Monroe Parker
| Monroe Parker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Monroe Parker 23 June 1909 Thomasville, Alabama, US |
| Died | 17 July 1994 (aged 85) Decatur, Alabama, US |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | John Jr. (son) Penny (daughter) |
John Monroe “Monk” Parker (June 23, 1909 – July 17, 1994), was a Baptist evangelist, college president, and mission board director.
Parker was born in Thomasville, Alabama and was reared in Edgewood and Chillicothe, Texas where his father worked in a dry goods store. Nevertheless, many of his uncles were Baptist ministers.
In 1922 the family moved back to Thomasville, and Parker began working at a soda fountain and delivering newspapers while attending Thomasville High School, where despite his size, he proved a respectable football player.
In 1927, Parker matriculated at Birmingham Southern College, where he "dropped the pretense of religion," played football, and spent most of the rest of his time “frolicking, drinking, dancing, and running around with a wild gang.” After being caught in prank by students at a rival college and having his hair shaved off, a friend nicknamed him “Monk,” a name that followed him through his evangelistic career.
Parker was converted in the Methodist church when he was nineteen. The same week he attended a lecture on “The Perils of America” given by Bob Jones, Sr., and in 1928, he transferred to Bob Jones College near Panama City, Florida. Parker became captain and quarterback of the successful, if underchallenged, BJC football team, and he was also elected president of the student body and president of the Student Ministerial Association. At BJC he met Harriette Stollenwerck, a cousin of Jones’s wife, and they were married on July 29, 1934.
On March 7, 1929, Parker preached his first sermon (which he had practiced by declaiming to a swamp near the campus) and “ten people came forward to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour.” Bob Jones asked Parker to become a summer evangelist, preach on a new radio station in Anniston, Alabama, and hold promotional meetings for the college. Alternating between hitchhiking and preaching, Parker made enough money that summer to return to college—although his financial situation did not improve much during the Depression. Back at BJC he recalled accidentally poking a hole in his worn-out shoes and "weeping like a child" because he did not have the money to buy new soles.
In 1937, after five years of full-time evangelism, Parker returned to Bob Jones College (which had since moved to Cleveland, Tennessee) to teach and serve as Director of Religious Activities. Eventually he became the assistant to Bob Jones. Meanwhile, he continued to hold evangelistic campaigns.
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