Samford University defended its stance on the matter in a letter sent to students and shared with faculty and staff. Vice President of Student Affairs Philip Kimrey noted that “the university has a responsibility to formally partner with ministry organizations that share our beliefs.”

A campus minister at Samford University turned away Presbyterian Church (USA) and Episcopal Church college chaplains that asked to be included in a recent campus ministry fair because the two denominations have stances supporting same-sex marriage, according to the founder of SAFE Samford, an LGBTQ rights group.
Brit Blalock, who founded SAFE Samford in 2011 (Students, Alumni and Faculty for Equality), said that Madison Vaughn, ministry coordinator for the Ukirk campus ministry representing the Presbyterian Church (USA), had tried to reserve a table at the Church & Ministry Expo event held on Aug. 31 on campus.
Blalock said that the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Episcopal Church college chaplains had taken part in previous ministry fairs at Samford with no problems.
“It’s always been come one, come all,” said Blalock, a 2008 graduate of Samford University.
Vaughn was told she would not be given display space at the event and later contacted the Rev. Emily Collette, a chaplain at Trinity Commons, a similar campus ministry organization affiliated with the U.S. Episcopal Church. Collette had reserved a table at the event and agreed to share space with Vaughn, said Blalock, who spoke to Vaughn.
After Vaughn shared plans to attend the event on social media, Collette received a call from Samford University Campus Pastor Bobby Gatlin “uninviting” her to the event, Blalock said.
“He was explicit in saying that the reason was her denomination’s affirmative stance on LGBTQ people and did not mention any policies she was in violation of,” Blalock said.
The Rev. Joe Genau, pastor of Edgewood Presbyterian Church in Homewood and supervising pastor of Ukirk Campus Ministry, confirmed that Ukirk was not allowed at the event.
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Mrs. Townes said that her sister was able to help nurse their parents at Mrs. Townes’ home before they died. “She was here and by their side when they died,” Mrs. Townes said. Mrs. Barnes died in the same room at Mrs. Townes’ house. “I’m calling it the gateway to heaven,” Mrs. Townes said.

The oldest daughter of Briarwood Presbyterian Church’s founding Pastor Frank Barker has died, within two months of the death of her parents.
Anita Barker Barnes died Friday, Feb. 18, after battling brain cancer, said her sister, Peggy Barker Townes. She was 59.
Mrs. Barnes had been diagnosed with lymphoma in August 2020, Mrs. Townes said.
Briarwood Pastor Emeritus Frank Barker, 89, died on Dec. 27, 2021. His wife, Barbara Brown Barker, 85, died last month, on Jan. 13.
Mrs. Townes said that her sister was able to help nurse their parents at Mrs. Townes’ home before they died. “She was here and by their side when they died,” Mrs. Townes said. Mrs. Barnes died in the same room at Mrs. Townes’ house.
“I’m calling it the gateway to heaven,” Mrs. Townes said.
Pastor Frank Barker had founded Briarwood Presbyterian Church in a storefront in 1960 and led it to become one of Birmingham’s first megachurches. Barker retired from the 4,100-member church in 1999 after 39 years in the pulpit. Mrs. Barker, who studied musical theater at Northwestern University and danced with a professional company in Chicago, had founded the Briarwood Ballet School in 1980 and it now has more than 400 students.
Their oldest daughter Anita attended Briarwood Christian School from kindergarten through high school, graduated from Auburn University, where she was a cheerleader, and then worked on staff at Briarwood Presbyterian Church leading a ministry for high school students. She was also known for teaching dance and exercise classes.
Her husband, Billy Barnes, is an ordained Presbyterian minister. The couple moved to Arizona in 1998 to start Covenant Community Church in Scottsdale and lived there about 14 years before moving in 2013 to Nashville, where Barnes was an assistant pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church. He’s now on staff at the Center for Executive Leadership in Birmingham.
The family returned to Birmingham after Mrs. Barnes was diagnosed with cancer.
“We had the privilege of her being back here after 22 years away,” Mrs. Townes said.
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Barked died about 4:10 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 27, his daughter, Peggy Barker Townes, confirmed to AL.com. He was 89 and would have turned 90 next month. “He was faithful to the last breath,” Townes said. “We have been as blessed as we can be.”

The Rev. Frank Barker, who founded Briarwood Presbyterian Church in a storefront in 1960 and led it to become one of Birmingham’s first megachurches, has died.
Barked died about 4:10 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 27, his daughter, Peggy Barker Townes, confirmed to AL.com. He was 89 and would have turned 90 next month.
“He was faithful to the last breath,” Townes said. “We have been as blessed as we can be.”
Barker retired from the 4,100-member church in 1999 after 39 years in the pulpit.
He founded Briarwood in a storefront in 1960 in Cahaba Heights. After several months, the church moved to a campus on U.S. 280. In December 1973, Briarwood Presbyterian Church hosted the first General Assembly of the new Presbyterian Church in America, a conservative break-off from the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). Barker was a key figure in launching the PCA denomination.
Barker oversaw the construction of a $32 million new campus in 1988, overlooking Interstate 459 from a hilltop at the Acton Road exit. The church grew quickly and added a $5.5 million expansion in 1998.
Barker oversaw the creation of Briarwood Christian School, a ministry of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, which includes grades from kindergarten through high school. The high school has a Shelby County campus on Cahaba Valley Road.
Barker helped found the Birmingham Theological Seminary in 1972 with the Rev. Bill Hay at Edgewood Presbyterian Church in Homewood. It moved later to the Briarwood campus. Barker served as chancellor and chairman of the seminary, teaching classes in Old Testament and personal evangelism.
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