What is the Andrew Baer Memorial Fund?
Donations to the Andrew Baer fund are processed through the National Christian Foundation. You can donate to the fund a number of ways:
- You can mail a check to: National Christian Foundation, 11625 Rainwater Drive, Suite 500, Alpharetta, Georgia 30009. Please make your check payable to National Christian Foundation, and note The Andrew Baer Memorial Fund, #2927629, in the memo area.
- Click here to transfer securities. Select from the list for your particular gift and follow instructions. Or, you can contact NCF at 1.866.580.4483.
- For non-liquid gifts such as business interests, real estate, restricted securities, or estate gifts, please contact Paul Forbes or Bobbi Griffith at: 816.903.3399.
NCF will issue and transmit receipt for each eligible contribution to the Andrew Baer Memorial Fund given through NCF.
Andrew’s Story:
A Prodigal Journey, A Walk of Faith
Andrew Baer grew up in an Army family and was born at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Like most military children, he had the privilege of moving around the United States and the opportunity to live overseas (in Germany).
He truly enjoyed traveling and living the culture wherever his family was assigned during his parents’ military careers. He graduated with a BA from George Mason University and was involved in restructuring the GMU Student Association and serving as Treasurer for the Humanitarian Action Working Group. Andrew also received an MA from the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.
After graduation, Andrew worked for the Intelleger Risk Management Company, providing security for the Kajaki Dam Reconstruction Project in Afghanistan. Andrew served as the Site Security Intelligence Officer, working with both U.S. military and Afghan security forces. Andrew’s efforts were recognized by USAID in Kabul in that they used his product as the standard and “go-to” document for reference in the area of operations. Andrew served as an EMT with the Buckhall Fire Department for three years. He was a consummate professional and delivered work of the highest standard.
Because of his experiences as an “Army Brat,” Andrew continued to enjoy traveling during his free time as an adult. He completed a trip to Machu Picchu to celebrate the completion of his graduate degree. He was always interested in giving to others and kept busy by volunteering with their local HOA and coaching soccer for the local community.
More important than these activities and accomplishments was Andrew’s faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Andrew grew up in a strong Christian home but went through a prodigal period in his life where he walked away from his Christian faith and upbringing. He spent time searching for answers and truth. In God’s grace, he was brought back to where he started and he rededicated his life to Christ.
Andrew often attended camp and events at White Sulphur Springs. As an adult, he spent vacation time and volunteered to serve on staff as a counselor for Allegheny Outback (AO!). White Sulphur Springs was an incredibly powerful and important part of Andrew’s journey and Christian walk. It played an important role in bringing him to saving faith in Christ, and in turn, he gave back to White Sulphur Springs by serving on staff so that the Lord could use him to be a positive influence in the spiritual journeys of others.
Andrew’s life is not so much about his birth, his accomplishments or even his death—caused by a tragic accident while he was en route home from Afghanistan—but rather it is about his faith walk with Christ, his prodigal journey that saw him walk away from and then return to his Christian faith. The Lord used White Sulphur Springs in Andrew’s life as a child and as an adult, and he desired to be part of that process for others. Join us in honoring Andrew’s memory and continuing what he started by supporting the Andrew Baer Memorial Fund.
EMS Award honoring Andrew
“Andrew was my 2014 AO! Counselor. I am so grateful to have been able to get to know him because, though the time was short, he wasted not one moment. I have many fond memories of him. My favorite and most vivid being when he single-handedly canoed my brother down the river because he had gotten sick and thrown up. Andrew was marked by Christ-like love and servant-hood. I wish there were more men like him.”
“Over the many years of AO! that I’ve done, I have had many amazing counselors but none like Andrew Baer. He was kind, light-hearted, and genuinely cared for each and every one of us campers. He was the exact friend I needed during that point in my life. His quiet nature made it easy to talk to him. He had a genuine interest in me and my life. I will miss him greatly, and he will always be remembered.”
“I will always remember Andrew’s challenge to me. He asked, ‘How do you tell who the second lieutenant is in a platoon of Soldiers?’ He said, ‘He is the guy with the messed-up shirt, who looks like he had no sleep last night, and the man with the worst MRE to eat. But you know what? Every Soldier in that platoon looks happy, well dressed and properly fed because the lieutenant is more concerned with their needs than his own…Be that guy.’ “
Memorial and Prayer Wall
Use the following form to tell us and others how Andrew Baer impacted your life, or to offer up a prayer request or a praise. All content is held in moderation, and will not appear until the administrator approves your message. Once your message is received and approved, we will share it according to your instructions.
