I'LL TELL YOU THIS THEN I'LL HUSH - Ken Parker on Living a Life of Service. FOA Ep. 24

Ken Parker is a man of many talents. Throughout his life he has worked as a carpenter, laid block, farmed, and built furniture, all the while serving as pastor at numerous churches in the remote mountains of western North Carolina. He has lived his life in service to his community, not concerned with personal wealth, but rich with friends and family.
I first met Ken Parker when he was the pastor at Arrington Branch Baptist Church in Madison County, North Carolina in the 1980s. I was invited to their annual Homecoming and photographed him preaching, baptizing folks in the creek, and at the grave decoration. Many of those images were used in my book, The Face of Appalachia.
Ken is an integral part of the community and over the years I have run into him at many events including the Big Laurel Community wood ministry, the Arrington Branch Baptist Church Homecoming, and on farms where he helps friends plant crops, harvest tobacco, make molasses, and just generally being a helpful and caring neighbor.
For this episode I sat down with Ken to talk about his extraordinary life of service to others and spoke with his children about their dad. You’ll enjoy getting to know this fine man as he shares stories about his grandfather who helped raise him, and his own life as a father, farmer, neighbor, and pastor.
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