Mike Barber, a former NFL player who spent ten years (1976-1985) with the Houston Oilers and Los Angeles Rams, transitioned from a celebrated football career to a life dedicated to prison ministry after a transformative experience visiting a prison at a friend's request. Initially expecting to pursue NFL coaching, Barber's encounter with inmates shifted his passion from football to sharing the Gospel of Christ, leading him to spend his off-seasons during the last six years of his NFL career ministering in prisons. For the past 30 years, through Mike Barber Ministries, a 501c3 tax-exempt organization, he has leveraged relationships built during his football career to bring hope and forgiveness to inmates in some of the toughest facilities, finding greater fulfillment in this calling than in his professional sports achievements.
