Global Population Snapshots
The most striking aspect of Beeson Divinity School’s Global Center, from the time it opened in 1995 until 2012, was the large global population clock on the wall. Not only did it show the current statistics, but it was a ticker that counted live population growth. And those numbers were changing faster than you can count! You could guests staring in amazement as they tried to process…
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Step Into The Story
So, I’m a low church Baptist whose largest missiological work is a novel about dreams and a dragon, and I get to preach on Revelation today. What could possibly go wrong? Soon after my conversion in college, I came across a book that linked the Gulf War to predictions in the Bible…
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“When Helping Hurts” author Brian Fikkert at Global Voices
Dr. Brian Fikkert, director of the Chalmers Center at Covenant College, has had an incredible impact on the world of missions by helping people think through the difficult and ubiquitous issues surrounding money, missions, and giving to the poor. When Helping Hurts, which Dr. Fikkert co-authored, has become a classic must-read book in the world of missions. Last year we were privileged to have him as a…
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When Love for All Made Jesus Angry at a Few
Perhaps there’s no story in scripture so often used to justify our self-righteousness as Jesus clearing the Temple. It’s a favorite for every Christian with an anger management problem. I once had a tennis coach who wanted me to be more angry with my opponents. He always knew how to press my buttons. He looked at me and said, “Even Jesus kicked people out of the temple.”…
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The Cartography of Culture
I’m excited to announce I have a book coming out in June (2027) with B&H Academic! Have you ever had a conversation with someone from another religious background and were surprised to hear them say things that didn’t seem to match their religion? This is common, actually. What is uncommon is a model that helps a Christian working cross-culturally to clarify the complexity of an individual’s worldview…
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Mission in the Midst of a Global Pornography Epidemic: A 3D Gospel Approach for Addicts
I was awakened to the true scope of the problem in 2009, two months after teaching a two-week course, “Discipleship in Youth Ministry,” in Penang, Malaysia. A youth minister from Jakarta emailed to thank me for what he learned in the course. Specifically, he let me know that he had found the power to defeat his pornography addiction. He proceeded from there to tell me how he…
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About Me
David Parks is the Director of the Global Center and Contextual Learning at Beeson Divinity School and a former missionary in Southeast Asia. His writing includes worldview, global youth culture, missions in general, and articles related to Global Center events
