Rev. Don Barnett brings heart for rural ministry to Red Bay’s First United Methodist Church

LaVale Mills
The Red Bay News

(We appreciate the Red Bay News and publisher Jason Collum for allowing republication of this article.) 

There is a new minister in Red Bay at First United Methodist Church. 

The Reverend Don Barnett, his wife, Tangie, son Daniel, and daughter Bethany, are settled in and becoming a part of life in Red Bay. 

It has been 35 years since Reverend Barnett answered God’s call to preach the gospel; more than three decades of sharing, caring, and working. A native of Rogersville in north Alabama, he grew up active in all church and community activities, but his greatest interest was in music. 

“I thought music would be the path I traveled to do my part in sharing The Good News,” he said. 

Then, God called. Rev. Barnett says he will never forget the feeling he had the afternoon he knew God was calling him to preach the gospel. 

“I was attending Birmingham Southern College majoring in music,” he said. “Although I had always loved music and practiced playing the piano daily, when I got to college, I had a lot of catching up to do.” 

Classical music must be played from memory and for about a year he had to really work hard to “catch up” in that area. 

“One afternoon I was listening to the soundtrack from Jesus Christ Superstar and trying to relax a bit. While I was listening, I felt a strange feeling come over me,” Barnett said. “I knew God was speaking to me.”

Rev. Barnett says he realizes the music he was listening to, in many ways, does not represent a valid picture of Jesus Christ but it dealt greatly with His suffering and dying for our sins. 

“I was so moved by that,” he recalls. He immediately walked across campus to the building where those who counsel students who are called to preach were located. “I knew God had called me to do more in His work than music. I surrendered to that call.”

After his studies at Birmingham Southern he attended Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. His greatest interest was in rural ministry. 

“I love rural and small-town life,” he said. “I feel those areas have much to offer and I felt that is where I could better serve.” 

Rev. Barnett had a solid foundation growing up in Rogersville. His parents, Rudolph and Ann Barnett, made sure he and his siblings (a brother and a sister) not only attended Rogersville First Methodist Church, but were active members. He credits his parents with his work ethic as well as his desire to work not only in the church but in the community as well. 

“My father was in World War II. When he came home, he attended Auburn University on the G.I. Bill earned a degree in Pharmacy. He was dedicated to his work and to our family, as was my mother. I had a happy life growing up,” he said. Those growing up years were the groundwork that would carry over into his adult life.

As part of his training, he discerned his call to ministry at the Hinton Rural Life Center in North Carolina. He preached his first sermon in a small rural church in that area on a cold, snowy Sunday with only 15 people in attendance, and there was no one to play the piano. Not only did Rev. Barnett preach, but he also played the piano for the service. 

“I decided that day that God was calling me to serve in rural churches and to help strengthen their ministries.” 

His first appointment was in a very rural area of Alabama called the Upper Sand Mountain Parish. There were several churches that were a part of that parish. He served 10 churches in a group ministry for 11 years. He worked in the ministry and missional outreach in a thousand square mile area to help people in need. And something else happened that made his life richer while he was there. He met his wife, Tangie. 

“She was from Dutton, located on Upper Sand Mountain. We were married there in 1994,” he said. She has been his helpmate in the ministry since that time. The Barnetts have three children, Daniel, 26, Micah, 22, and Bethany, 13. The two boys are working and taking college courses. Bethany is an eighth-grade student at Red Bay High School. “She is enjoying making a group of new friends. We are enjoying life in Red Bay very much,” he said. 

Bethany enjoys sports and, with music being such a part of her father’s calling, she also sings with the family. Rev. Barnett’s love of music was fed when he was growing up by those who recorded at Fame Recording Studios. 

“Randy McCormick grew up with me and we attended church together. I would go to Fame and listen to those who recorded there. I met Lenny LeBlanc and several others. Music was and is a very important part of my spiritual life,” he said.

Rev. Barnett, Tangie, Daniel and Bethany are settled into their home in Red Bay and are enjoying weaving themselves into life in the community. Rev. Barnett has joined the Red Bay Civitan Club and Red Bay First United Methodist Church has several outreach ministries that he works with to make sure they not only continue but grow as well. “Probably our most well-known outreach ministry is our Food Pantry. That is so important and we at our church feel blessed to be able to supply those who need that service,” he said. 

Other outreach ministries of the church include feeding the Work Release workers who work cleaning up the city. 

“That is a quarterly ministry,” he explained. Other ministries that are a part of the church program include the yearly school supply give-away, Good Neighbor teams who help those who have sickness or other problems, and the church also has weekly Bible study for both men and women, and weekly prayer time meetings. The church recently fed the Red Bay High School Football team. 

“Other new outreach programs will be planned from time to time when an opportunity opens for them,” Rev. Barnett explained.

 “We are basically in a time of recalibration,” he said. “We want to serve our church members as well as our community. We will be adding, Lord willing, other programs but right now we are working to keep the ones we have strong and helpful to those who need them most.” 

Before coming to Red Bay, he served Centre United Methodist Church near Weis Lake. He said it is good to be back in Northwest Alabama. 

“We have enjoyed wherever we have served,” he said. “But being in Red Bay feels like being home.” 

Rev. Barnett cordially invites all who are looking for a church home to come be a part of Red Bay First United Methodist Church. 

“We welcome everyone with open hearts, open minds, and open doors,” he said. 

Sunday School is at 9:30 on Sunday morning and Worship at 10:30. Wednesday night Bible Study is at 6 p.m. For more information about the church, call the church office at 256-356-4654.