On the most miraculous Sunday of his life, Ellis Barker arrived early as usual. He read the church bulletin and said a silent prayer.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Mr. Barker felt fine. He and his wife, Jean, were looking forward to a Florida vacation.

Then, as they sat quietly in their usual pew, Mr. Barker's heart suddenly stopped.

He slumped over. His wife tried to wake him. Several parishioners jumped up.

They didn't know it yet, but the good people of St. John's United Church of Christ were about to save one of their own - using a machine they almost didn't have.

No pulse

Nurse Lisa Daniels was among the first to reach Mr. Barker, a dear family friend.

He was blue and had no pulse. She began CPR. Assisting were three other nurses and three doctors, all members of the Newport congregation.

After a few compressions, Ms. Daniels looked up frantically and met the eyes of parishioner Phil Hamilton.

She yelled for him to bring the defibrillator, a medical device the church had recently purchased.

Mr. Hamilton knew right where it was. Hurriedly, they had the machine read Mr. Barker's condition.

"Shock advised," it said.

Ms. Daniels delivered a total of three jolts. By the time the life squad arrived, her friend's heart had resumed beating.

"The emergency-room doctor indicated that without the defibrillator, he probably wouldn't have made it," parishioner Joan Haas says.

It was she who suggested St. John's invest in the machine, which costs about $3,500 and is not yet common in churches or schools. A heart patient married to a doctor, Ms. Haas knew the life-saving potential of AEDs, or automated external defibrillators.

A few people questioned the expense, says Mr. Barker, then on the church council. He was among the majority who approved the purchase, using money from the church's memorial fund. It's typically reserved for "special religious items," Mr. Barker says wryly.

For about three months, the defibrillator sat unopened. There was talk of returning it, but ultimately, it was removed from its box and installed in a special cabinet.

Ms. Daniels and Mr. Hamilton volunteered to receive the training. And when Mr. Barker collapsed on Oct. 13, both happened to be near.

Today, their friend is recuperating from surgery to have an internal defibrillator installed. He is again thinking about Florida. And last Sunday, for the first time, he returned to St. John's.

Ms. Daniels gave him a fierce hug. Dozens of people welcomed him back, some through tears.

Mr. Barker gets choked up thinking about it.

His heart could have stopped 15 minutes earlier, while he was driving to church. Or two weeks later, on the trip to Florida.

"Why was I so lucky?" he asks God.

There is not yet a clear answer. But at St. John's, the instrument of his good fortune has been carefully returned to its cabinet, just in case someone else should falter.

kgutierrez@enquirer.com or (859) 578-5584.