My name is Darrell Barker and I was born in Houston, but soon after I spent the first 7 years of my childhood in Dallas. I was born into a strong Southern Baptist family with loving parents and 2 older brothers. I had everything I ever wanted and needed growing up and believed that life was just peachy.

I became a Christian at age 7 when my mother led me to the Lord one afternoon. I was baptized in the Church soon after and started my journey of seeking Christ. My brothers and I were at Church every Sunday whether we wanted to be or not. Growing up in the Church was something I believed that everyone just did.

Later, my dad got transferred to Virginia where my family lived for 2 years apart from my oldest brother who stayed in Texas to go to college. I remember being sad but again believing that that was how life went. As I grew older I learned at an early age that I had the gift of mercy and wanted to help people. I imagined myself being a Psychiatrist or Psychologist but didn’t really know entirely what they did at that age. After those several years in Virginia my dad got transferred back to Texas but this time in Houston. As I went through middle school and high school, I found myself getting more and more disconnected from Church. I was still a strong believer but found myself being hypocritical towards the other kids at church. I spent much of my time with my family rather than getting involved with the Youth Group. My sophomore year I started leaning towards the “American Dream” and wanted a huge house, nice car, high paying career which led me down a path of Architecture.

While taking Engineering classes in High School I found out that my mom suffered from many disorders that had been hidden from me. The more and more I found out about her struggles and pain the more I started to remember the passion I had buried inside me. Towards the end of High School I had soon realized that my mom was not the only one struggling. I slowly watched my mom; brothers, aunts and uncles all seek counseling to free strongholds that had held them captive for so many years. I then knew that God was tugging on me as He showed me that life around me was not as peachy as I once thought it was.

I then started to mentor under the Biblical Counselor that had helped my family. He challenged me to surrender to God’s calling in my life and start living for Him instead of my own. So after my senior year I took an entire year off to struggle with the Lord and see what He had in store for me. I then fully surrendered to counseling and got into school. The Lord led me to a Bible preaching College where I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Counseling. I continued to mentor under the Counselor where I attended many seminars/workshops. A few years after college, I got married and bought a home in northeast Houston.

My desire now is to help, through our authority in Jesus Christ, all those that are hurting, afflicted, battered, broken and bruised.