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Stanley (Stan) D.
Barker Bro. Barker is a lifelong member and 50+ year defender of the church. However, he has not been "trained for the ministry." He is descended from LDS pioneer ancestors who were valiant in living the gospel of Jesus Christ and who made outstanding marks in their communities and served on Church missions and various LDS Church callings. He comes from plural marriage families up line from each of his grandparents. And since it now seems to be in vogue to declare your generational relationship to the Church in order to gain credibility (at least by critics -- in and out of the Church), I am a 4th generation Mormon. My children are 5th generation Mormons! You will see the importance (smirk) of this information as you observe various critics on their way out of the Church (or having already left), in the statements they make about themselves. To the rest of us, this is just plain silliness, since we are each accountable for our own actions and know what we know by our own efforts. My testimony and actions are mine and I declare my testimony is that Christ lives and is the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; my Savior and Redeemer. He has called prophets and apostles to serve and preside over his earthly kingdom to provide proper direction and authority necessary for us to return to the presence of God and also to prepare for the Savior's return advent. Stan Barker has served in many church callings, including a mission in northern England (1965 - 1967), Elders Quorum instructor, Elders Quorum counselor, Stake Missionary, Primary teacher for seven years (the children loved him), High Priests Group instructor, Sunday School President, Stake Sunday School President, Cub Scout Committee Chairman, Scout Committee Chairman, Assistant Scoutmaster, Stake FREP Director, Assistant Stake Clerk/Stake Computer Specialist, Ward Family History Consultant and Assistant to a couple of High Priest Group Leaders and a High Priest Group Leader, among other callings. While serving as Assistant Scoutmaster, he and the Scoutmaster enjoyed a great deal of participation from parents and leaders in the ward on Scout outings. Two such activities were a one day hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out; another was a night hike into the heart of the Superstition Mountains east of Mesa, AZ without using flashlights. Having moved to Arizona, Brother Barker is currently serving as the Secretary in the Elders Quorum Presidency in his ward. He has also been called upon to teach classes on using the Internet for genealogical research. He enjoys researching family history and has gathered a great deal of information relating to his LDS pioneer ancestors. He is preparing family histories and photographs for distribution to his extended family. He was also a member of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. Bro. Barker has been researching and responding to criticisms by critics of The Church of Jesus Christ for over forty years and has published articles in The Research Report and has provided resource material for some issues of FARMS Review. Some of his articles appear in modified form on this web site. He has fielded questions about the LDS Church from members and critics for many years, and was long a resource for Robert and Rosemary Brown (co-authors of They Lie in Wait to Deceive), Stake Presidents, Bishops, and Branch Presidents. He appeared on the Alan Rappaport radio talk show with Robert L. Brown, January 13, 1986, on KFYI radio in Phoenix, AZ, in a time slot opposite Walter Martin and Ed Decker. Mr. Barker is an owner of Professional Digital Services, Inc., owner of MormonMemorabilia.com, and is presently involved in creating website for a new business venture: Our Beautiful America. He has been a partner in a couple of businesses (including electrical contracting companies in Arizona, as well as having entrepreneured his own businesses which included a ceiling fan installation business in Arizona. His college education includes accounting, computer programming and business management. He has been called upon by management of companies to write documentation outlining procedures for various business operations. He has served in management positions for several businesses. Mr. Barker was recognized as quite knowledgeable in things computer and was regularly called upon to help solve computer problems. Stan enjoys collecting old, used, and rare LDS books and has a considerable library. He has collected stamps and coins, built model cars, and flown model airplanes. Stan enjoys reading, focusing mainly on the scriptures, LDS historical, doctrinal, and apologetics works as well as works by LDS Church critics. He has learned that the LDS Church critics often repeat each other, without doing original research, and usually without the courtesy of giving credit to their information source. He has also found that they very rarely deal with LDS responses to the issues. On the contrary, they often claim to have done the original research. Stan feels great disdain for this downright dishonesty and notes that these facts are obvious to those of us familiar with their publications. He also enjoys occasionally reading western novels by Louis L'Amour and Larry McMurty as well as watching movie versions of their books. He enjoys most kinds of music, with emphasis on old time western, 1950s, and classical music. Stan is happily married to Susan and they have been blessed with six sons, 14 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. His oldest five sons are returned missionaries and have been married in various temples. His youngest son was married in the Logan Temple. Stan is very proud of his children and believes that his wife's efforts with them have paid off handsomely. Susan is currently serving as 1st Counselor in the Primary in our ward. Among other Church callings she has served in a Relief Society presidency in Arizona, as a Ward and Stake Family History Consultant/Director in the Lakewood Colorado Stake as well as a shift supervisor in the Lakewood, CO Stake Family History Center. She immensely enjoys researching her own family history and helping others to do the same. She has also served as a consutant on a shift in the Logan UT Family History Center. On another note, it has been said of Susan, that she "likes to change wallpaper more often than most people change socks." That has now changed to painting walls. She also loves to paint pictures and has become quite good at it. Although most acquaintances consider Stan to be a pretty good guy, few critics like him. He has no patience for dishonesty and deception and is often blunt in expressing his feelings about this, though he seems to be mellowing in his senior years. When Stan has pointed out weaknesses in critics arguments and their apparent unwillingness to correct those errors, they have often pulled out of conversations with him. Three of many such cases include Sandra Tanner, Dick Baer, and Ed Decker. This demonstrated dishonesty bothers Stan. He wishes they would repent so that they too might enjoy the glorious blessings of the Lord's Kingdom. |
