Please Pray Now! Urgent Prayer Needed.

The enemy has attacked us heavily the last two days. There are forces that do not want to see us go forward with this ministry. Money is very low. The van is broken down, it's going to cost about $250 to fix it. Bills are coming due. We have a lot of work to do that can't be done because of obstacles that have been placed before us. Some people around us are being used to discourage our efforts and they are saying hurtful things to us. Bradley and Brandon (my two older boys) will be leaving in a few days and I can't find the time to spend with them before they go. Should I go on?

Yesterday was especially agonizing for me. I needed to get to the church to work on a project that I promised I would do for them, it has a deadline. I had also intended to carry the cross beginning in mid-afternoon. We were waiting on someone to come and fix the van so that we could go and do the things we needed to do. Finally, at about 5 p.m. I decided not to wait anymore. I knew that this time delay was a ploy by the enemy to thwart our efforts to accomplish the things we needed to do. I grabbed the cross and carried it down the road to the places God was leading.

This time, I knew specifically that God wanted me to carry it to the beach itself. I knew the path to get there, and I took it at a quick pace. Once again, through my obedience Him, God blessed me and gave me enormous peace while carrying the cross. About an hour into the walk I finally reached the sandy beaches. It being almost six o'clock in the evening, the beach was not packed with people as it usually is. Though there were not many people, I continued on that path knowing that God wanted me to travel this route. The blessings that occurred on that beach were once again put in place by our all knowing God.


At first a family of four, stopped me and gave me encouragement. Their ten year old son quoted the entire passage of Psalm 100. He then wrote on the cross a profound statement that would catch up with me the next morning. He wrote, "God is Truth". At that time, I did not realize that God was speaking to me through a little ten year old boy, but I found out as the hardships of the this morning came, I suddenly realized that God was giving me words of encouragement for today. "God is Truth." God promised me that He would meet our needs if we obeyed His call to me to come to this place. We have now come, and God cannot lie. Although I battle with doubts and fear, I hear what God is telling me. He is telling me to just lay all else aside and trust in Him. We will continue to press toward the mark of His calling.

As I continued to travel down the beach further, a lady stopped me to talk to me. Her name was Angela and she began to share how God had saved her from a life of drugs and an abusive home life. She gave her life to God some time ago, and now volunteers her time with teenagers that are on drugs and in gangs. She is struggling herself with finances and a recent loss of her business, and was blessed by our conversation. She once again encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.

As I began to walk away from the talk with Angela, a lady sitting on a towel called out to me to please come and speak with her. As I walked over I could see that her heart was heavy. She began to tell me that she is struggling right now and she saw me just the other day and almost stopped me so that she could talk with me. She told me her name was Susan and that most of her life she has struggled with drugs and alcohol addictions. She shared that her grown sons are very mad at her right now because she had made a decision to take an action that affected them. I can't go into the details, but she had attempted to stop a crime being committed that would possibly hurt her boys and others. As she sobbed, she told me that her boys have separated themselves from her and say they hate her for what she had done.

As I spoke with her I sat down on the sand and I just became her friend for about thirty minutes. We talked about the Lord and through that conversation I do believe that she is saved, but that she struggles more than most of us can imagine. Although I know that she would not openly say it, I know that she is being tempted to turn back to alcohol and drugs and climb back in that hole of darkness, just so that she can get away from the pain. I felt so moved to repeat over and over to her that God loves her and I do to. She expressed that she has a heart to help people, and I encouraged her to do that as often as possible. It will make her feel more important inside.

I asked her if I could give her something, and if she would wear it if I gave it to her. I have worn a leather necklace with a cross on it for about a year now, but I felt like God wanted me to give it to her. She eagerly said that she would take it and wear it all the time. As I gave it to her, I repeated that God loves her and that I love her too. I told her that anytime that she feels unloved or wants to turn back, that she is to rub that cross between her fingers and remember that God does love her and wants the best for her. I hugged her neck and left her with a smile on her face and encouragement for another day.

