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Hi, my name is John Barrow and I am the founder of A Better Way Ministries. I would like to take a moment and share with you a portion of my testimony and tell you about the heart of "A Better Way".
My journey started out at an early age. My Dad was in Vietnam until I was six years old, therefore my grandparents and mom raised me. It turned out to be a not so healthy living environment. My grandparents were very loving people with huge hearts, but they were very weak in the areas of discipline and structure. They were out matched by my strong willed nature and my AD/HD personality.
By the age of 12, I had ran away from home, been expelled from school, used drugs and alcohol, had sex, stolen, and many other things that went along with that way of life. The results of which was my incarceration in Fulton County Juvenile. Instead of being rehabilitated, I became more street smart and savvy in all of my ways. I quickly learned how to adapt to a rough way of life.
However, one night a man by the name of John Koth, visited the Juvenile Detention Center to speak with us. I will never forget the setting. We were sitting in plastic chairs, in front of our cells in a group, and John Koth was facing us. He was a very tough guy and had been a gang leader in New York. John began to tell us young men about his journey with drugs and gangs and how he had just completed a program called Teen Challenge. It amazed me that this guy came all the way from New York just to tell a bunch of rebellious teens that Jesus loved them, and that there was a better way to live. As he gave his testimony, I remember thinking how badly I wanted him to leave, so that I could go back to my cell with the lights out, the door shut and just cry. This is one of those memories that will be with me for the rest of my life. I wept bitterly for hours because of the conviction of my soul. I knew that I didn't want to live the way that I was living anymore. That night the Lord placed a seal on me that would never be removed.
The next day, I called my probation officer because I wanted to know if I could go through the same program John Koth had spoken to us about the night before. Fortunately, my probation officer was a Christian, and when I explained what I wanted to do he helped me enter a program called New Life for Youth instead of remaining in Y.D.C. While in New Life for Youth (a branch of Teen Challenge), I was exposed to a way of life I never knew existed. We studied the bible, went to church, lived on a huge farm with cows, goats, chickens and a large river that ran through it. We would play the guitar and sing worship songs as we sat beside a creek. We would take showers in the creek and drink the cold water. We bailed hay and fed the cows. (I can still remember the smell of the hay) When we were out of food, we would fast and pray and God would supply. It was a very memorable experience.
I stayed at New Life for Youth about 6 months before I ran away. I wish I could say that from that day on I was a rejuvenated soul, but I can't. I still wasn't ready to give up my sin and live for Jesus Christ. ALTHOUGH, what transpired from the time I met John Koth until the day I left the program, changed my life forever. I could no longer enjoy the way I was living. Once the "'hounds of heaven" get on your trail you are never able to shake them off. You can run but you can't hide. Praise God.
After leaving New Life for Youth, I was sent to a reformatory in Milledgeville for 2 years. Once I was released from there I joined the Army where I went through basic training, AIT, jump school, and then into the Ranger Battalion. I learned a great deal about self-discipline and motivation, but I also learned how to drink more. I left the Army and was in and out of jails and prison for the next 6 years. After numerous arrests, 3 failed marriages, VA hospital, Ga. Regional, leaving 2 children in the aftermath, and losing everything over and over again, I found myself in prison with a 10-year sentence for robbery. All due to drugs and alcohol and a deep insecurity in my life.
During the second year of this sentence, I was caught selling drugs inside the penitentiary and was placed in solitary confinement for 28 days. I had been in the "hole" many times before, but this time was different. As I lay on that cold slab of concrete, I began to reflect on my life. Finally, I came to the realization that not only was I in prison, but now I was in solitary confinement inside of prison. It wasn't enough to just be locked up, I had to repeatedly visit the hole for my misconduct. I had become my own worst enemy. It was then that I knew I couldn't go on any longer the way I was. In the hole the only book you are allowed to read is the Bible. So I began reading in Genesis and read the entire thing for 28 days. I literally cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I found myself under the same conviction I had been under as a boy, when John Koth had spoken to us at the Fulton County Y.D.C. The seed that had been planted when I was 13 years old was still alive. It would not die. The word says in Isaiah 55:11 "...My word will not return to me void. It will accomplish what it is set out to do." From that moment on I was a changed man. Even though it took me years to shake off what 26 years of living in sin had done to my life, God was faithful and helped me make it through.
I have not been back to prison since 1989, He has blessed me with a wonderful wife of 20 years, 5 beautiful children, grandchildren, a great income (where I have never lacked anything), a pardon from the Department of Corrections (which is almost impossible to get) made me a chaplain for the prison system and has also made me an ordained minister. Only God can take you from the prison to the pulpit.
However, the Bible says in Luke 12: 48 "...To whom much is given, much is required". I was given much mercy and grace as a young man, (I deserved to die a long time ago, but God spared my life), and so that is why I am trying to give back what was given to me. One thing I've noticed over the years as I go to speak at the prisons is that I see the same faces every time I go. These men have every intention of doing the right thing when they get out, but they go back to the same environment that they left and find themselves in trouble all over again. There are so many hurting and lost young men out there who want to do what is right but find themselves back in trouble because they just can't get a thick enough foundation to stand on.. Something has a hold on them and it is bigger than they are, whether it is drugs, alcohol, lust, anger, etc. it continues to defeat them. They just can't seem to overcome their life controlling issues.
That's why I was led to start A Better Way. It is a place of refuge where they can come and learn how to be responsible Christian men. A place where they can experience the love of God and the healing power of the Holy Spirit. A place where they can get their footing long enough to build a foundation that will not crumble the next time that it is tested. A place where they learn that their default button is not alcohol, drugs, or anything else other than the bible or on their knees in prayer.
These kind of men are some of the best that you can find. That is why Satan tries so hard to pick them off. He knows what they are capable of doing for The Kingdom of God. These are the type of men who will one day make solid husbands and fathers. Instead of destroying their future, the future of their wives and children, and starting another "dysfunctional generation" they can go out and change this fallen world by spreading the good news of salvation and hope. Remember, if we can help change the men, then we can help change the world. Please help me help them.
His Servant,
John Barrow
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