‘Unity, Buy-in, and Consensus’—Newly Re-Elected SBC President Bart Barber Emphasizes Shared Beliefs on Abuse Reform, Male-Only Pastorate

“We are unified by that belief, and we have affirmed that with strong balloting,” Barber said.

Later, when asked why the SBC took 30 years to disfellowship Fern Creek Baptist Church, which has been pastored by Linda Popham since 1993, Barber said, “I actually think that’s a beautiful thing, because my desire for us as Southern Baptists, when we reason with one another, is to give room and time for persuasion.”

“We should seek persuasion, restoration…we should always be working toward unity,” Barber added. “Working toward unity takes time, and I’m thankful that Southern Baptists have taken time.”

When asked what advice he would give to other churches in the SBC who have women serving as pastors, Barber explained how his church, First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas, approaches the issue.

“For us, everybody who has the word ‘pastor’ in their title at FBC Farmersville, we’re saying that they’re the same thing as me,” Barber said. “At our church, we believe that a church can have multiple pastors but not multiple kinds of pastors or multiple categories of pastors.”

Conversely, Barber said of some SBC churches who may be “troubled” by the events of the annual meeting with regard to the issue of women in leadership, “Some of them just apply titles differently.” For example, whereas Barber would refer to the person in charge of the children’s program as a children’s minister, others would designate that person as a “children’s pastor.”

“They could change that title and not change anything about what that person is doing and be perfectly in compliance with everything that the messengers have voted on here,” Barber said, adding that referring to non-elders as pastors is “confusing.”

With regard to churches, such as Fern Creek, that believe women can serve as elders, Barber said, “Southern Baptists and your church are in different places, and we seem also to be moving in different directions.”

Barber on Building Consensus for Abuse Reform

Finally, Barber addressed ongoing sexual abuse reform efforts in the denomination. He remarked, “There was such a strong affirmation by the messenger body today of the direction that the Convention set last year and of the work of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.”

Messengers overwhelmingly voted for the task force, abbreviated ARTIF, to continue its work for another year. Last year, messengers overwhelmingly voted in favor of forming the task force, with the agreement that its work would be evaluated each year and messengers would vote as to whether the task force should continue.

“It was my great privilege to appoint the members who are serving on the ARTIF,” Barber said. He went on to note that while the ARTIF had the authority and financial resources to push for quick solutions, they have taken the time to listen to the questions and concerns of others to build consensus around a plan to move forward. 

“It’s important for us to build unity, buy-in, and consensus in the things that we do to move forward sex abuse reform,” Barber said. “Because if a church doesn’t like what we’re doing and they leave, the children in that church are no more safe than they were before. Every church that participates in making our churches safer is going to have to do so because they want to.”