SBC Preview

Barber is a Farmersville, Texas pastor, a rancher with a Ph.D. in church history and a folksy demeanor. Barber has maintained a lower profile than some recent SBC presidents, apart from his CBS 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper. He has focused on operational issues and mostly out of the limelight.

In a sermon to the February Executive Committee meeting, Barber acknowledged “challenges that defy not only my understanding, but my courage and my boldness.” But he said Southern Baptists know the solution: relying on God. They’ve seen it, he said, “over and over and over again.”

– with info from Christian Index and Baptist Press