Leroy Barber
Bio
Leroy Barber has dedicated more than 20 years to eradicating poverty, confronting homelessness, restoring local neighborhoods, healing racism, and living what Dr. King called “the beloved community.”
Leroy starts projects that shape society; In 1990, burdened by the plight of the Philadelphia’s homeless, he founded Restoration Ministries, to serve homeless families and children living on the streets. In 1997, he joined FCS Urban Ministries, to serve as the founding Director of Atlanta Youth Academies, a private elementary school, to provide quality Christian education for low-income families in the inner city.
He is currently the President of Mission Year, a national urban initiative introducing 18-29 year olds to missional and communal living in city centers for one year of their lives. Rev. Barber is the Pastor of a church plant, Community Fellowships Church; and on the boards of Atlanta Youth Academy and DOOR. Leroy was also chosen as a contributor to the ground-breaking book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters.
Leroy is married to Donna and together they have three children, Jessica, Joshua and Joel.
Leroy Barber's Blog
Cynicism vs. Hope / Apr 22, 10:32 AM
I was raised in a church where hope was the order of the day. My family was not rich. In fact, we struggled quite a bit financially as my mother worked to raise four boys. There was injustice all around, but there was hope. It was preached from the pulpit on Sunday and lived out in my mother each day as she prayed and sang God’s praises before me. My school teachers used it as motivation, and bible teachers pumped it into my spirit. The older saints, as we called them, prayed about it each week at prayer, and the deacons hummed it in their prayers. Hope. Hope for a better day or hope that God would meet the day’s need. Hope that there was a God and that he cared deeply for me and would make up for the pain and injustice I saw around me each day. In fact, I’ve learned more about hope from older people who have lived through racism and injustice firsthand than I have from privileged people who have barely struggled in their lives. I have seen hope work in my life. But still I turn from it much too often.
I turn to cynicism. Cynicism has taken the place in my heart where hope used to reign. I am still a dreamer, but I have compromised my dreams for cynicism more often than I care to admit these days. Cynicism floats around in my head most days as I look at the conditions of my neighborhood or if I think about the environment or the fact that so many of my brothers are in jail. I often spout off about what the “church” is or is not doing and how I think that Christians are falling short of the mark that Jesus set. I often justify my cynicism as being a critical thinker. I am beginning to think that cynicism might be the luxury of the privileged because if you are not privileged by race or power or money, then hope, not cynicism, is what you rely on for life. If you see no future and can’t connect your life to a bigger purpose, cynicism works like a poison, destroying your spirit.
Some would say that hope lacks substance, that it is a tool of the weak, but positive change cannot happen for a person in poverty or of less privilege if there is no hope. Hope is always the fuel for change; it refreshes the heart of weary people and gives strength to the oppressed. It is a reason to persevere in struggle. In fact hope may be a sign of strength, an instrument of the brave. Romans 5 declares, “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”
In many cases our team members arrive ready to serve and offer encouragement. However, some are surprised at how much we learn from our new neighbors about what it means to persevere through struggle, about hope. It’s a neighborly exchange where each learns from and encourages the other. With your support, we will not be disappointed.
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Environmental Racism / Apr 17, 01:35 PM
I recently was asked to write an article by Creation Care on environmental issues in our neighborhoods. More specifically, how certain local environment conditions impact our neighbors and the community at large.
Do You Believe? / Mar 25, 09:26 AM
Dear Friends,
Mr. Miller is a 75 year old gentleman who lives next door to me and has lived in my neighborhood all of his life. He and his wife keep their property immaculate. They sweep up around it daily, paint their house once a year and keep a well-manicured lawn. The Millers are special people. They have been married for nearly 60 years and sit on their porch together talking most mornings as I pass by their house. They watch out for our house when we are away and always offer an encouraging word.
Mr. Miller and I have had many conversations about the plight of our neighborhood. He knows it’s not in the best shape but he ends every conversation by saying, “it will all work out in the end.” I am a bit more cynical about these things, but Mr. Miller’s life keeps speaking in a major way and penetrates my cynicism most of the time. The Millers embody what it means to live good lives in the midst of challenge. They have been sweeping the same pavement, painting the same house and manicuring the same lawn for over 50 years. The Millers are the picture of commitment and dedication.
