Portrait of Jim Park. IMB Photo

James “Jim” Aaron Park, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Liberia, died Dec. 22, 2024. He was 90.  

Jim was born Aug. 23, 1934, in Paducah, Kentucky, to the late Frank McCoy Park and Della Marie Vinson. He graduated from Augusta Tilghman High School in Paducah and received the Bachelor of Arts from Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, and the Master of Divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri.

He came to saving faith in Christ during an August revival when he was 9 years old. Following graduation from high school, he worked at a local grocery store for the next 12 years. He married Jane Parsons on Aug. 16, 1953. While seeking missionary appointment he wrote, “After our youngest son was born … I finally made the decision to enter the ministry. No one was surprised. Jane seemed relieved. My parents had been expecting it. My employer and his wife had already resigned themselves to it.” 

In August of 1962, they moved to Tennessee where he entered college and took every opportunity he had to preach. While pastoring Clover Creek Baptist Church in Medon, Tennessee, they made their first contact with the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board). While seeking appointment he recalled, “When I surrendered to the ministry my commitment had not been specific. I wasn’t sure whether God wanted me to be a pastor, a teacher, or a missionary. But foreign missions was always high on the list of possibilities.” Although the requirements to become missionary candidates felt insurmountable, they worked steadily for the next 10 years to gain seminary education and necessary experience. 

In 1972, the International Mission Board appointed Jim and Jane missionaries to Liberia. He was chairman of the religion department at Ricks Institute, where he also taught Bible classes and served as pastor of Washington Baptist Chapel. Later, he taught courses in Bible, ethics and Greek at the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary. During Liberia’s civil war, he served as the president of the seminary. 

Jim was preceded in death by two children, Denise Williamson and Kenneth Lee Park. 

He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Jane Park; his daughter, Kathi Gutierrez (Anthony); his son, Jim Park; and a number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.  

Read an obituary here.