Lajos Barbarics was born in Somogybukkosd in 1929, the fifth child of a loving Christian family. He learned early in life what it means to believe in God, and the teaching of the Bible was his measure. He gave his life to Jesus at age 12, and this decision followed him throughout his whole life.
In high school he studied to be a teacher, but he felt drawn toward architecture, so he applied and studied to be an architect at the Budapest Technical University, Department of Architecture, completing his degree in 1956. The same year, he married Eva Ruck whom he got from God as a wife, answering his prayers.
They belonged to the Wesselenyi Baptist Church until 1969, when they moved from downtown Budapest to Budafok joining the local Baptist church. They found a warm spiritual family here, where their children gave their life to Jesus Christ.
Their life had many trials. When Lajos was 41 year old, he went through several kidney surgeries and lost one kidney. At age 44, he retired and lived with one kidney another 32 years. For their trials they were well compensated richly with joy in their five children. He was a very loving husband, father and grandfather for 50 years, working constantly for his family. Besides his family, he worked for the cause of God. He loved the house of God and his spiritual brothers and sisters.
After he retired, he became free to build several churches in Hungary. Under his name and supervision was built the new Budafok Baptist Chuch on Peter-Pal street.
At that time, the laws restricted the construction of new churches. Only if an old church was demolished could a new one be built. It had to be the same size as the old church. This law was difficult to follow, since the membership was rapidly growing in number. Lajos' courage and fearless attitude helped him to prepare plans based on need not regulations. With God's grace, he succeeded to build some pretty big churches: Budafok, Szekesfehervar, Rakosszentmihaly Baptist and O utca Brother Church/headquarter, as well as several Pentecostal, Adventist and Lutheran churches. He was honored that he could do this work.
As was his nature, he cared for people in need. He regularly visited the sick and old people. He supported from his whole heart his spiritual brothers and sisters in Transylvania and Karpatalja. This is how he became involved in the East European Mission Organization. His passion was the mission work, to bring the evangelical news to many people. He took a risk under the old political system, delivering thousands of Christian books and Bibles for people desired them.
God showed his love towards him during his illness: before his death, he did not require any pain medication. With the deadly disease in his body that made him very weak, he was waiting for God's deliverance in peace.
We, the family,
are remembering with thanks to God for his richly blessed life.