As I continued down the beach and out to the road I was able to give the gospel and a vivid description of Jesus' crucifixion to about six other people. As I was traveling down the road to go back home, it was getting dark but two men behind me yelled out to me to please stop. I did so and waited for them. It turns out they were with a church group down here to fish. The two men called their other buddies to come and see what I was doing and to join them. I'll make a long story short, but three of the men were preachers and one was a deacon.

They all prayed for me and wanted to carry the cross for me for a while. It was an amazing gift to my spirit. As they they walked they were not ashamed of what they were doing, in fact they were repeating loudly to the people on the roadway that was packed with cars that God loves them. They would yell out with a loving voice, "God loves you. He loves you so much He died for you." It was a beautiful sight, right there in the middle an over crowded Beach Blvd. in Gulf Shores on a Friday night. As they took turns carrying the cross, one of the men named Rickey told me how he had found the Lord. Seven years ago this man was living on the streets addicted to drugs and living in a tent that he had stolen. He has been saved from a horrible life that was dead and painful to a life that is now alive and well. He was excited and is now a preacher that God ordained through the hardships that he has endured.


His words to me were that of great encouragement. He just kept saying to me, "Don't Stop! Don't Stop! Nobody else is doing this." He told me that over and over again. He said, "People need to know God loves them and wants to save them, don't stop!". After about a half of a mile of walking, they prayed for me again, gave me some money and said, "Don't Stop!" I left them standing there watching me having the knowledge that once again God was speaking to me and to continue on.

I know that this is a long blog entry, and there are many stories packed in here. I feel the need to express to all of you how I feel everyday. I feel the need to inform you of what we are doing here so that it will bless all of those who read it. Although I do not have time to share all of the stories with you, I do my best to give you what I can so that you can be involved in what God is doing here.

As I began this blog, I expressed that my heart is heavy. It is a trying time for us and we are fervently seeking God's direction. Along with forces that are working against us, some people have expressed that they do not agree with the steps we are taking, and they have also implied that we have hidden certain aspects of our lives to gain support. I must be honest with you, statements like that cause me to fight off anger towards those that say such things about me and my family. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am so honest and real with people that in times past it has hindered my advancements due to my honesty. Most people appreciate honesty, but there are some that do not.

I will put in black and white, right here in this blog, for all of the world to see so that no one can accuse me of hiding anything from anyone anymore. I am a man that God took out of the pit and has lifted up to have a new life in Him. Yes, I have been married three times. I used to have a severe problem with my anger and my emotions. I had a foul mouth. My mind was perverted. I am still a very spirited person, especially when it comes to things concerning "my God". I was addicted to pornography and lust. It almost destroyed my life. I struggled with lust for at least six years after I was born again, but God freed me of that bondage about one and a half years ago. At that time, I made some comments to a girl that I should not have and it destroyed my soul to the point that I sought counseling. Through the grace and power of Almighty God I have been truly freed from that bondage and now can go and do things that most cannot. I have trouble communicating with my Mom and Dad, and my extended family. Before I was saved, I even struggled with suicidal thoughts. I hated my life before I accepted Christ as my Savior. I have debt and child support to pay. I don't like it, but it is part of my life. I don't mind taking care of my children, it is my responsibility to do so. It is the debt that I have to pay that I hate. I, we, have struggled for seven years to keep food on the table and pay the bills. I cannot lie, I have wasted and have made many poor choices in my life. I have always been an extremely hard worker. I worked so much that I never saw my children. I was never able to spend time with my family and that was my responsibility also. I was caught in a trap that I could not escape. For some reason God would not bless my work and allow me to make enough money to properly support my family. The entire time God was not blessing my efforts. For the last seven years I have known that He was calling me to ministry full time. For the last five years we have not even been able to afford our own house. Others have either given things to us or paid for our rent. In 2008, we were not able to pay any money on two American Express accounts. They were delinquent for a year. We owe family members approximately $10,000, that we are to pay back once we are out of the other debts. Thank God, we have been able to pay on the American Express accounts for a few months now, due to God's grace and blessings. We have a payment plan with them that we pray that we can continue to pay for. We still owe them about $13,000 all together. We have a Whitney account that we pay every month. We owe about $2500 on that one. We have no other debts, not even a car payment. We will never borrow another dime in our lives again. It would be easy to file bankruptcy, but we feel that we need to continue to do everything we can to pay it if we can. If we can't then we will take the necessary steps, then move on and continue to do God's work. I pay child support of $550 per month. Medical insurance for us is about $450 a month. It's not the best, but it is needed for a family of seven with five boys. Boys do tend to get hurt due to their rowdiness. Other than that we have normal living expenses such as rent, power, phone, water, food, and gas. We live as simple as we possibly can. We have no furniture. We do not go out to eat anymore if we are buying it (we will go out if someone offers to pay). We buy cheap things such as food and necessities. We are frugal.

