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1. Dr. Keith Parks interview 1 of 2

Description:
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).
Subject:
Missions, Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc., and Church controversies--Southern Baptist Convention
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
2000-04-04
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Dr. Keith Parks 4Apr00_orig_1_2

2. Dr. Keith Parks interview 2 of 2

Description:
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).
Subject:
Missions, Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc., and Church controversies--Southern Baptist Convention
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
2000-04-04
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Dr. Keith Parks 4Apr00_orig_2_2

3. Dr. Robert Naylor interview

Description:
Dr. Robert Naylor was President Emeritus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The interview begins with Dr. Naylor giving a background of his life in ministry (00:00-04:25). He speaks about his time as a trustee at Southwestern in the last year of the presidency of L.R. Scarborough and in the presidencies of E.D. Head and J. Howard Williams (04:26-06:15). Dr. Naylor believes that the Great Depression and World War II were great blessings for Southern Baptists in helping them unify and see the need for missions (06:16-09:09). He also believes that the events of the early 20th century helped Baptist financially (09:10-11:26). Dr. Naylor speaks about the growth of the seminaries after World War II and how the time oversees fighting prepared many Southern Baptist for international missions (11:27-15:20). Dr. Naylor talks about the “75 Million Campaign,” and he praises L.R. Scarborough for his contribution to the post-war growth of Southern Baptist’s initiatives (15:21-18:56). Dr. Naylor believes that Southwestern has made a great contribution for Southern Baptists regarding evangelism and missions (18:57-21:06). He believes that the converts made during the mid-century ultimately made a great impact on world missions (21:07-22:38). The interview concludes with Dr. Naylor speaking on the culmination of events of the early 20th century led to the great evangelism and missions push of Southern Baptists in the later 20th century (22:39-24:30).
Subject:
Missions, Evangelistic work, Church renewal--Southern Baptist Convention, and Twentieth century
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
1999
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Dr. Robert Naylor 99_orig_1_1

4. Dr. George Braswell interview

Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
2005-11-05
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
GBraswell Jr_Nov05

5. Dr. Michael Stroope interview

Description:
Audio is low quality. Dr. Michael Stroope was a Southern Baptist area director of missions in Sri Lanka. The interview begins with Stroope giving the details of his background and call to missions, and he talks about the influences that shaped his own theology and ethos of missions (0:00:00-0:0:18:17). Stroope speaks about the vision of his work as area director of missions in Sri Lanka, and he describes the administrative day to day operations on the field and how it fit his missions ethos (0:18:18-0:37:53). Stroope says that his model for missions prohibited the establishment of western institutions such as schools and conventions to not hinder indigenous church growth, and he defines the strategy his team used to enter a country or region and how they engaged the indigenous population (0:37:54-1:00:57). Stroope speaks about how the missionaries leveraged resources on the field through multiple sources, and he describes the reasons why the International Mission Board (IMB) restructured their mission strategy (1:00:58-1:10:56). Stroope speaks about the need of training missionaries by starting with the basics to avoid bad thinking and theological reasoning on the field, and he says that he is hopeful that Southern Baptist will be motivated to use the best and most biblical strategy to reach the nations with the gospel in the future. He also believes that the IMB will be less centralized and focused more on cooperation in the future (1:10:57-1:18:46). The interview concludes with Stroope stating that Southern Baptist must hold on to their distinctive while at the same time prioritizing the biblical mandate, and part of this priority means guarding the autonomy of indigenous churches (1:18:47-1:26:51).
Subject:
Indigenous church administration, Missions, and Sociology--Fieldwork
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
1998-02-25
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Dr. Michael Stroope 25Feb98_orig_1_1

6. Dr. Cal Guy interview

Description:
Dr. Cal Guy was the Emeritus Professor of Missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The interview begins with Dr. Guy giving a background of his life in ministry and his interest in missions (00:00-04:23). He speaks about the mission vision of D.A McGavern that emphasizes bringing people to Christ, and he talks about the difficulty McGavern had in getting his books published and his vision to be accepted by evangelicals (04:24-11:16). Dr. Guy then speaks on McGavorn’s influence on his teaching, and he talks about the slow acceptance and implementation of McGavorn’s church growth and mission strategies in the Southern Baptist Convention (11:17-18:44). He points to the clarity of the mission strategy of the SBC as being connected to McGavorn’s influence (18:45-23:56). Dr. Guy believes that McGavern’s influence was a seed that flourished into the modern mission strategy of Southern Baptists, though there are now other components that did not originate with McGavern (23:57-26:30). Dr. Guy gives a final word praising the Lord for the opportunity he has had to train and recruit future missionaries (26:31-32:07).
Subject:
Missions, Church growth, and Methods (Gospel)
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
1998-04-08
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
01 Dr. Cal Guy 8Apr98_orig_1_1

