THE most influential man in my life has passed. Frank Barker, who started and pastored Briarwood Presbyterian Church, and was probably THE founder of the PCA (a bible believing presbyterian denomination), died of cancer yesterday.
I lived in their home for a little under a year and if I wrote ten pages of stuff, it would not get all the credit he deserved for a formation of the life of God in my soul. I respected him because he was a man among men, identifying with everyone from heroin addicts to top CEOs of fortune 500 companies. He was the most selfless person I ever met. He was brilliant, with a mind that was truly amazing, and vast recall of all kinds of arcane stuff. The catalogue of "well, we decided to pray and then this happened" from bible study networks in UAB medical center to planning commission reversals to allow building projects to little fluffy white dogs for his daughter... the list of amazing answers to prayer that simply could not be explained away... they followed him and the early years of Briarwood. He was amusing, as the church was in the midst of a VERY wealthy suburb of Birmingham, and for years they were known as "that fanatical presbyterian church" as people would visit the church and as Frank told it, "these members of the Mountain Brook garden club were simply aghast that we would arrange a visit, show up and RIGHT THERE IN THEIR LIVING ROOM, OPENLY, AND OUT LOUD, TALK ABOUT JESUS and tell them they had to trust him or risk going to hell... right there in my living room!!!! Oh, the horror!" Everyone in the church, it seemed, was out telling people about Christ, and God saved no telling how many people.
He was a leader of men like few I have ever known. He was not vibrant, or charismatic, nor did he put himself forward. He was genuine. I saw him confess his sin from the pulpit openly, admitting that a whole program of the church that occupied a lot of time and money was for his ego "I wanted to have a big church." He broke down and wept when preaching through Romans over the thought of people culturally and linguistically isolated from the gospel. But everyone instinctively trusted his opinion, and while he was often not a front man, he was always on the committees shaping the path forward.
My wife, while in nursing school at UAB, had amazing pressure put on her to assist in abortions. She resisted, in her gentle and quiet way, and confronted the staff in such a way that she earned both their hatred and (in a weird way) their respect. She hates being in the limelight, unlike her husband, and says plainly that were it not for the "expository" teaching of Frank (he taught the bible in his sermons.... book by book, verse by verse) and the applications of that teaching to contemporary culture..... she could never ever have done that.
When I lived in their basement, I would go upstairs (I have always been an early riser), I would often see him on his knees in the den. He prayed all the time. Not in a showy or ostentatious way, just like needing to eat or drink.
I better end this now or I will wind up what I said I did not need to do, with 10 pages or more.
I love Frank Barker, and look forward to being with him and the Jesus he taught me to love.
I lived in their home for a little under a year and if I wrote ten pages of stuff, it would not get all the credit he deserved for a formation of the life of God in my soul. I respected him because he was a man among men, identifying with everyone from heroin addicts to top CEOs of fortune 500 companies. He was the most selfless person I ever met. He was brilliant, with a mind that was truly amazing, and vast recall of all kinds of arcane stuff. The catalogue of "well, we decided to pray and then this happened" from bible study networks in UAB medical center to planning commission reversals to allow building projects to little fluffy white dogs for his daughter... the list of amazing answers to prayer that simply could not be explained away... they followed him and the early years of Briarwood. He was amusing, as the church was in the midst of a VERY wealthy suburb of Birmingham, and for years they were known as "that fanatical presbyterian church" as people would visit the church and as Frank told it, "these members of the Mountain Brook garden club were simply aghast that we would arrange a visit, show up and RIGHT THERE IN THEIR LIVING ROOM, OPENLY, AND OUT LOUD, TALK ABOUT JESUS and tell them they had to trust him or risk going to hell... right there in my living room!!!! Oh, the horror!" Everyone in the church, it seemed, was out telling people about Christ, and God saved no telling how many people.
He was a leader of men like few I have ever known. He was not vibrant, or charismatic, nor did he put himself forward. He was genuine. I saw him confess his sin from the pulpit openly, admitting that a whole program of the church that occupied a lot of time and money was for his ego "I wanted to have a big church." He broke down and wept when preaching through Romans over the thought of people culturally and linguistically isolated from the gospel. But everyone instinctively trusted his opinion, and while he was often not a front man, he was always on the committees shaping the path forward.
My wife, while in nursing school at UAB, had amazing pressure put on her to assist in abortions. She resisted, in her gentle and quiet way, and confronted the staff in such a way that she earned both their hatred and (in a weird way) their respect. She hates being in the limelight, unlike her husband, and says plainly that were it not for the "expository" teaching of Frank (he taught the bible in his sermons.... book by book, verse by verse) and the applications of that teaching to contemporary culture..... she could never ever have done that.
When I lived in their basement, I would go upstairs (I have always been an early riser), I would often see him on his knees in the den. He prayed all the time. Not in a showy or ostentatious way, just like needing to eat or drink.
I better end this now or I will wind up what I said I did not need to do, with 10 pages or more.
I love Frank Barker, and look forward to being with him and the Jesus he taught me to love.
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