A personal note from Mike
I didn’t grow up in the computer age, so the whole idea of expanding our ministry on the internet still amazes me.
New technolgies seem to spring up like wildflowers, all of them with the capacity for good or evil. When God opened the doors (or should I say heavens) to the use of satellite television, we knew right away that this was an opportunity for us to play a part in fulfilling the Great Commission, to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth in a way never before possible. Now the internet holds the promise of reaching another generation... a generation suffocating in the worst that this world can dish out... and counteracting the filth that’s available online with the cleansing power of Jesus Christ. Let’s be a part of claiming “cyberspace” for the Kingdom, just as we have the television airwaves!
I hope that you will all help us make successful use of this exciting new medium. Let us know what we’re doing wrong... and doing right. Just like I tell inmates who attend our weekend services, “You only get out of it what you put into it.” Feel free to visit us again and again, and we’ll do our best to keep the site up-to-date, useful, and blessed of the Lord.
Mike
Biographies
MIKE BARBER
Mike Barber was one of the most sought after high school athletes in the country when he graduated from White Oak (Texas) High School in 1972. As a high school quarterback, Mike
passed for over 4,000 yards. He went on to play college football at Louisiana Tech, but did not stay at the quarterback position for long. Because of his speed, he was switched to receiver, then moved to the tight end position the following year. With a college career of 17 touchdowns and 1,226 yards, Mike was elected to All America’s First Team twice during his years at Louisiana Tech.
In 1976 Mike was the first draft choice of the Houston Oilers. Mike spent six years with the Oilers, then went on to play with the Los Angeles Rams for four more years. He holds the record for both teams for the most receptions by a tight end in one season. During his 10-year NFL tenure, Mike became the protypical NFL tight end. He had the size, hands and speed to make him one of the league’s best.
What makes Mike special today is not reliving the past glory of his pro football career, but spreading the future glory of God. Following his retirement in 1986, Mike and his wife DeAnne responded to God’s call into full-time prison ministry. Since January 1987, the Barbers have been in prisons all across the country, hosting crusades known as “Weekends of Excitement.” Mike considers the greatest team he has ever played with to be the team that goes into the prisons with him to “PROCLAIM liberty to the captives.”
The fastest growing industry in America today is building prisons and housing inmates, but Mike and DeAnne Barber and their ministry team are seeing first-hand that Jesus Christ is truly making a difference.
DEANNE BARBER
Deanne Barber is Mike’s wife, co-founder of Mike Barber Ministries, and mother to their three children; Brandon, Brittany and Bethany. She is a featured gospel singer and speaker. DeAnne and Mike take a powerful personal testimony of restoration and reconciliation into the prisons with them.
Mike and DeAnne were married only a brief time, and then divorced. Neither of them was living for the Lord at that time. But during their time apart, both DeAnne and Mike dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ. Three years later, God divinely orchestrated a meeting between the two of them, and the result of that encounter was a remarriage! Since that time, the Barbers have committed themselves to establishing their home and their family on godly principles and to the call of God on their lives to preach the gospel inside the prisons.
DeAnne and Mike share the same heart for the prisoners and are both anointed to minister to them in love with a boldness that refuses to compromise the Word of God. Their desire to “PROCLAIM liberty to the captives” is carried out in the message that declares it is the truth of God that sets people free.
