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Roy Gene Barker, wrote the following in The Christian Baptist, September 1973:
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I was born in Sparta, Tennessee, on the 26th day of June, 1939. I was married to Miss Grace Smith on October 27, 1955. My teenage and young adult life was filled with sin, of which I will not go into detail, but will quote my father-in-law, the late Elder Tom Smith, once said while introducing me that “God truly pulled him right out of the midst of hell.” This statement was justly said describing my past and the mercy of God towards me.
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I dare not even think where, or what I would be today if God had left me alone. The God who loves us even when we are dead in sin blessed me with the most wonderful wife who stuck by me through all. She still goes with me over the hills and down the valleys, through the sunshine and the rain. She laughs with me when I laugh and cries with me when I cry, we were blessed to have two sons, Larry Gene, age 16, and Gary, age 14. My wife and I were baptized into the Lord’s church which is known as the Laural Grove Primitive Baptist Church located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on the fourth Sunday in September, 1964.
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I tried to preach my first discourse about three months later at this same church. We moved shortly thereafter to the state of California and moved our membership to Mt. Zion P.B. Church and about one year later this church asked for my ordination. The elders present at my ordination were L.O. Moore, D.A. Layne, T.E. Kays, R.J. Townsend, and Robert Walls. A short time later I began to serve Mt. Zion, located in Redonda Beach and Friendship in Glen Avon as pastor, which I served until I resigned and moved back to Tennessee in June, 1970.
In 1970, I began to try to serve three churches (which is impossible), Laural Grove in Gatlinburg, The Blue Ridge in Chatsworth, GA. And Friendship Church in Defeated, Tennessee, which I now serve full time. It has been my blessing to baptize thirty-eight of my brothers and sisters into the church of Jesus Christ since I moved back to Tennessee. Twenty-three of these are members of the church I now service. In closing I want to say that I count it an honor to serve in the army of the Living God, and my heart’s desire is to convert God’s children to the truth and hear their voices lifted to sing with David of old, “Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give honor and glory.”Please pray that God will grant me strength to stand against the wiles of Satan and wisdom to rightly divide God’s truth as contained in the Bible.
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The Following Was Written Shortly After Joining The Church:“
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I joined the Laural Grove Primitive Baptist Church in September, 1964. My wife joined the following Sunday. We were baptized together on that day. This was a day I could never forget. I was so happy. There was so much love shown toward us, and so many tears of joy shed there by the river. I asked them to sing the song, “Whiter Than Snow.” I just couldn’t believe the Primitive Baptist were really giving me a home with them. They looked so pure and blameless, and I felt so full of sin and guilt. I was so unworthy of their love and kindness, and to me they were the most beautiful of all people. I had never saw or felt this way about people before, and I knew in my heart these people had been washed in the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and filled with His love. My only hope was that I too, had been washed with that same blood, and that I copuld walk in such a way as not to ever bring shame upon the Church of the living God.”
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The Following Was Written After the Death of Elder Roy G. Barker :
We, the members of the Smokey Mountain Primitive Baptist Church, are saddened by the loss of our Pastor, Elder Roy Gene Barker. Although we will miss his leadership in our fight for the cause of Christ, we know that he is much better off, joined with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.Elder Barker was the driving force behind the constitution of the Smokey Mountain Primitive Baptist Church on October 30, 1982. His leadership, guidance, and love for the church helped assure that generations to come would have a place to serve and worship our Lord in this community. Elder Barker was a strong defender of the faith, boldly teaching salvation by grace. He also taught our duty and responsibility while living here in our Lord’s kingdom.The most important thing in the world to Elder Barker was the Church, as evidenced by his life. In recent years, nothing gave him more joy than hosting the Annual Meeting. He loved to see God’s children from all parts of the country meet together to fellowship and to praise our savior to the highest. There will not be another meeting pass, when we will not remember him and what he meant to us. We thank God for having known and loved Elder Roy Gene Barker.
Brother Roy Barker died on June 6th, 1987 |
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