Visionary Elroy Barber honored posthumously

RIDGECREST, N.C. — The late Elroy Barber, recipient of the 2002 Black Southern Baptist Heritage Award, was known to many as a “visionary leader.”

Sid Smith of the Florida Baptist Convention staff used the words to describe Barber as he spoke of his friend. The words were voiced in a video commemorating Barber. And they were printed in the program of a banquet at which Barber was honored as the seventh recipient of the award.

Barber received the 2002 award posthumously at LifeWay Ridgecrest (N.C.) Conference Center during the Aug. 5–9 Black Church Leadership Week.

Barber was pastor of Westside Baptist Church, Hollywood, Fla., when he died in May 2001. He was elected president of the Florida Baptist Convention in 1998, marking the first time a state Baptist convention in the Deep South had elected a black president.

Barber’s wife, Paulette, accepted the award on his behalf.