John Baker is the founder of Celebrate Recovery®, a ministry born out of the heart of Saddleback Church. Over the last sixteen years, nearly 10,000 individuals have gone through this Christ-centered recovery program at Saddleback. The Celebrate Recovery program is now being used in 12,000 churches nationwide. Over 500,000 individuals have completed the program.
John began serving as a lay pastor at Saddleback in 1991; and in 2001, Rick Warren asked John to become the pastor of Celebrate Recovery. John is a nationally known speaker and trainer in helping churches start Celebrate Recovery ministries.
John and his wife, Cheryl, have been married almost four decades and have served together in Celebrate Recovery since 1991. They have two adult children, Laura and Johnny. Johnny and his wife, Jeni, are the proud parents of John and Cheryl's two granddaughters, Maggie and Chloe.