[1]OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)–Dave Parker, assistant editor of Oklahoma’s Baptist Messenger for nine-and-a-half years, has resigned to become associate editor of the Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine based in Little Rock. Parker’s resignation is effective Jan. 14.
Parker joined the Messenger staff in 1990, handling news and feature writing, advertising, general editing and photography. Since the retirement of associate editor Bob Mathews in 1998, he has written items for the church news pages, including Potpourri, staff changes, anniversaries, homecomings and revivals, in addition to his other duties.
“My job in Arkansas will be similar to what I did here,” Parker said. “It is a smaller newspaper in a smaller convention in a smaller state, but I am excited about the opportunity there to be a part of growing it into a stronger paper.”
Parker will work with editor Charlie Warren who recently moved to Arkansas from Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, where he was public relations director.
Parker’s stories have been carried in other state Baptist newspapers as well as the SBC Executive Committee’s monthly magazine SBC LIFE.
His news and feature stories on the Oklahoma City bombing were honored by the Baptist Communicators’ Association in 1995.
[2]“We always experience mixed feelings when one of our staff moves to another field of service,” said Messenger editor John Yeats. “On the one hand, we pray for the Lord’s very best to be accomplished through Dave with Arkansas Baptists. On another, we will miss his journalistic professionalism, computer expertise, flexibility and passion for the truth. He and his wife, Ronda, have approached this opportunity with Christian maturity. The Lord has spoken to their hearts, and Arkansas Baptists are the benefactors.”
Parker and his wife have two children, Kelley, 11, and Kimberly, 8.