Meet the Board

August 24, 2009

• Fighter Pilot
• Servant of Christ
  
• Pastor
• Founder of Briarwood Presbyterian Church
• OT professor Birmingham Theological Seminary
• WTS Trustee
  

Excerpt from Foreword of Flight Path...

"I first laid eyes on Frank Barker about forty-six years go as I was sitting in a theology classroom at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. He was sitting in the back row with his chair tilted back, leaning against the wall, with a look of total bewilderment on his face. I didn’t know at the time that he had arrived in seminary without ever coming to know the gospel or the meaning of salvation. Seminary was hard enough for a Christian, and for one whose eyes had not yet been opened to understanding spiritual things, it must have been totally incomprehensible. I could not have imagined at that time that this befuddled young man, in just a few months, was going to grasp the gospel, be completely transformed and go on to become one of the most effective ministers in the United States...

"Though Frank had grown up in a church, by the time he went to college and then into the Naval Air Corps, he had pretty well jettisoned the principles that he had learned as a child, as so many other young people have done before and since. If he had grasped the gospel in those early years the next decade of his life would have been far different. But at that point he did not have ears to hear. The story that the author tells so engagingly about his college career and his life flying jet planes off of carriers is often hair-raising. Over and over again he was rescued from the very precipice of death by God, who was evidently preserving his life for far greater things..."

The late D. James Kennedy, Ph.D., former Senior Minister, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

"What an extraordinary privilege to recommend this book on one of the great pastors that our Lord has
provided for His church, Dr. Frank Barker. Frank has been my mentor, my friend, and now my colleague as he serves as Pastor Emeritus of Briarwood where I have had the privilege to follow him into the role of Senior Pastor. At that church the Lord used him to establish and grow with the mission to 'reach Birmingham to reach the world for Christ.' This book will give you insights on how the extraordinary power of God works through a man who has an extraordinary commitment to serve His God."

Harry Reeder, WTS Alumnus and Trustee; Senior Pastor, Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham,
Alabama

"One of the great American pastors of the twentieth century, Dr. Frank Barker’s dramatic conversion and selfless service translated into a remarkable ministry that touched thousands of lives and made a major contribution to International missions. If I were to select a model pastor, Frank Barker would be that person. I am thrilled that his life story is now available so that more people can become acquainted with this gifted man of God and the global vision that marked his ministry at Briarwood Presbyterian
Church."

Luder G. Whitlock, Jr., Excelsis, WTS MDiv,1966