Though watching his daughter being crowned as Miss Alabama 2016 on June 11 was a “proud moment” for Pastor Mark Barber, seeing Hayley Barber come to know the Lord, be baptized and live for His glory has been “one of the greatest joys any pastor could have.”
Mark Barber, who has served as pastor of Hillview Baptist Church, Forestdale, for nine years, said his daughter has a servant’s heart that is evident in her daily life, as well as in her new platform as Miss Alabama 2016.
Saved at a young age
Being a pastor’s kid, Hayley Barber said she heard the gospel as a child.
“I was saved at a young age,” she said, “but felt I only went through the motions (since) my older sister was doing the same thing at the time. At my middle school Disciple Now one of the speakers spoke about being lukewarm with Christ … and that struck a chord with … my relationship with God. I decided to rededicate my faith.”
As she grew in her faith, her interest also grew in pageants.
Two-fold meaning
She began to compete in the Miss Alabama’s Outstanding Teen Program. The pageant held a two-fold meaning for Hayley Barber — it would fulfill the need for college scholarships and fulfill the call she felt the Lord had placed on her life. After placing second runner up, she began to compete in the Miss Alabama Pageant Organization.
“God sent many signs to let me know that participating in the Miss Alabama Pageant Organization was what He wanted for my life,” she said.
After competing four years in a row, and only placing in the competition but not winning the title, Hayley Barber began to question why she was still competing.
But “because of the other godly women involved in the program,” she knew she was supposed to continue.
Through the years she also found that working on her weaknesses in the competition led her to place her “attention more toward Christ.” She said she learned a lot about who she is as a Christian and how to stand up for what she believes. The pageant also provided “unparalleled opportunities to serve others, just as God serves,” she said.
As Miss Alabama 2016, Hayley Barber gets to work through her community program, “Sight for Small Eyes,” and advocate for comprehensive eye examinations for young children, as well as provide corrective tools for children with low vision.
Mark Barber said of his daughter’s program, “She’s done so much with ‘Sight for Small Eyes.’ She’s volunteered more than 3,000 hours and raised lots of money for Children’s of Alabama. She’s reached more than 2.2 million children with her curriculum on eye care. She’s done a lot because that’s her heart. You really have to have a servant’s heart to be successful at all of this.”
And through her platform as Miss Alabama 2016, Hayley Barber said she hopes to “shine God’s light through all I do and exemplify God’s grace and love to all people I meet in the state of Alabama.”
She’ll also graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham debt free because of the scholarships she’s earned through the Miss Alabama Pageant, and will have extra to use when she applies to optometry school in 2017.
‘God’s doing’
When she went to Sunday services at her home church, Hillview Baptist, after winning the crown, the “church went crazy” with excitement, Mark Barber said. “It was so wonderful.”
And she may have been judged by people in order to win the title, but Mark Barber believes “it’s all been God’s doing.”
“He wanted her on a larger platform to be able to share who she is and her purpose in life,” Mark Barber said. “We just see this as a God thing.”
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