7. Dr. Avery Willis interview 2000

Description:
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).
Subject:
Missions, Reorganization, Ethnic groups, and Evangelistic work
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
2000-03-08
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Dr. Avery Willis 8Mar00_orig_1_1

8. James McAtee interview

Description:
James McAtee was a missionary in Indonesia and Myanmar for the International Mission Board. McAtee begins the interview by giving a summary of his call to ministry, and he discusses his time as a missionary in Indonesia (0:00:00-0:16:30). McAtee speaks on the three men who led the International Mission Board during his tenure in Indonesia, and he briefly discusses the differences of each of their mission strategies (0:16:31-0:26:48). McAtee discusses in detail the strategies forged by Presidents Parks and Rankin of putting missionaries in unreached and closed countries, and he says because of this strategy he was able to do mission work in Myanmar and Indonesia (0:26:49-0:34:30). McAtee moves to specifically focus on the strategy the IMB used in Myanmar, and this strategy includes translating the Bible into the native languages and placing churches and biblical materials in unreached areas of the country (0:34:31-0:45:30). McAtee describes the relationship the IMB currently has with the national church of Myanmar (0:45:31-0:51:05). McAtee speaks on the future of evangelism in Myanmar, and he is excited about the prospect of every tribe being reached but knows that there are currently some barriers preventing that reality (0:51:06-0:59:18). The interview ends with McAtee giving a word to seminary students on the prospect of serving the Lord oversees (0:59:19-1:05:14).
Subject:
Missions, Strategy, and Church and international organization
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
2004-04-23
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
James McAtee 23Apr04_orig_1_1

9. Robin Hadaway interview

Description:
Robin Hadaway was Associate Professor of Missions at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The interview begins with Hadaway giving the background of his life in ministry and his work with the International Missions Board (00:00-05:10). Hadaway talks about how the change of the Baptist Faith and Message effected the protocol in the IMB, and he shares a few stories about how the changes were received on the mission field (05:11-10:41). Hadaway says that he desired more theological assurance from his missionaries, and he talks about missionaries that left the IMB when the Conservative Resurgence occurred and when the BF&M was updated (10:42-16:51). He states that the main reasons some of his missionaries left the IMB was because they felt that the changes were put into effect without their personal input, and some left because that did not agree with the changes regarding women in ministry (16:52-18:59). Hadaway speaks about Ida Mae Hayes being ordained by her church in Brazil, and he feels mad about the situation because she lied to the IMB and is now pastoring in North Carolina (19:00-29:03). He makes a clarification that Ida Mae Hayes had no authority over pastors in her role as a director of missions in Brazil (29:04-32:09). In the final question of the interview, Hadaway says that he wants the IMB needs to put in place more perimeters regarding single women on the mission field, and he clarifies the statement given by the IMB on Ida Mae Hayes’ retirement (32:10-36:12).
Subject:
Missions, Women in church work--Southern Baptist Convention, and Ordination of women
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
2004-05-14
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Robin Hadaway 14May04_orig_1_1

10. Dr. Jerry Rankin interview

Description:
Jerry Rankin was interviewed by John Surrel. At the time of the Interview, Dr. Rankin was the president of the International Mission Board. Surrel and Dr. Rankin discussed Dr. Rankin's background (0:45), his election as president of the IMB (8:40), the restructuring of the IMB (9:10), Rankin's opinion that Southern Baptists were living in the greatest era of missionary opportunity (28:40), Rankin's view on social work and evangelism in missions (35:55), Rankin's view of contextualization (40:15), how Rankin understands partnering with others (44:46), what Ranking believes the IMB would look like in 2010 (49:10), and closing comments (54:35).
Creator:
Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies
Owner:
ddickerson@sebts.edu
Language:
English
Date Uploaded:
02/12/2026
Date Modified:
02/13/2026
Date Created:
1998-04-10
Resource Type:
Audio
Identifier:
Dr. Jerry Rankin 10Apr98_orig_1_1