Pastor McGowin was saved and baptized at a young age in a Baptist church in central Alabama in 1973, but it wasn’t until a few years after his wife Karen was saved that God called them into full-time ministry together.

They immediately began preparing for ministry at Ambassador Baptist College in the Spring of 1991. While studying for the ministry, Pastor McGowin gained experience in practical ministry in his local church.

After Bible college and several years in full-time ministry at their home church in Birmingham, Pastor McGowin felt burdened to plant a church. The Lord led them to Shelby County, Alabama. Together with their five children, he and his wife ministered there as a bi-vocational pastor’s family for 17 years.

In May of 2021, Barry McGowin was called to pastor Manna Baptist Church. With the years of experience that God has given him through church-planting, youth ministry, and bi-vocational ministry, the Lord has equipped him with the tools, the burden, and the love for pastoring a local church.