After 34 years with the Institute for Creation Research, Don Barber retired on March 31, 2024. His eventful life leading up to ICR uniquely equipped him with skills and strengths that helped the ministry weather many challenges and changes.
Don grew up in a Christian home and came to the Lord when he was very young. In high school, he became involved in scientific research and was one of six students to receive an Award of Excellence from Richard Nixon in the President’s Environmental Merit Award Program that year. Don also joined the NJROTC with a plan to fly for the Navy and then retire to be a missionary pilot.
After a year and a half at Saddleback College, Don learned about Christian Heritage College (CHC) when Dr. John Morris spoke at his church about the search for Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat. Drs. Henry Morris and Tim LaHaye founded CHC in San Diego, California, in 1970, and its Creation Science Research Center became the Institute for Creation Research.
CHC offered a flight program that would let Don skip the Navy and go straight into missions. While there, he met his future wife, Rebecca Morris, and had classes with her father, Dr. Henry Morris, and Dr. Duane Gish. Don was building computers for himself, so he helped CHC with theirs. Thus began his computer network knowledge.
After marrying in 1976, Don and Rebecca spent time in missions, and then Don became the director of a Christian camp. They maintained a number of animals, including a python named Julius Squeezer. Their menagerie opened doors in schools, churches, and elsewhere for Don to showcase God’s amazing creation. He also took animals to ICR to participate in Dr. Richard Bliss’ Good Science program, and ICR sent students to his camp.
During this time, John Morris thought Don would be a good addition to the Mount Ararat expeditions searching for the Ark since Don was an EMT and had several rescue certifications. Don joined two Ararat trips in the 1980s. He said going to a place where the Ark might have landed 4,500 years before brought a sense of clarity that this was a real thing that reflected real consequences.
In 1990, Don and Rebecca joined ICR. Don first worked on the new Santee museum and then on building ICR’s donor base, handling the IT side. He was instrumental in establishing ICR’s computer networks and first web pages. Today, ICR.org offers thousands of science articles, online editions of Acts & Facts and Days of Praise, podcasts and other digital media, and more. Don was also an integral part of the planning and construction of the ICR Discovery Center.
Don’s steady involvement and varied skills have made a profound difference in the growth and strength of ICR’s ministry. When asked which experiences at ICR have meant the most to him, Don replied:
First, Rebecca and I had the shared—and ongoing—experience of watching our children grow up with ICR influencing their biblical knowledge of Scripture. Second, being involved in the building of both museums (Santee and Dallas) and various building projects. Third, being a team member of two expeditions to Ararat in search of Noah’s Ark. Fourth, guiding groups in the Grand Canyon and Mount St. Helens, which display our Lord’s handiwork.
And what would he like for people to learn from his time at ICR? “A worthy ministry is worthy of a long-term commitment.” God bless Don and Rebecca in their coming years.
Read the remarkable story of Don’s mother in Anita’s War: From Stalin and Hitler to Freedom in Christ by Rebecca Morris Barber. Anita Friesen experienced a child’s-eye view of World War II from Ukraine to Germany to the Americas. Her adventure reaches through the pages into a dark world that desperately needs the hope of Jesus Christ. For more information, visit ICR.org/store.
