In 2001, at 44, Richard Barnes came to Denver, Colorado to start over. Perhaps coming to the “Mile-High City” could act as a psychological tactic to help him avoid getting high. For a while it worked, but he ended up crashing 10 years later. By then, “Rick,” as he is known, says he had nothing to live for and wanted it all to end.

Born in Akron, Ohio, he came to Denver by way of central Michigan, western New York and Miami, Florida. Along the way were two wives and two children—and an ever-increasing addiction to drugs and alcohol that eventually cost him everything.

“I left Miami the week after 9/11,” Rick says. “I headed for Denver because I have a sister here and coming to a location like this seemed like a chance for me to start over—a clean slate.”

It was anything but. 

Eventually, Rick’s addiction only grew worse, and he regularly dealt drugs on the street to keep his habit going.

Then on Thanksgiving Day in 2011, the City of Denver SWAT Team raided the place where he was staying, and Rick spent the next several months in jail.

“That’s when a friend made while in jail gave me a Bible,” he says. “I opened that Bible and began reading it for the first time and prayed to God for help.”

While in jail, Rick endured horrific withdrawals and felt deathly ill most of the time. Then one day, as he was waiting in line near the shower room, Rick seemed to “come out of the fog.” 

“For the first time in a very, very long time,” he says, “I felt safe. I felt that no matter what happened, God would see me through. I wasn’t even angry that I was stuck in jail. I just knew that changes had to be made in my life!”

Rick adds that at that moment, he felt “glad to be alive” for the first time in a very long time, and his constant sickness and withdrawals ended. 

Not long after, Rick was released on probation and was supposed to be assigned to a recovery program somewhere in Denver where he could continue his rehabilitation. But he “slipped through the cracks” and spent the next three months on the street.

“I stayed clean, though, and it was tough. But I didn’t ‘use’ at any time,” he says.

He was compliant with all other terms of his probation when it was discovered he had not been assigned to a treatment facility—so a list of programs was given to him.

“One of the names on that list was The Salvation Army,” Rick says.

“Something about this place felt right to me—I didn’t know beforehand that The Salvation Army was a treatment facility or even a church.” He adds that he did not even check out other programs on the list.

Coming into The Salvation Army’s Denver Harbor Light, a rehab facility program for nearly 100 men, was just the ticket for Rick’s growing relationship with God.

Rick says, “At Harbor Light, I realized that all I had to do was … be at peace with God, … be still (Psalm 46:10). I finally got that I had to forgive myself to believe fully that God had already forgiven me!”

Rick eventually graduated from the program and became the resident manager at the Denver Harbor Light Center. In that role, he would oversee the program and enforce the rules. Best of all, he connected with the men because he knew what they were going through; he was one of them.

Rick was enrolled as a Salvation Army soldier in the Denver Lighthouse Corps on Easter 2013, and then later became a corps sergeant-major, the highest lay-leadership position in every corps. He met his future wife-to-be, and, in July 2018, they were married. His wife, Major Julie Barnes, is a retired Salvation Army officer, and Rick says that he never thought anyone would ever want to marry him again, especially a nice church girl. 

In January 2020, Rick became the manager of The Salvation Army Denver Metro/EDS Warehouse. It was a spiritually rewarding experience helping others in need through the pandemic and in that tough time, Rick says.

Rick retired in September 2023 after 10 years of employment with The Salvation Army. 

“I thought I was going to take it easy, but God had other plans,” Rick says. 

In October, after only a few weeks of retirement, Rick and Major Julie were sent by the Intermountain Division to the Ogden, Utah Corps, to assist the corps officers during the Christmas season.

“It was just what I needed,” Rick says, “and helping in Ogden has renewed my passion for the mission of The Salvation Army. With the love of God in my heart, I want to continue to help others as long as I can.”

Rick says, “I believe that God has a plan for me and that He is still at work, shaping me into the man He wants me to be!”