John Barros, a beloved brother who spent over two decades camped outside the gates of hell at Orlando Women’s Center, one of the busiest abortion clinics in the country, has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Barros, whose name may be unfamiliar to most, was a giant to those who knew him and a significant influence on many abortion abolitionists who witnessed his work. With hundreds coming to serve alongside him and learn from him, his faithfulness and kind demeanor served to stiffen a generation of spines.
A devoted and dedicated chaplain, he attended Saint Andrew’s Chapel, home of the late RC Sproul, who, in his high praise, described Barros as his “hero.”
Barros started ministering part-time outside the murder mill in 2004 and full-time in 2010, where he endured thousands of hours of jeering, threats of violence, verbal abuse, and the pain and heartache of watching untold numbers of women pass by him on their way to murder their babies. Sometimes, he would see abortive literally mothers lined up outside the building, primed to turn their babies into a slurry of blood and bone, and he would call out to them, to plead, to save.
He did this every day despite two brain aneurysms, multiple cancer diagnoses, chronic pain, a stroke, years of crutches, and even shortly after a bad car wreck. Recently, after the abortion clinic escorts found out he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and would soon perish, they got a speaker and blasted a documentary about the tortuous effects his cancer would soon have on him and the sort of misery he will endure as his death draws near.
Describing a typical day, Barros once shared:
We pray for those on their way to the clinic, asking God to work on their hearts. When they arrive, we introduce ourselves, letting them know we are here for them and that God sent us to call them to trust Him. We give them the “In the Womb” tract and a card to the local crisis pregnancy center, which will do an immediate ultrasound. God turns many hearts right away.
When others go into the clinic for their paperwork, I preach. The building is twenty-five feet from the sidewalk. They hear every word. God uses His Word to move people’s hearts and open ears. Usually, within an hour, someone begins asking questions or chooses life.
We stay until the end. We have seen some literally “get off the table” and come out. God doesn’t work on our timetable.
He did this so often that his feet literally wore away a spot in the sidewalk’s concrete.
Mercifully, his toils and torments bore both immediate and delayed fruit. Over the years John saw over 3000 babies saved as a direct result of his and his co-laborers intervention, with the moms and husbands/ boyfriends occasionally coming up to him months or years later to introduce him to the baby they never aborted because he rescued those being delivered to death and held back those staggering toward slaughter.
After a life of faithfulness, yesterday morning John Barros heard the beautiful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your master.”
Till we meet again.