Use the following form to tell us and others how Andrew Baer impacted your life, or to offer up a prayer request or a praise. All content is held in moderation, and will not appear until the administrator approves your message. Once your message is received and approved, we will share it according to your instructions.
Lauren Armstrong
Have you ever sat around with your friends dreaming about ways to change the world and have wild adventures and thought, I wonder if that is really possible? Then, after a little silence someone tells a story of how they already did what you just mentioned, and all you can think is, “of course you did”. I fondly think of Andrew as the “of course you did” man.
It started with little things, like a friend asking if he was comfortable to drive a fifteen-passenger van, and figuring out he worked for a moving company and could drive that van in circles around us. And, I thought, “of course he can”.
It’s when I would talk about writing but how I am not good at it, but he would encourage me wholeheartedly. Then I would figure out that he was a published playwright and journalist. And I would just think, “of course you are”.
It’s when we are leading a bunch of high schoolers through the woods and he pulls out his journal at the end of the week where he has meticulously taken notes on every single person, every single day, that week of camp. He does this so he can specifically affirm each person and challenge them with the smallest or biggest ways that they have contributed to the group. Then I think, “of course you did that”.
I could make a long list of accomplishments, adventures, and stories that I have had or learned of with Andrew, where you would think, “oh, of course he did that”. But that’s not what will last in my head and my heart.
It’s when I asked him to come be a co-counselor for two weeks over the summer with me, and he wholeheartedly said yes. Then, I learned that he sacrificed multiple nights of sleep in order to clock enough hours so that he could serve in the woods. And that he will drive directly to work when the week is done to clock more hours to return to serve in another week? That dedication and sacrifice is Andrew. That’s when you are floored, but totally encouraged by the fact: Yes, Andrew did that.
Andrew lives deliberately. Andrew invests fully. Wherever he is, he is fully there. He is able to see God’s goodness in every person. He is able to challenge so many of the constructs that try and box up, make you earn, or keep you out of God’s love. He is an encourager. He is easygoing. He makes people comfortable when they are challenged. He makes us want to challenge ourselves and take charge of the life God has given us. Andrew lives knowing that the greatest joy and adventure in life was the gift that God has given us to join in His redemption and reconciliation of His peoples and His creation.
Andrew did not say goodbye last time I saw him. Instead, he assured me we will most definitely cross paths again. My prayer is that we join Andrew in the continual rejoicing of God’s revival, redemption, and reconciliation that He bringing to this Earth. Andrew may be a little further along on this journey than us at the moment, but we are all in the same battle, and he is celebrating victory with the King.
Received: February 20, 2016
Dailey Chandler
Andrew first attended AO! in 2003 in what is regarded as one of the wettest, most logistically challenging weeks AO! has ever faced. Even I, not affiliated with White Sulphur Springs that summer and States away taking classes, heard tales of the fateful AO! 4. In fact, to this day the AO! training manual has comments that were directly learned from that week.
I did not actually meet Andrew until several years later when he came as a staffer during a Winter Retreat. Whether scrubbing pots and pans or teaching the high school class, Andrew's work was marked by excellence and his attitude by service.
I was contacted by Andrew in May of 2014 after he learned that AO! was short staffed for the rapidly approaching summer. Andrew offered to help and during the course of our discussions wrote, "....the real dividend comes in the opportunity to serve with a spiritually strong community and spend the summer helping give back to students who are now in the boots I was in nearly a decade ago having a blast hiking and rafting."
Andrew's life represents a lot of things to a lot of people. Reflecting on the time we spent together, it is easy for me to relish the conversations we shared in a tent or the discussions on Isaiah we had in a classroom. Truth is, Andrew's life represents much more than that to me: The ceaseless love of our God as HE redeems.
Andrew was a man who recognized that God takes the failures, mistakes, and shortcomings of people and turns them into His Glory. Whether reflecting on his past or looking fondly on a week in the woods in 2003 that, by all human measures was a failure, Andrew knew that, even in our errors, God brings Glory to Himself.
My memory and prayer are one in the same. May we all be as sensitive as Andrew to the redemption that is truly at hand.
Received: February 9, 2016
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This perpetual fund with White Sulphur Springs is to ensure others, like Andrew, have the opportunity to return to their faith. White Sulphur Springs was so integral in the development of Andrew’s faith as a child and his return to faith as an adult. We ask that you help us ensure that his purpose in life continues beyond his physical death.
