Ben Parkinson
Ben grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas the son of a pastor who had planted a church. He didn't see himself following in his father's footsteps however as he received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Baylor University and applied to dental school. With his soon to be wife, Aimee, one year behind him, Ben decided to defer acceptance into dental school for a year and moved to Denton, Texas in 1995 to participate in a discipleship program under Tom Nelson, pastor of Denton Bible Church. It was in Denton that God connected him with Tony Kim, Mark Ottinger, John Bryson and several of the couples that are part of our Memphis church plant. Out of the eight years developing those relationships, three of them were spent working in his home church as an associate youth pastor for Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas.
During this time Ben was ordained as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and spent one year in Fellowship's elder protégé program. In 2000 he and Aimee returned to Denton to continuing to develop the college ministry at Denton Bible Church while pursuing his Master of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. These years have been used by God to confirm that He in fact was calling Ben to do exactly what his father had done and plant a team led, team taught church with Bryan and John. Ben and Aimee have been married since 1996 and have celebrated the birth of their three girls Abigail, Anna, and Allison over the past seven years.