By COURTNEY INGLE

 

 

     It’s no secret that the Lord gives talents that can be used to reach people for His kingdom. That’s exactly what Dallas Barbee at Surrendered Studios in Biloxi is doing — and she’s doing it in a big way.

 

    Dallas has become a TikTok sensation in recent years, holding live “Church in a Barbershop” sessions and telling stories of how God has used her in her own recovery from addiction. Many would call her approach unconventional because she doesn’t fit the typical “Sunday church” mold.

 

     “You’ll never hear me say someone is an addict, because show me in the Bible where God calls us that,” said Dallas. “But we also work under the notion that everyone needs recovery. We live in a very broken world. So our definition (of recovery) is very broad.”

 

     Surrendered Studios is a barbershop that meets physical and spiritual needs.

 

     “We have people come in for a little trim and a lot of prayer,” said Dallas. “I happen to have a radical story of Jesus in the center, but you do not even have to know who He is to walk through this door.”

 

     Just three years ago, Dallas was a six-figure barber in Spokane, Washington, and part of a large-scale ministry. She was comfortable there.

 

     “Which to me was a nod toward change,” she said. “I have always been a runner, so I feared some old habits were returning.”

 

     Dallas said a conversation with someone she considers to be wise counsel told her that maybe this was a Holy Spirit nudge. Eventually, Dallas felt the Lord calling her to Biloxi to start Surrendered Studios — in His timing.

 

     “I set an initial timeline of two years,” said Dallas. “But God said, ‘Do you want My timing or yours?’”

 

     She made the move in two months.

 

     “God’s timing would bring recognition to Him, not to me,” said Dallas. “My husband thought I was nuts and I had to pray for him, but the next day he had a contract, and two months to the day we were signing on a house, and we were already sleeping in Biloxi.”

 

     Church in a barbershop might be beyond anything you’d ever imagine. But as Dallas puts it, when you belong to the Lord, everywhere you step is holy ground.

 

     “Holy Spirit chooses to rest inside this place,” she said. “We see flickers of revival in this place.”

 

     Word is spreading about the ministry at Surrendered Studios, and Dallas said she plans to see the ministry expand.

 

     “We also mentor barbering students,” she said. “My goal is to hand the keys to the place to someone and go elsewhere and start again.”

 

     Dallas also has a large social media following in which she shares her testimony, short devotionals, and live sessions in the shop.

 

     For more information on Surrendered Studios, visit SurrenderedStudios.com, follow @SurrenderedStudios on Facebook and Instagram, or follow Dallas herself on Instagram or TikTok @dallas.thebarber.noel.

 

Courtney and her husband, Jeremy, live in Brandon and are members at Park Place Baptist Church in Pearl. They have a daughter, Taylor, and a son, Jacob. Courtney is a full-time homemaker and can be reached at courtneyingle89@gmail.com.