The Story of Barnabas Communications

Hi. I'm Ron Walter, owner of Barnabas Communications. Thank you for taking a moment to read my story.

The short answer to the question of how I came up with this name is, when my first son was born, I wanted to name him Barnabas. For some reason everyone had visions of the poor kid growing up with a lot of teasing. He was spared (and, I think, he has always been grateful to those who talked sense into my head), so I figured okay, if I can't name my kid Barnabas, I could at least name my business that. Okay, there is a lot more to it than that.

Why would anyone in their right mind even think of the name Barnabas? Barney does not sound like a name that people will take seriously. Between purple dinosaurs, Barney Rubble and Barney Fife, you would think a serious, professional businessman would want to stay away from such a name.

You see, as I see it, Barnabas was one of the greatest heroes of the Bible. He is also perhaps one of the most unsung heroes and lesser known characters of the Bible as well. From what little we know of the man, I have a feeling he would have been just fine with knowing that latter part.

We have all heard of those like King David, the Apostle Paul, John the Baptist, the list goes on. So... Barnabas? Who was that???

There are a couple of stories of Barnabas I want to tell you about, and maybe from these stories you can see the significance I see in the man. The first one goes back to a religious leader who was not a guy you wanted to know if you were a Christian. This guy may have had as much to do with getting people killed because of their beliefs as anyone and was at the center of a growing persecution of Christians. He was out on a mission to find believers and have them thrown in jail or worse simply for their faith. So, imagine the skepticism and doubt that the Apostles had when he tried to contact them saying hey, he was one of them now. Yeah, right!

But the thing is, this guy was telling the truth. He had a pretty dramatic experience while travelling and was now a believer. If you have ever had that kind of life changing thing that alters everything you believed and were about you can maybe imagine some of how that had to be for him. I don't know what kind of frustration he may have had to finding himself believing so strongly in something and yet, here were the people he needed the most who would not take him seriously.

Enter Barnabas. Somehow he had the ability to see that this guy was for real. He took him under his wing, believed in the guy, and took the effort to get others to see what was really going on. I believe he was instrumental in helping this leader develop his faith and go on to become one of the greatest forces in the growth of the early church. This religious leader became who we now know as the Apostle Paul, the author of several of the books in the New Testament.

Another story about Barnabas had to do with a young man who had been helping Paul and Barnabas in their ministry, and who had given up at some point. Whether it was too difficult, whether it was too scary in the face of persecution, we don't know. What we do know is that when this young guy came around and was ready to get back into things, Paul wanted nothing to do with it. Here comes Barnabas again, who takes yet another person under his wing and believes in him. This young man, John Mark, would eventually go on to write the book of Mark.

Barnabas was pretty active in spreading the Gospel. But to me the things that stand out have to do with what he did more behind the scenes. It is about the things that were done by those who were encouraged and believed in by this giant of the faith.

By the way, the name Barnabas means "Son of Encouragement.". It is a name that was given to him by other believers at the time.

Now, I didn't pick that name just because I had to name something Barnabas. Not totally anyway. More than anything, it has to do with the starting of this work. This is the stuff I love to do. I enjoy this kind of work tremendously. In a lot of ways, the Barnabas Communications name speaks to the encouragement I've received from friends over and over again. It is a tribute to those who have been there through the most difficult times. And it is a reminder, every time I see the name, of the encouragement that says you can do this. I hope, as well, that my work and who I am can become just as much an encoragement to you as well.