A relative moderate with rural roots is elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, by a wide margin

Pastor Bart Barber (Baptist Press photo via Kentucky Today)

An exurban pastor with rural roots and a relatively moderate stance on issues facing the Southern Baptist Convention was elected president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination Tuesday night.

Bart Barber is pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, population 3,612, an exurb of Dallas. He is from Lake City, Ark., pop. 2,326, just east of Jonesboro.

Barber, who strongly supported conclusions of the SBC's Sexual Abuse Task Force, was elected on the second ballot, defeating Pastor Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., by 61 to 39 percent. Barber got almost 48% on the first ballot. Other candidates were "former foreign missionary Robin Hadaway of Oceanside, Calif., and Pastor Frank Cox of North Metro Baptist Church near Atlanta, a last-minute entrant into the race," reports Frank Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

"Ascol, favored by Baptists who want to move their denomination further to the right, had adopted the campaign theme 'change the direction.' Barber, on the other hand, urged fellow Baptists to set their differences aside and focus on the gospel, calling on 'an army of peacemakers' to help unify the 13.7 million-member body."

Lockwood gives Barber's Baptist bio: "Barber was 5 years old when he responded to the altar call at Bethabara Baptist Church, a small congregation on the east side of the St. Francis River, roughly four miles north of Lake City. He was 11 when he first felt the call to ministry, a call that was confirmed while attending summer church camp three years later. While still in high school, he was 'licensed to preach the Gospel' by First Baptist Church in Lake City. Barber preached his first sermon while in high school and soon was asked to serve as interim pastor at New Hope Baptist Church near Black Oak, according to [Traci] Smith, his sister. Barber went to Texas to attend Baylor University, preaching at a small country church on the weekends. He's been ministering ever since." For more bio, from Baptist Press, click here.