As I stated before, we have hidden none of our circumstances to anyone that has given money to us. If someone does not know of our circumstances and they have given money to us for this mission then somehow they slipped through the cracks of the information we gave everyone and I will be more that happy to talk with them about it.

Yes, money that is given to us for this ministry is primarily used to support our family. So far the ministry itself has carried with it little expense except the move down here.

Just a side note that I feel I must express. I mentioned that I am going to build a bed to raffle for donations. To set those at ease that wish to participate, the ticket you will receive for the raffle is not a purchase on your part. It is a donation and then I will hand you a ticket. Those that have a problem with gambling need to know that there is no risk involved. It is simply a donation to our ministry with the possibility of getting a blessing from giving to us.

Now, with all of that being said concerning my past, my finances, support and all of the other things I mentioned, we are moving forward from this point on. I will no longer be discouraged or distracted by those that want to say hurtful things to us in an attempt to dismantle this ministry. This ministry is a ministry set forth by God Himself. If He blesses it. Then He blesses it. If He blesses us and helps us pay the bills, then we pay the bills. If not, then I work as hard as I can and still continue the ministry. If I can't pay them, then we will deal with that with bankruptcy or otherwise. Yes, I know that God says to pay your bills. Truth be told, I haven't been able to pay my bills in years, and I have only been able to pay them after I gave all of my work to Him and answered His call for my life. God is leading me to carry this cross and I will not disobey Him anymore. That is what I mean by the fact that if it leads us to hardship, we will still continue this mission. There is too much at stake concerning the souls of the lost and those hurting to do otherwise. God has called me to this for the rest of my life. God has called my family to endure this "cross". We are going to obey His calling, even to the point of our own deaths if need be.

Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to do God's will and make proper decisions concerning taking care of my family. Ultimately, it is up to God what happens to us. We are His servants and I will follow Him because there are so many people out there that need to know the love of Jesus.

This blog entry is something that has been laid on my heart to say. In fact, I have wanted to say this for a while now. If any of you that are praying for us, supporting us, or just following our progress are not comfortable with helping us continue this ministry then I welcome you to step away. I will completely understand it if you cannot put your efforts toward a ministry that is maintained by a man with a past such as mine. Know this as you leave, if you choose to do so, I am forgiven by God, and no man will stand in my way to do the will of the Father. I seek Him and His guidance with complete humility for I know that I am not worthy to take even another breath on this planet. My days of life have been greatly extended only by the mercy of the Father above. I count every new day a blessing and look for the opportunity to serve Him in each and every moment.

My prayer is that most of you will be moved in a positive way by my complete openness with you. Expect it more often, because those are reflections of the words God lays on my heart often. You will begin to see a movement to more transparency as this ministry continues. I pray that each of you see God's hand in all of this ministry...with open eyes it is obvious. I also pray that the actions and honesty of this ministry move you to support us, because we definitely need it, especially now!

God is with us! God is Truth! God bless all of you and this ministry!

Spread the WORD!!

Barry