Testimony of Faith: Thomas Barker
Newsvine Editor Leo Aguilera with Thomas Barker and Kristy Zapien.
INTRO Since we included our graduates in this issue, we decided to focus on the accomplishments of one of our outstanding young people, Thomas Barker, in hopes that his life will be an inspiration for others young and old. Although never graduating from middle school and dropping out of high school at the start of his senior year, Thomas Barker, not only graduated with honors from Modesto Junior College, but was also chosen as its graduation speaker. Remarkably, Thomas was its only history major ever to be accepted into the prestigious university, Cal Berkeley, whose acceptance rate is just under 17%. What changed the life of this once unmotivated student? FAMILY LIFE Thomas was born into a family which struggled with addiction and physical abuse. His father, Bill Barker was addicted to meth and alcohol. He was monstrously mean and violently abusive. His mother Carol was hopelessly addicted to Thomas with his mother Carol at his drugs. Thomas remembaby dedication in 1998. Roughly nine bers searching through years later the family returned to dumpsters for leftover Revival Center to stay, and Thomas was baptized in Jesus’ name and filled food for snacks for his sister and him to eat. with the Holy Ghost. His mother remembers Thomas wandering down to the river near their house as a child unsupervised, now terrified at the thought of what could have happened to her young son. Addiction ravaged the marriage of Bill and Carol and they divorced. Carol later married another Bill, William Paul and they started attending Revival Center when Thomas was nine years old. Thankfully later, God miraculously delivered Bill Barker. He received the Holy Ghost and was baptized
in Jesus’ name and now teaches an anger management class at the UPC congregation in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Paul family began faithfully attended church, exposing Thomas to Holy Ghost anointed preaching and prayer. Young Thomas felt God’s spirit tugging at his heart, repented, was baptized in Jesus’ name, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He right away became very involved with Bible quizzing, which he credits with not only putting the word of God into his heart, but also teaching him how to memorize and quickly recall large passages of information. He was also surrounded by children and adults who positively influenced him with their dedication and passion for God. Thomas did so well in Bible quizzing that he was awarded Quizzer of the Year for the Western District and even went to Nationals! Even though Thomas with his fellow Bible quizzer, Thomas achieved success in Bible quizzing Noah Wells. Thomas went on to become the Western District’s Quizzer and was faithful to of the Year. church, he was indifferent to his academic success in school which would lead him down the road to becoming a high school dropout. ACADEMIC INDIFFERENCE Thomas’ apathy became apparent beginning in middle school. Although he participated in class discussions, he
Thomas shares his testimony to the KREW children at his last KREW session before he goes off to UC Berkeley.
never turned in his homework. His grades were so dismal, that he did not participate in his eighth grade graduation, and was merely moved onto high school. Academic failure seemed certain to follow him into high school and beyond. SUMMER NEWSVINE 2019 21
