Name: David Parrish

The fuse is lit: David Parrish grew up in a fire and brimstone church in southern Alabama, one in which he formed the opinion that God not only didn’t like him but also wielded a sledgehammer. Against this, he rebelled and turned to a hedonistic life of excess.

“I was crazy,” he said. “I was literally really, really crazy.”

Parrish worked as a salesman for the next 20 years peddling fire alarms and energy management systems while stepping further from the church. He had an emptiness inside him and tried to fill it any way he could. He lived by the idea that people are to be used and things are to be loved, he said, and filled his life with shallow, temporary relationships.

One day, a friend of his uttered the words that would prompt him to steer his life in a new direction. His friend said, “David, you’re going to be dead a whole lot longer than you’re alive. You’re going to have to start thinking about what you’re going to do with all that time.”

“That started me thinking,” said Parrish, who lived in Houston at the time. “I was 33 and miserable and without purpose.”

The fuse burns: In 1989, he found his purpose and started his “walk with God.” He joined Second Baptist Church in Houston and found that there was more to life than living in the moment. His pursuit was relentless. He went to church every Sunday morning and evening and even took notes, many of which he saved. “I was hungry to learn,” he said.

Eight months later, he became the director of a Sunday school class aimed at singles. Soon thereafter, he moved back to Alabama and joined First Baptist Church in Enterprise, Ala. That’s where he learned about a method designed to help pastors and lay people minister to others in a nonthreatening way. That’s also where he took his first mission trip — to the Bahamas.

“Hey, somebody’s got to do it,” said Parrish of the trip. “We were suffering for Jesus in the Bahamas.”

Evangelism Explosion: Evangelism Explosion is the name given to the ministry style that doesn’t cajole or pressure. It was developed in 1962 at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and is used in 400 religious denominations. It is based on five principles. 1. Heaven is a free gift that is not earned or deserved. 2. Man is a sinner who can’t save himself. 3. God is love but is just and will punish sin. 4. Jesus must be acknowledged for who He is and what He has done. 5. One must possess saving faith.

When Parrish and others are ministering using this method, five questions and a series of stories are used to try to get across their message. It’s not about trying to get people to join a particular church, said Parrish. It’s about giving them information and letting them decide what they will or won’t accept.

“What I’m called to do is share. The results of that sharing is in God’s hands,” said Parrish. “Judgment is God’s job, not mine. He does a much better job.”

Spreading the word: Now Parrish owns the non-denominational Anchor Ministries — a subsidiary of Lifeline Ministries — and combines his love of travel with his love of people by working as a full-time missionary. He also serves as the Georgia state representative and the Albanian country coordinator for Evangelism Explosion. Throughout the past four years, he has shared Evangelism Explosion with 700 church leaders in 12 countries. He stays in people’s homes or in mission houses and teaches the method during week-long seminars, then takes to the streets for some on-the-job training. The biggest mistake missionaries make, he said, is not communicating their beliefs effectively. Evangelism Explosion serves to correct that.

“It’s a communication seminar when you get right down to it,” he said.

Hope for the hopeless: In places like Albania and Guyana, people don’t have hope that tomorrow will be better than today, said Parrish. On a mission trip to Albania, Parrish said he touched the lives of 16 men who had never heard of the notion of “God” while he was handing out food to the poor. With the help of a translator, he shared the gospel and watched a transformation.

“I watched their faces. It’s on video,” he said. “I watched their faces turn from bleakness to one of hope.”

Forging ahead: In the next four months, Parrish will be traveling to St. Vincent, Kosovo, Switzerland and Macedonia. He also is preparing for a radio program that will air at noon on Wednesday, June 18, on 1020 AM, WJEP. Though he has dedicated his life to missionary work, he says the fact that he is a missionary isn’t of utmost importance to him.

“What’s important is that God is on a mission,” he said. “It is my privilege to join him.”