Pastor Jim W. Baize was saved at First Baptist Church of Chicago Heights, IL, in 1956. Later, he accepted the call to the ministry in January 1966, graduating from the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO in May 1970 with a Bachelors of Theology. He then served as the Assistant to Pastor Gary Grey from 1970 to 1973 at Calvary Baptist Church in Taylorville, IL, then at Park Hill Baptist Church in Pueblo, CO.
In 1973, Pastor Baize accepted the position of Pastor, Midway Baptist Church, San Diego, CA, where he served as Lead Pastor until February 1, 2015. Pastor Baize was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Hyles-Anderson College in May 1983 and was named “Man of the Year” for 1988 by the Imperial Beach Times. He won the Primary Election for U.S. Congress, 50th District of CA in June 1996. Gov. Paul E. Patton of the State of Kentucky commissioned Pastor Baize a “Kentucky Colonel” on April 18, 2002.
Pastor Baize served as a Director of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College for many years, Chairman of the Board for Baptist Bible College West for seven years, and then served as the President of Baptist Bible College West for a year and a half.
Over a 41 year period, Midway Baptist Church, now called Ocean View Church, increased its attendance from 75 to more than 1,500 per week with an annual budget of more than $4.5 Million, supporting more than 75 missionaries and mission obligations per month. Ministries include a preschool/day care center, a school with grades K-12 with 450 enrolled students, and a thrift store to raise money for mission programs. Well over 10,000 people professed salvation under Pastor Baize’s ministry. Many more have passed through Ocean View Church as members while in San Diego.
Pat and Jim Baize “retired” for about three months, when an opportunity to pastor First Baptist Church of Coronado presented itself. Jim became the Interim Pastor and then the Lead Pastor in
January of 2016.
Pastor Baize and his wife, the former Miss Patricia Goodson, live in San Diego. They have three children, Shannon, Misty, and Ben; two sons-in-law, Shannon's husband, Matt, and Misty’s husband, Ian; one daughter-in-law, Taramae; two grandsons, Dakota Luke Ortiz and Max Orion Baize Kirkland, and one granddaughter, Victoria Shaye Ortiz.
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