Family and Education
Baldwin's father, Edwin J. "Ed" Baldwin, was born on March 1, 1907, in Lake, Michigan, to Zora Mary Baldwin (1889–1973) and Arthur Baldwin (1881–1962), a farmer, carpenter, and construction foreman. The family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, before 1910, after which Ed's four siblings Ruth, Nina, Arthur (Bud), and Eugene (Gene) were born. Ed grew up to marry Sarah L. Baldwin, became a master welder, and was loyal to the Teamsters union and the Democratic Party.
In response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the three brothers volunteered for the Second World War on December 8, 1941. At this time Sarah left Ed because of his years of alcoholism. After the war, Ed left Arkansas and found work in La Porte, Indiana (where he lived until his death in early 1993); he was the only one of the Baldwin clan (also including his in-laws) not to remain a lifelong Arkansan. In 1947, while in poor health, Ed "gave his heart to the Lord" in a salvation experience, and reportedly never drank again. Ed had remarried, and conducted a successful volunteer chaplaincy in La Porte County Jail, Indiana State Prison, and other northern Indiana prisons for 35 years; he was regarded as an effective soulwinner and as having a special ministry to black inmates. Ed's life story was dramatized for radio by Pacific Garden Mission for its "Unshackled!" series.
Ed's son, Charles "Chuck" Baldwin, was born in La Porte, Indiana, in La Porte County, on May 3, 1952. Baldwin graduated from La Porte High School in 1971 and attended Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, for two years. He met Connie Kay Cole there and married her on June 2, 1973. Though he originally had planned on a career in law enforcement, Baldwin felt called to evangelistic ministry; he moved to the south, and enrolled in, and graduated with a Bible diploma from, the Thomas Road Bible Institute (now the Liberty Bible Institute at Liberty University). He then received his bachelor's and master's in theology through external programs from Christian Bible College, located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina which is accredited by the American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions run by the President of the college and has been referred to as a diploma mill in Name It and Frame It?. Baldwin has received two honorary doctor of divinity degrees, from Christian Bible College and from Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida.
On June 22, 1975, Chuck and Connie Baldwin and four other individuals held the first meeting of what would become the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida; Baldwin was the founding pastor. By 1985 the church had gone through repeated building programs and been recognized by President Ronald Reagan for its unusual growth and influence.
The Baldwins have three children. Sarah is the oldest; she and her husband, structural engineer Allan Baker, are church youth leaders and have three children. Second is Christopher (Chris), who owns a plumbing business; he and his wife, Jana Baldwin née McCoy, also have three children. Third is Timothy, a lawyer and a music minster at Liberty Fellowship in Kalispell, Montana.
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“Realizing that his time was nearly spent, he gave full oral instructions about his burial and the manner in which he wished to be remembered.... A few minutes later, feeling very tired, he left the room, remarking, ‘I have no disposition to leave this precious circle. I love to be here surrounded by my family and friends.’ Then he gave them his blessing and said, ‘I am ready to go and I wish you goodnight.’”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“It is not every man who can be a Christian, even in a very moderate sense, whatever education you give him. It is a matter of constitution and temperament, after all. He may have to be born again many times. I have known many a man who pretended to be a Christian, in whom it was ridiculous, for he had no genius for it. It is not every man who can be a free man, even.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)