Seeker: When I Finally Stopped Saying No

Brother Barry has had many labels in his life. Son. Jamaican. New Yorker. Navy man. Husband. Dad.  Minister of the Gospel. Host of Face the Truth. But if there’s one label that changed everything else. it’s seeker.

This is the story most people don’t know about Brother Barry… the journey of a seeker who was looking for truth in all the wrong places, until God led him to the one place he did his best to avoid.

Episode Timestamps

00:00               A Seeker’s Opening: “Could This Be It?”

02:15               Twenty Years in Media: How God Uses Technology to Spread the Gospel

08:20               Born in Jamaica, Raised in the Bronx: The Boy Behind the Minister

11:00               Two Parents, Two Churches: Growing Up Without Spiritual Roots

14:30               Religion as Rebellion: Why the Louder the Preacher, the Better

17:00               “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”: The Book That Confirmed God Was Real

21:30               Joining the Navy at 17: Chasing Structure After a Chaotic Childhood

25:30               Married at 19, Divorced at 20: When the Chaos Followed Him to California

28:30               The Club Epiphany: One Thought That Changed Everything

30:30               From Club to Bible: The Night He Became a Seeker

33:00               Enter Brother Rene: The Coworker He Kept Avoiding

35:30               Offended by the Truth

38:30               Every Church But His: Seeking Everywhere Except the Right Place

40:30               The Chaotic Church That Was the Last Straw

43:00               Talking to God Out Loud: “If You Exist, Show Me”

45:30               Going to Prove It Wrong: The Plan That Backfired

51:00               First Bible Study with Brother Joe Ventilacion: “What Is This?”

53:30               Couldn’t Sleep: The Night the Search Ended

55:30               The Chapel Was on His Route All Along

58:00               Obsessed: Never Missed a Bible Study After That

1:01:00            The Messenger Lesson: The Final Wall Comes Down

1:07:00            First Worship Service: Peace Like He’d Never Felt Before

1:08:30            Baptism Day: The Tears, the Injured Knee, and the New Life

1:12:30            Finally God’s son: What It Meant to Belong to God

1:16:00            All or Nothing: What It Really Takes to Seek God

1:22:00            What to Say to Seekers Who Say “That’s Too Hard”

1:27:00            From Seeker to the Pulpit: What happened next?

Thirty-five years later, Brother Barry still tears up thinking about that first Bible study, the night he couldn’t sleep because he thought: could this be it? After years of a chaotic childhood, unstable homes, and churches that left him more confused than when he walked in, God led him right to the door he’d been passing every single day.

But what he didn’t know was that his story was just beginning.

Because God had a calling waiting for him that would blow up every plan he had for his young life. Now, if Brother Barry’s story spoke to you, or if you know someone who’s in the middle of their own secret journey, share this with them.

For more Making Changes podcasts, visit incmedia.org, the INC Media app, or find it anywhere you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening, and may your change uplift you.

Connect with Aliw Garcia Pablo, the Making Changes Host instagram.com/aliwgarciapablo

Watch Want to Find God? https://incmedia.org/want-to-find-god/

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