A Good and Faithful Servant

Jared W. Barker

Jared W. Barker has been called home.  Probably next to my own father, he has been the biggest spiritual influence on my life.  I sit here, thousands of miles away from where we first met, and many years distant.   I look at his death announcement and his photograph.  The tears come unbidden.  I guess it is sadness at his final departure from our presence or is it from selfishness?  I didn’t want him to go away. 

It was 54 years ago when I first met him.  I was a 92-pound, 5’ft, pony-tailed 19-year old, fresh out of college.  Behind his desk, he looked up and his blue eyes made a quick evaluation.  Years later, he would confess that his eyes told him that day it would be lucky if I lasted 3 months in the mission.  I stayed on for 4-1/2 years.

The young Barker family in Cotabato - John, Jared, Marilee
Jerry & Jim.  Mary Beth & Joy are not pictured.

The Philippines Evangelical Enterprises, Inc.

Through the years, Jared and his family faithfully did their appointed tasks.  Through the Philippines Evangelical Enterprises, Inc., they started and operated two high schools and a college department in Marbel and Isulan, an elementary school among the Tagabili tribe, a high school among the Manobos, an annual summer camp in Lake Sebu for young students and college kids, public extension classes that teach the Bible to 14,000 students in 43 public high schools every week.They partnered with the Far East Broadcasting Company to establish a Christian radio station on the high school campus in Marbel.  To support the mission financially, they operated a cannery, a lime factory, farm projects, and a harvesting combine service for the farmers in the area.  They dabbled in a chicken farm and pig farm and planted citrus, corn and mango trees.  The moneymaking ventures were to make the schools and spiritual outreach financially sustainable without dependence on foreign aid, a concept that was hardly known to mission organizations at the time.

A Good and Faithful Servant

What Jared accomplished is impressive enough, but how he accomplished it is even more impressive.  I remember my thoughts on first setting foot on the Marbel campus in 1962.  I was shocked at the simplicity and austerity of the offices and the buildings.  This spoke of Jared.  His brand was "do much with as little as possible with no fanfare or publicity."  Long before I was taught in a Spiritual Formation course in Seminary about how important it is to perform for the audience of One, Jared was already on to it and touching many lives.  He worked with laser-beam like focus.  He was intense and constantly engaged.  He was not one for a lot of spiritual talks; in fact, he really wasn’t much of a talker.  Those who worked with him sensed the urgency and complete commitment he had.  Sometimes our countless meetings at the schools extended into the very late hours.  I would complain.  He would say, “You know, I used to work 16 hours a day for the Devil.  Why should I give God less?”   

January 2009-Mr. Barker at the lectern  performing Baby Espa's
 dedication  ceremony in Marbel, Cotabato.
He touched so many lives, in this case, 4 generations of a family.

In the time I worked with him, I watched him navigate criticisms hurled at him for one thing or another, meet financial crises that resulted in  near revolts, personnel dissatisfaction, mechanical breakdowns, stringent government requirements, staff shortages, and opposition that sometimes came from the very people he was trying to serve.  His family faithfully served with him, denying themselves of comfort and personal ambitions.  They were in this mission of serving God together. There were even some who tried to get him expelled from the country and some who attempted to physically harm him, but he was not to be deterred from what he was supposed to do.

My Special Assignment

My biggest lessons came the year he entrusted me with the leadership of the mission.  Their family had gone 7 years without going home to the US.  That particular year we had an extraordinarily good staff.  He felt it was a perfect time for them to take this break.  I was a young 24-year old who would be working with the faculty and staff, some of whom were twice my age and definitely more seasoned and knowledgeable than I was.  This was a difficult assignment, but God dealt with me and persuaded me to accept it.  Needless to say, there were also many others who questioned his judgment.  Sure enough, it became the most difficult time I’ve ever had in my life.  But it also brought me closest to God and into the rich experience of trusting Him.  The lessons were many; some had to be learned from very painful experiences.  I never understood this appointment until about 15 years ago.  I wrote a poem with a description of their old house in Marbel.  Their family was home in Kansas at the time, so I sent them a copy of the poem.  He called, complimenting me for my keen remembrance of details.  We had a long visit and finally after many years, I had the courage to ask him what made him take the risk of leaving the care of the mission to me in 1964.  His answer was brief, “Because I knew you loved God.”

On Personal Relationships

He cared for people and was always finding ways to help others.  If he could make things better for anyone, he would do it.  I remember how he used to wonder what kind of fish could live in the waters of Lake Sebu.  He thought it would help the people there not only with their food supply but also in making a living.  Years after I was gone, I found out that he did contact the Department of Fishery and tried to persuade them to stock the lake with fish.  I am not sure that the current thriving tilapia fish industry there is a direct result of this, but he definitely was among the first ones who envisioned it.

He was not one to coddle people.  He was known to practice tough love at times, but he was gentle, caring and protective at the same time.  When my good friend Nelly and I argued about our favorite colors (mine was blue; hers was green), he heard me say, "How can anybody like green, it is such a boring color."  He interjected and said, "God also likes green.  He made so many things green - the plants, trees, grass, the hills."

I remember being in the office with him one day when a student came in.  He was an older student in my class and a preacher.  He had the habit of showing up the young teachers.  He sat down and asked me, “Miss Reyes, what does 'mesmerize' mean?”  Mr. Barker looked at me, trying to see my reaction, then headed straight to the big Webster dictionary. “I believe it means ‘hypnotize,’” was my reply. By this time, Mr. Barker had looked up the word and said,” I will have you know that there is only one meaning for that word in this dictionary and it is ‘hypnotize.”  Touché.

Early on in our working relationship, he found out that I could be terribly stubborn.  This stubbornness coupled with a frankness that is so uncharacteristic of the Filipino culture has caused me to run headlong into problems.  When I would argue to defend my position on various issues with an “it’s the principle of the thing that matters,” he would say with a smile that it was also the way he justified his own bullheadedness at times.  We shared a similar lack of tactfulness on occasion. 

He has touched many lives, thousands, in fact.  From poor students who would have had no chance to pursue education to young teachers and staff whom he helped grow through his friendship, patient nurturing and modeling of what God’s faithful servant was like.

On the day I found out Mr. Barker had died, I posted this on his son John's timeline:

I can almost see them now – your dad walking through heaven’s gate; Jesus greeting him, saying, “Welcome, thou good and faithful servant.” That was all he lived and worked for- to be found faithful. And did he! Indeed. My eyes have tears, but my heart rejoices for he is now home. He has left his imprint on many lives; mine among the thousands.   Hebrews 11:32-38 “. . . the world was not worthy of them.”