Submitted by Warren Whitby
Roger Parks, Senior Pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Prattville, will retire on May 31, 2022 after 35 years of ministry at Heritage Baptist Church. Pastor Parks and his wife Carol have been serving in ministry since 1979.
A second-generation minister, Pastor Parks was called by God into ministry as a teenager. He received a bachelor’s degree in Bible at Tennessee Temple College and attended Temple Baptist Theological Seminary.
Pastor Parks and Carol have three children and eight grandchildren. In September 1986, Pastor Parks heard of an opening for a Senior Pastor at a newly founded church in Prattville called Heritage Baptist Church. He became the first and only Senior Pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in January 1987.
Around the same time as he was hired, the church purchased the old Wesleyan Church building on South Memorial Drive in Prattville. Heritage then experienced a time of rapid growth. In 1993, the church moved to its present location at 1357 South Memorial Drive to accommodate the growth. A Family Life Center was built in 1999 and the second floor of the Family Life Center was finished several years later. Under his stewardship, Heritage Baptist Church is debt free!
Today, Heritage Baptist Church is known as a teaching church, with multiple ministries and outreach programs. Heritage supports around 60 missionaries serving the US and around the world, several of which are members of the church.
A retirement reception in honor of Pastor Parks and Carol will be held on Saturday May 21, 2022 from 2pm to 4pm. A farewell service for Pastor and Carol will be held on Sunday May 22, 2022 at 10am. Pastor Parks’ final Sunday as Senior Pastor of Heritage Baptist Church will be May 29, 2022.
