Faithful to the Last Breath
"Some believers came and testified about
your faithfulness to the truth”
3 John 1:3 (NIV)
Late Monday afternoon I received a six-word text that immediately brought tears to my eyes: “Dr. Barker is with the Lord.”
A few minutes later that news was the lead story on the al.com web site. Dr. Frank Barker, founding pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church (PCA), died 1-month shy of his 90th birthday after a short battle with cancer. Peggy Townes, the Barkers’ youngest daughter, announced her father’s death by declaring, “He was faithful to the last breath. We have been as blessed as we can be.”
If I personally had only one word to describe Dr. Frank Barker, it would be the word "faithful." Webster's dictionary defines faithfulness as "steadfast in affection or allegiance." Author Eugene Peterson once defined faithfulness as "a long obedience in the same direction." Peterson's definition certainly describes Dr. Barker's amazing life and legacy.
If, however, I was allowed an additional word to describe Dr. Frank Barker, it would be the word fruitful. On the night before he went to the cross, Jesus told his disciples, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8) By God’s grace and for His glory, Frank Barker was truly fruitful.
Sarah Zylstra, described Dr. Barker's faithful and fruitful life and ministry over the last 60 plus years in her excellent article "The Amazing Story of Frank Barker and Campus Outreach." Zylstra recounted Barker's early life as a Navy pilot and his conversion to Christianity; his commitment to personal evangelism, discipleship training, and church planting; his vision for missions and community outreach; and his willingness to send out Briarwood's best people to plant other churches and ministries.
Among the most successful of the 120 ministries begun by Briarwood is Campus Outreach, a collegiate evangelism and discipleship training ministry. Campus Outreach began on the campus of Samford University and now has 750 Campus Outreach staff serving on 122 campuses in 11 countries.
Acknowledging Dr. Barker's confession that he had to train himself to evangelize others, Zylstra wrote, "Barker had the zeal of a new convert and the discipline of a Navy pilot."
The Evans family has been profoundly impacted by Frank and Barbara Barker's lives and ministries.
My daughter and her husband Clay met through the Barkers Men's Weekly Prayer Breakfast. Meredith helped Mrs. Barker prepare and serve breakfast each week for the men who met to pray for the needs in our church. Clay laughed and half-jokingly said, “When Dr. Barker gets you on your knees praying for God to help you find a wife, you find one!” Dr. Barker performed their marriage ceremony and Barbara Barker directed their wedding.
Our son Robert was discipled by Campus Outreach members while a student at Samford University. Robert's 9-week summer mission trip to Brazil with Campus Outreach and CO summer beach project trips were life changing for him.
James Bruce and other special needs children benefitted from the Briarwood Special Needs ministry. Dr. Barker listened to my desperate plea for developing spiritual resources for special needs families. Once Dr. Barker said, "We're going in!" Briarwood was "all in" with Special Ones Sunday School, support groups, VBS, respite, Camp Briarwood, and more. Briarwood was also on the front end of encouraging, training, and equipping other churches to provide their own disability ministries.
All of us benefitted from Dr. Barker’s faithful weekly expository pulpit preaching and teaching.
Perhaps my favorite Dr. Barker story came when he announced his pastoral retirement transition plan. Our church wanted to honor him for his many years of service and offered him a new home, new car, etc. Dr. Barker turned every offer down saying that what he really wanted was to leave our church completely debt free. We still owed a little over $1,000,000 on our facility. Throughout that transition year, our congregation not only paid off our remaining building debt, but also gave an additional $500,000 to fund new church plants in his honor.
Dr. Frank Barker was truly a model of humility, prayer, fruitfulness, and faithfulness for over sixty years. He led by example and practiced what he preached. Indeed, we were blessed by his service, his sacrifice, and his shepherding.
“He was faithful to the last breath!” (Peggy Townes)