In memory of Frank Barker

Alan Dunn

I remember the first time I heard Frank Barker’s voice at the first annual Pastor’s Conference at Trinity Baptist Church, Montville, NJ, in 1984. As the son of Irish immigrants, I was immediately drawn to Frank’s British accent. That was the beginning of many enjoyable times spent together as foreigners in cross-cultural settings.

During the latter 1980s, Frank served as an elder at Trinity, where I audited several of the classes taught at the Trinity Ministerial Academy. He, along with the other elders, had a keen and kind interest in what the Lord was doing among us in Flemington as a nascent Reformed Baptist congregation. In 1985, Frank was involved in interviewing prospective members and in the constituting service where I was recognized and set apart for the work of the ministry.

In 1989, after a trip to Pakistan to visit Trinity’s missionaries Arif and Kathy Khan, Frank came to our church to give us a report to further inform our prayers. At our home after the morning service, I asked him how we, as a church could increase our involvement in Pakistan. He urged me to visit Pakistan, and in 1990, I accompanied Pastor Albert Martin to minister at a pastor’s conference in Islamabad. That began a series of annual visits over the next two decades in which I often accompanied Pastor Barker. Together we came alongside Arif to strengthen his hand and to encourage the brethren who faithfully attended the annual pastor’s conferences.

Memories cascade in my mind… vignettes of airports, meals in homes and restaurants, conference cafeterias, and street vendors… public preaching, one-on-one counseling, interactions with families, and handfuls of eager Pakistani pastors… meandering in eastern settings and the English countryside heading to and from southern Asia.

When you travel with someone like that, you do so because you are genuinely friends. You learn to rely on each other. Frank, being British, actually laughed at my quirky Irish sense of humor, which, of course, I found quite endearing. In fact, many found Frank quite endearing. I recall, on many occasions being grateful for his ability to be so gregarious and engaging when interacting in private settings. He asked questions of people, listened intently, and then followed up with observations and more questions, always guiding the conversation on the biblical tracks that led to his love of his Savior.

His cross-cultural skills extended into the Spanish-speaking world as well. He invested his prayers, finances, and pastoral gifts into the people of God in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Haiti and was beloved among the brethren in that far away land called North Bergen, New Jersey. He and his wife Mary, moved among God’s people with grace and kindness, always giving a blessing because they knew themselves to be heirs of blessing.

In September 2002, Frank and Mary transferred their membership to Flemington, and in April 2003, the congregation of Grace Covenant Baptist Church ordained and set Frank apart for the pastoral ministry. We labored together for the next eight years as elders of Grace Covenant until 2011. Frank’s wisdom, instruction, and example blessed us as a congregation. I was especially grateful for his counsel and for being yoked together in the ministry of prayer and preaching. Frank and Mary relocated to Florida and transferred their membership to Emmanuel Baptist Church in Coconut Creek. Although Frank did not become an elder there, he did minister the Word of God in a nursing home ministry, and Mary often played the piano for public worship as she did during the time that the Barkers were with us.
Most recently, the Barkers became members of Grace Church, Downingtown, PA. There, family and the people of God surrounded and supported Frank and Mary. They, in turn, instructed us all how to finish well for the glory of Christ. His children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren knew that he loved them because he loved his Savior. Indeed, it was his Savior who taught him to love them and to love anyone who also loved his Savior. As he neared the finish line, Frank’s expressions of faith were constant, simple, and heartfelt.

Frank never lost his British accent and consequentially, always seemed a bit “foreign” in New Jersey, Pakistan, among Hispanics, in Florida, and Pennsylvania. He was a foreigner, not because he emigrated here from the UK, but because his citizenship was in heaven, and he lived as a pilgrim en route to that heavenly country, to that city whose architect and builder is God. Frank was first and foremost a man of Christ’s kingdom regardless of being among Americans, Hispanics, Asians, or Britons for that matter. He was a gift of Christ to me personally and ministerially. He was my friend, and I loved him, and I love Christ all the more for having given me his friendship.

Frank is no longer a foreigner. He is at home with his people and his Lord. He completed his course – faithfully. We who knew him are blessed as the recipients of his example, instruction, counsel, and love. Now he witnesses to us by having lived by faith and having died by faith. Christ tells me to remember those who led me, who spoke the word of God to me; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith [Heb 13:17]. I remember my friend, my mentor, my teacher, my fellow-worker, my brother, Frank Barker. I remember his ministry of the word of God. I watched him run and complete his race by faith. I, too, look to the One whom he believed, loved, obeyed, and served, and I am compelled to imitate his faith. I remember and thank Christ for Frank Barker.