Skip to content
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
The Baptist Paper
The Baptist Paper
  • SBC 2025
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds
  • SBC 2025
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds

Barber challenges messengers to not miss the beauty around them

  • June 13, 2023
  • Shawn Hendricks
  • Featured, Latest News, Louisiana, SBC 2023, Texas
Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church Farmersville, Texas, gives his President’s Address during the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting.
(Photo by Sam Evans/The Baptist Paper)

Barber challenges messengers to not miss the beauty around them

Sometimes the truth hurts, Bart Barber shared during his president’s address June 13 during the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in New Orleans. 

For the SBC president, who is a loyal St. Louis Cardinals fan, that means acknowledging his team is “having a really bad year so far.”

“I can’t dispute the truth,” he said. “I don’t like it, but I can’t dispute the truth of that.”

Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church Farmersville, Texas, noted during his 30-plus minute address, it is important to acknowledge the difficult realities of life. But he also challenged Southern Baptists to not miss the beauty around us. Preaching from Phil. 4:8–9, he focused on the things we are to dwell on as followers of Christ. 

SBC President Bart Barber delivers the President’s Address during the Tuesday morning session of the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans on June 13. (Photo by Van Payne/The Baptist Paper)

Being a follower of Christ, he said, is going to impact the things that we see as true, beautiful and worth dwelling on. 

He also noted that Christianity changes our view of what is true and beautiful.

“God is calling us to dwell on the right things,” he said. “He’s calling us to dwell on things with a distinctively Christian sense of taste.”

‘Tainted by the fall’

He acknowledged that as humans our taste has been “tainted by the fall,” and said we are fallen people — “your fallen sense of taste needs to be cultivated and trained just like mine.”

“There are going to be truths that the world doesn’t like,” Barber said. “There are going to be truths that I don’t like, or that you don’t like, but they’re no less true. They’re no less beautiful.”

“Here are some true statements — indisputably true,” he noted. “Boys can’t become girls. That’s true, but it’s controversial to some people. Some people don’t like it. Marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s true, but there are people in the world who don’t like it. Local autonomous churches that want to prevent sexual abuse could benefit from some help. That’s true. That’s something that we’re trying to address and help with.” 

Southern Baptists should have a taste for and embrace truth, not condemn it, he emphasized.

“We have to realize that even when truths are controversial or painful or difficult, the lies with which we would replace the truth are always uglier — and far more damaging,” he said. “When we speak truths that the world does not want to hear, we don’t do it in order to debase the conversation or make the world uglier, we do it because we have a taste for the beauty of truth.”

Barber also addressed how Southern Baptists can become so critical of each other that they miss the beautiful things that are happening in the convention, things like missionaries being sent around the globe and new church plants being started. Southern Baptists should be able to celebrate these things, he said, even though these successes are often met with challenges.

Evaluating the state of our hearts

Southern Baptists need to look at the state of their hearts, he urged.

“If you’re not sure about the state of your heart, Google knows. Facebook knows. Twitter knows. The algorithm knows,” he said. “It watches you every time you click ‘Like.’

“Santa Claus ain’t got nothing on Facebook,” he said. “It knows when you’re sleeping. It knows when you are awake. And it knows when you like bad or good, and if your wall or your feed, if it constantly brings you a steady barrage of fear and criticism and anger, you are being shown a mirror image of your aesthetic, of your sense of taste, of your theory about what is beautiful.”

Barber noted, “In this passage Jesus is calling us to rise up and to be better than this world. What if we did that? What if we obeyed His command?”

SBC President Bart Barber delivers the President’s Address during the Tuesday morning session of the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans on June 13. (Photo by Van Payne/The Baptist Paper)



Barber closed by sharing what Southern Baptists should be about.

“This convention exists to proclaim and serve Jesus as Lord,” he said. “And this convention exists to serve others for Jesus’ sake.”

Don’t miss the beauty around us

And Southern Baptists should be able to see the beauty in that.

“My dad taught me to see the beauty in God’s Word, but it was my momma who taught me to see the beauty in people,” said Barber, who noted his mother passed away on Sunday, June 11.

“My mom saw the beauty in people,” he said. “She learned to see the beauty in people around her, and because of that she changed people’s lives.”

Barber encouraged Southern Baptists to “have the courage to call a spade a spade when you need to do that, but also have the good sense to call a masterpiece God’s masterpiece when you encounter it.”

“There is so much beauty around us,” he said. “Keep looking, Southern Baptists, keep looking.”

Share with others:

Facebook
X/Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Latest News

  • Providing more than meals, meeting ‘critical’ need
    Providing more than meals, meeting ‘critical’ need
    July 14, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Lesson for July 20
    Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Lesson for July 20
    July 14, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • Fulani herdsmen kill, kidnap Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria
    Fulani herdsmen kill, kidnap Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria
    July 14, 2025/
    0 Comments

Sign up for the Highlights

Get all latest content delivered to your email a few times a month.
Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

Related Posts

Providing more than meals, meeting ‘critical’ need

For nine years, First Baptist Church in Portland has run a summer feeding program that does more than fill empty stomachs.

Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Lesson for July 20

Here’s the Bible Studies for Life Sunday School lesson commentary for July 20, written by Bobby McKay, pastor of New Liberty Baptist Church in Morton, Mississippi.

Fulani herdsmen kill, kidnap Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Fulani herdsmen attacked two villages in Kaduna state, Nigeria, July 7, killing two Christians and wounding three others, after terrorizing villagers in another area in June, International-Morning Star News reported.

Texas flooding update: Baptist relief teams, churches continue to ‘walk alongside’ hurting

Baptist relief teams hit the ground running Monday (July 14) after a rough weekend of  heavy rains and flash flood warnings in Central Texas that

Want to receive news highlights throughout the week? Sign up here!

Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

About

  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us
  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us

Explore

  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos

Submissions

  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy
  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
The Baptist Paper
Address:
3310 Independence Dr.
Birmingham, AL 35209
Copyright © 2025 TAB Media Group
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ

Email:
news@thebaptistpaper.org

About

  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church
  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church

Explore

  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news

Subscribe

  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate

Log Out?

Lost your password?

Log In

Lost your password?

Log in

Become a part of our community!
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy/Terms of Use

Reset password

Recover your password
A password reset link will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy/Terms of Use
Back to
Login
×
Close Panel