Thoughts on worship,
faith, and the spaces
in between.

Tim Bakker published his first song at twelve. By then he had already spent two years at a prestigious private music school in Cape Town, South Africa, studying alongside his regular schooling and collecting awards along the way.

His final year of high school coincided with the fall of apartheid. For the first time in forty years, South Africans could compete internationally. On a school music tour to Europe, Tim represented South Africa at a youth music competition and took first prize. That was the moment music stopped being something he did well and became the thing he would build his life around.

He graduated in 1997 from Stellenbosch University with a Bachelor of Music in Performing Arts. The years that followed took him across South Africa as a session instrumentalist, singer, and producer, and into classical work with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, playing ballets, operas, symphony concerts, and musicals.

In 1998, while finishing postgraduate studies, Tim became Music Director at a prominent South African church, where he served in various roles until 2004. During those years he began traveling regularly to Israel with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. That connection eventually brought him to Jerusalem for seven months as Assistant Music Director for a worldwide Christian worship festival, where he produced a live album distributed internationally. The musicians he worked with there became the bridge to his next chapter.

An invitation brought Tim to the United States as Music Director at a church in Boston. For three years he trained and directed multiple music teams while working on projects across the U.S., Central Asia, Africa, and Israel. He returned to South Africa in 2008, kept traveling, and moved back to the States permanently in 2009. Nearly eight years in Richmond, Virginia followed, split between ministry and music education. He also met and married Kate there, and they welcomed their first child.

In 2017 Tim accepted a call as Worship Pastor at House of Praise in Albany, New York, where he ministered locally, served across the greater Upstate New York network, and sat on the leadership team of the Northeastern Worship Leaders Network. Several years in Austin, Texas followed, most recently with Life.Church at their Austin campus.

Tim and his family now live in Winona Lake, Indiana, where he serves as Worship Pastor at Warsaw Community Church and sits on the Executive Leadership Team. He has ministered across Southern Africa, Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, and carries a lasting heart for reaching people and places through music.

Off the platform, Tim is happiest hiking and adventuring with Kate and their three kids. He is an unapologetic movie geek, an aspiring technology wizard, and can be found on a tennis court or watching cricket and rugby.