August 12, 2010. It had previously experienced escapes in August and November 1995 and two on July 15, 1997. It is now owned by a housing firm that is renting to people in Section 8. The correctional institute is abandoned but the land next to it has housing.
“Gateway to Death Valley. Campers & Travelers to Las Vegas first stop"
Location of Baker in SBC
Specific Prayer Points
Intercessors to rise up & pray for this city; 3 churches see growth & new vision; House churches & Bible studies start; Most people work on the strip that reaches travelers on Freeway 15 to Vegas; Rate of population declined by 23%; Need more business ideas to draw more people; Good education; pray for children to come to know the Lord
Correctional Facility sells & reopens that helps prisoners reform or some other business that will help their economics; abandoned buildings repaired, creative ways to build business; activities for the youth that fosters good citizenry
Crime Issues: [2022] Overall crime grade is D-; violent is D-; property D- and other is F. Frequency is every 7 days and 17 hours a crime is committed on average. Top crime issues are drug crimes 44% [very high]; theft at 21% very high; burglary 11%; vandalism at 9% and assault at 6%.
Things of interest: World's tallest thermometer; Ibex Dunes; Mojave National Preserve ; Cinder Cones, Lava Flows, and Lava Tube; Kelso Cemetery of interest for prayer
Baker Community Correctional Facility - Cornell abandoned; section 8 housing to the west of it
5-year-old boy named Sebastian needs miraculous healing [can't walk, talk or eat by himself]
Churches [not exhaustive]
Our Lady of the Desert Mission [Catholic Church] - Rev. Remigius O. Owuamanam, S.M.M.M.
Baker Bible Church - Pastor Bill Locke [Independent Fundamental Churches of America]
Iglesia Bautista Fundamental de Baker - Pastor Ruben Salazar
other churches are nearby in Needles, Barstow, Newberry Springs