Dr. Keith Parks was President of the Foreign Mission Board (FMB), now known as the International Mission Board (IMB). Part 2 of the interview begins with Parks giving his own thoughts on the doctrine of inherency, and he believes that the Bible may have errors but not enough to compromise theology (00:00-04:15). Parks gives his reason why he took a position with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) after he resigned from the FMB, and he believes that the CBF are good Southern Baptist who do not discriminate over theological differences (04:16-15:05). The interview concludes with Parks saying that the CBF approached him before his resignation at the FMB, and he gives his last word on the changes in the strategy that both the CBF and the SBC have taken to reach the nations with the gospel (15:06-18:46).
Dr. Keith Parks was President of the Foreign Mission Board (FMB), now known as the International Mission Board (IMB). The interview begins with Parks speaking on the process of getting to know the missionaries during his time as president, and he emphasizes the importance of the local churches and cooperation for missions (0:00:0-0:12:01). Parks briefly talks about the impact of his ecclesiology class at Southwestern, and he opens up on his thoughts about the changes that happened in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s that led to his resignation as President of the FMB (0:12:02-0:24:44). Parks gives his definition of missions as the church reaching beyond itself, and he stresses the importance of being ecumenical and having diversity of thought in the denomination (0:24:45-0:35:06). Parks criticizes the decisions and the appointments made to the FMB and the seminaries during the Conservative Resurgence which led him to resign, and he speaks about certain colleagues who the trustees of the convention saw as liberal (0:35:07-0:51:49). Parks briefly speaks on Paige Patterson’s contribution to the FMB, but he also speaks openly about Patterson’s desire to see him resign as President of the FMB (0:51:50-1:03:40). Parks gives his list of basic Baptist beliefs, and he opposes the idea of inherency as a one of the basic beliefs, along with creedalism (1:03:41-1:06:50). Parks believes there must be a theological bedrock for missions alongside a gifting and calling, and he believes that the centrality and love of Christ should be the drive of a missionary (1:06:51-1:13:40). Parks gives further criticism of the doctrine of inherency, but he does believe that Jesus, unlike the Scriptures, was without flaw (1:13:41-1:19:55).
Dr. Avery Willis was the Senior Vice President for Overseas Operations. The interview begins with Dr. Willis giving a background of his call to missions and his life in ministry (00:00-05:47). He briefly speaks on the restructuring of the IMB into regions (05:48-07:34). Dr. Willis defines the “new paradigm” of missions of seeking to find what God is doing in bringing people to saving faith (07:35-09:22). Dr. Willis defines the “cutting edge” in missions as being on edge of lostness, and he argues why they IMB needed to be restructured to focus on people groups and to get more laymen involved in missions (09:23-13:45). Dr. Willis defines the difference between “harvest field” and “unreached,” and this is reflected in the move towards looking at people groups rather than nations (13:46-15:13). He believes that there is a biblical mandate to reach everybody including both categories of the “harvest fields” and the “unreached” (15:14-16:09). Dr. Willis speaks on the how the funding for resources going towards the evangelization of unreached people groups has gone up over time and mentions how resources and have been shifted specifically for unreached people groups (16:10-19:36). Dr. Willis makes the prediction that a larger percentage of people will be involved in international missions, the third world will be producing more missionaries, and the center of the church will move to the third world by 2010 (19:37-22:20). Dr, Willis’ closing comment is that the church must always be listening to God and discovering his strategy for reaching the unreached, and he believes that today is the great day for mission (22:21-23:52).
Martinsville Primitive Baptist Church was founded on October 28, 1899, and located in Martinsville, Virginia. Several names are used throughout the records books including Primitive Baptist Church at Martinsville, Martinsville Primitive Baptist Church, the Church Street Primitive Baptist Church Martinsville, Virginia, and Chatham Heights Primitive Baptist Church. Reference is made to the church meeting at a new location in Chatham Heights in 1963 which may explain some name variation. The church typically met monthly during which time minutes were recorded in the church record books.