Dr. King, in describing the beloved community, declares that the universe is on the side of justice and that, eventually, good will prevail over evil. What Dr. King so eloquently wrote and preached is lived out next door to me everyday by a couple who may never be famous or see their musings in print, yet still believe that it will all work out in the end. A couple that has lived through racism in the south and knows Jim Crow personally, still believes.
“I believe; Lord, help my unbelief,” said the tearful father in Mark 9. Jesus had just declared that with him all things are possible. The man’s son was possessed by a demon and had been for a long time. This father wanted to believe Jesus, and probably did. Still the history of his son’s behavior was there. Life in the city can sometimes be that way. You see overwhelming problems and a history of hurt and failure in so many lives. It’s hard to believe, even though you desperately want to, with so much injustice in front of you.
This is where the Miller’s undying commitment helps. Our staff and team members walk these places and live in the reality of pain and suffering daily and it is people like the Millers that help us to continue believing. People like them and people like you – committed people who give to encourage us as we seek to walk with our neighbors in what often appear to be impossible situations. We believe. Would you continue praying and supporting financially to help our unbelief?
We Shall Overcome / Feb 25, 02:39 PM
I get the opportunity to walk to my office most mornings and as I walk, I often feel like I am surveying the damage left from a storm the night before. Only this is a storm of habits, vices and poverty. I see condoms left on the ground and cans and bottles of malt liquor that have been thrown from cars. Coming out of my house two weeks ago, I found the window of my car busted, and on my walk last week my neighbor called out to me as I walked by her house that her window had been busted as well. There have been two cars stolen over the last month and numerous break-ins. It seems that the evil that won’t show itself during the day gets free reign at night as we sleep, and in the morning we’re left to survey the damage. We come out to find cars missing or evidence of a woman having given herself to some guy in the back seat of a car next to our house for 10 bucks.
I’ve begun to pray on my walk to work in the mornings that somehow the light of day would break through the storms of evil that rule during the night. I pray that lost hope would be restored. I do this to fight the voice inside that keeps gently pushing me to leave this place or to give up hope. “Why are you doing this?” it whispers. “Why are you living here? Why are you even walking? You’re not going to save the environment.”
Each morning becomes a battle within, but as I pray I am encouraged to continue. I begin to think about our team members that are living in many neighborhoods like mine around the country and I pray for their work to bring light. Hope wins out, although some mornings just barely, and I choose to hope one more day.
The world around me gives me every excuse to stop hoping and to live for myself. The tension within that says, “It’s not worth it,” is matched by the pull of individualism that tells me to worry about myself and get my family out. But the scriptures give me every reason to stay and fight, and they insist that hope will not disappoint.
So we represent hope and we offer alternatives to suffering alone in this dark world. Light overcoming evil with good. Will you join us on this journey? Will you remember to pray each evening against the evils of darkness? Will you remember to support us in your giving to help us continue bringing light? With your help we will not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
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Make a Change / Feb 7, 12:47 PM
This is a wonderful time of year. The holidays are behind us and as usual the new year brings new hope and aspirations. We seek to lose weight, spend less money, stay in shape, and spend more time at home with the kids. For most of us when the clock struck midnight on December 31, we saw an opportunity to make changes to ourselves and the world in which we live. This year will bring a new president in the US, and we will hear speeches and slogans filled with hope and promise of better days ahead. We will, at least for the time being, eat better and make good decisions about our lives and health. The good part is that those of us who stick with it will make a great impact on our lives and the world.
I would like to begin the New Year in the same way. There are over 4,000 of you that I communicate with on a monthly basis through this newsletter. A lot of you support us and respond back regularly and we are very thankful for you. I would like to begin the New Year with a challenge. Would you consider a one year pledge of 30 dollars per month for this year? That is one dollar for every day of the year. I would like to get at least 1,000 of you to commit to that this year. One dollar a day is less than the price of a cup of coffee, so you could drink one less cup a day. It is less than the cost of renting a movie from the video store, so you could rent one less movie a week. It is the same price as downloading a song on your iPod. So you could download a little less. Your 30 dollars a month is close to two weeks groceries, and half the price of a monthly bus pass for our team members to get to work at a school or homeless shelter.
If you make this change for the better right now and stick with it for the year there are many benefits due you. You will consume less caffeine, listen to your iPod less, and watch less TV, which will do wonders for your relationships (You’re welcome!). Your life will be changed because when you give, it comes back to you. The world will be made better because it allows our team members to continue living and working among the poor.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that you make solid commitments and stick with them this year, not only for yourself but for the good of the world.
