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FORT WORTH—Bart Barber, lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, will be nominated for 1st vice-president of the Southern Baptist Convention at next week’s annual gathering in Houston.
Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, announced the nomination and his endorsement of Barber earlier today on Twitter.
“It is an honor and privilege to nominate my fellow pastor, Bart Barber, as the 1st Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Gaines said after his announcement on Twitter. “He has faithfully served our Lord, local churches, and our Convention for many years in various capacities. His church is committed to the Cooperative Program and to SBC missions. He is well qualified to help our president, Dr. Fred Luter, as we all seek a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revival on our churches and our institutions. I pray that others will join in support of Pastor Barber’s nomination.”
Barber, 43, has served as pastor in Farmersville since 1999, after serving pastorates across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
According to ACP statistics, last year FBC Farmersville had an average Sunday School attendance of 292, with 10% of their undesignated giving directed to the Cooperative Program annually. They also gave over $33,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
FBC Farmersville has also developed a presence among an Unengaged, Unreached People Group in Senegal. Over the course of three visits, the church has seen 17 professions of faith in a collection of tribes that had no evangelical presence only a year ago.
Barber earned his M.Div. from Southwestern Seminary in 1996, and continued there to earn a Ph.D. in church history in 2006. He served as an adjunct professor at Southwestern from 2006 to 2009.
Currently, Barber serves as a trustee of Southwestern Seminary and was selected last year to chair the Academic Administration Committee. He also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
In 2007, Barber was selected by former convention president Frank Page to serve on the Southern Baptist Convention Committee on Committees.
Born and raised in Lake City, Arkansas, Barber came to Christ at the age of five and was called to preach when he was 11. He was ordained to preach and graduated from Baylor University in 1991 and married his wife, Tracy, a few months later. They have two children: Jim, age 10, and Sarah, age 6.
“I’m deeply moved by the confidence placed in me by Steve Gaines and, should they concur with him, by the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Barber said in response to the announcement by Gaines. “Any role I can play in carrying our cooperative mission work into the coming decades is something I can get excited about.”
Barber is on Twitter @bartbarber and blogs at www.praisegodbarebones.blogspot.com.
