Meet J. Richard Barham

Born in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, and raised in Bridgeport, Alabama, Richard started preaching on a regular basis at age 15. He preached in his home church, First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, as well as other Baptist and Methodist churches in the area.

At First Baptist Church, Bridgeport, Richard served as the interim pastor from 1985-1986 before being ordained a Southern Baptist minister in September 1986 and moving on to First Baptist Church in Kennedy, Alabama. The last 5 years at Kennedy, he served as pastor. During Richard's tenure at Kennedy Baptist, the church was always one of the top 3 churches in baptismal numeric growth in the Lamar Baptist Association. As moderator of the Lamar Baptist Association, he successfully led efforts to receive the first ever predominately African-American church into membership of the Association.

Richard graduated from the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) with a major in History and a minor in Religious Studies and attended the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
After leaving Kennedy, Richard served as the Executive Crusade Administrator for the Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association based in Birmingham. During his tenure with Scott Dawson, Richard organized several area-wide crusades in the Southeastern United States and organized a mission crusade in Nicaragua. He also received invaluable training from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as they prepared for the 1993 Pittsburgh and the 1994 Atlanta crusades.

Coming Out
After coming out as a gay person, Richard became involved with Covenant Metropolitan Community Church (now Covenant Community Church) in Birmingham. Soon, he became student clergy and was sent by Covenant to plant a new work in Gadsden. The Gadsden Bible Study started in a private residence with less than 10 and within a year, the Bible Study was given a storefront to hold the crowd that had grown to around 60. Gadsden MCC had its first Sunday morning worship service in September 1997.

Richard left Gadsden MCC to accept Covenant’s call to become its associate pastor. Richard served as the associate pastor from September 1997 to December 1999. During that time, he was involved in the gay community of Birmingham. He served on the board of directors of Birmingham AIDS Outreach and served as treasurer on the board of directors of Central Alabama (Gay) Pride. Richard was ordained as an UFMCC minister in November 1999.

To the Rocket City
The Metropolitan Community Church of Huntsville (now the Spirit of the Cross Church) extended a call to Richard to become its pastor in November 1999. He accepted and has been in Huntsville since December 1, 1999.  The church has experienced growth in membership and in every area of ministry and worship.  In August 2007, Spirit of the Cross completed the new worship center that was built to help accommodate the growth.  In March 2009, the church completed the addition of new classrooms in the Celia Reynolds Fellowship Hall.  More renovations of the fellowship hall are planned.  Spirit of the Cross is excited about its future in the Tennessee Valley and its ministry to all including its primary ministry of serving north Alabama’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community.

Since coming to Huntsville, Richard has served on the board of directors of the AIDS Action Coalition of Huntsville, including a year as its second vice president. He served on the board of Soulforce Alabama, an organization that supports freedom for LGBT people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance. He is also a frequent guest on local college panel discussions regarding gay and religious issues.

While a member of MCC, Richard’s denominational service has included serving on the Gulf Lower Atlantic District’s (UFMCC) Board of Ordained Ministry and in its last year of existence, he served as its chairperson. He represented UFMCC on several occasions helping churches through conflicts and transitions. Under the leadership of UFMCC Region 2 elder, the Rev. Elder Armando Sanchez, Richard served the region by serving on the Regional Facilitator Team and serving as the region’s new church plant coordinator.

Family Life
Richard comes from a loving and supportive family. He has a wonderful mother and stepfather, father and stepmother, three younger sisters, a stepbrother, a stepsister, four nieces and three nephews.

Richard is an avid Elvis Presley fan and collects Elvis memorabilia (both good and tacky). He loves Southern Gospel (He misses Vestal Goodman tremendously and knows no one can live up to her legacy) and traditional Black Gospel music. His television stays on MSNBC, the History Channel, TV Land, and he likes reality shows. Spend any time with Richard and you'll discover his love for University of Alabama athletics. Roll Tide! He also is a great fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Richard has a cat named Lucky Jackson Barham. Lucky is named after Elvis Presley’s character in Viva Las Vegas.