The Second Baptist family is please to introduce Stan Parris (and wife Charlotte) as our new Senior Pastor.  This is an exciting time in the life of Second Baptist and we know Stan agrees with us that God has brought our paths together for a purpose.  A brief introduction to Stan's ministry journey follows:

Stan grew up in Hope, Arkansas. He graduated from Henderson State University with a major in Physical Education in 1971. Stan and his wife, Charlotte Wilson Parris, were married during their junior year at HSU. Charlotte is a graduate of Hall High in Little Rock and also graduated from HSU in 1972 with a BSE degree and a major in English. Stan and Charlotte have three adult children and three grandchildren. Their two sons (one is single) live in Little Rock and their daughter along with husband and three children live in Hope.

After graduating from Henderson, Stan worked as a High School football coach, first in east Texas and then later at his alma mater in Hope. He surrendered to the ministry while at Hope and then entered seminary, graduating from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, Texas in 1977 with a Master of Divinity. While in Seminary, he served as Minster to Youth at Richland Hills Baptist Church, where he was ordained to the Gospel ministry.

Stan then served as pastor to two churches, one at FBC of Coolidge, Arizona (1978-80) and the other at Southwood Baptist Church of Oklahoma City (1980-82). It was at this later church, after a church foreign mission trip, that Stan and Charlotte felt led to become full time missionaries with the International Mission Board, serving in Maracaibo, Venezuela from 1982 until 1989. At that time they returned to Hope to allow their daughter to finish her last two years of school. Stan was asked to pastor FBC Hope and he and Charlotte served that church for the next nine years (1989-1998).

Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock called Stan to be their Associate Pastor/Missions in 1998. He has served in that capacity until the present and currently has the title of Senior Associate Pastor/Missions. During this time he has led over 40 international mission trips and has led Immanuel to form Strategic Mission Partnerships in nine different countries.  Immanuel has also been involved in six North American projects.  Stan is currently serving as a Trustee of the North American Mission Board, SBC.

 For nineteen months Stan served as Interim Pastor at Immanuel Baptist in LR until their new pastor was called in November of 2007. He not only preached during this period but also was the coordinator of all staff and ministries of the church.