海伦·珍·帕克斯

传教士，文学士

海伦·珍·帕克斯1928年1月4日出生在德克萨斯州的阿比林. D. 还有卢拉·梅(布伦森)·邦德. Helen Jean’s decision to attend Hardin-Simmons became a link in a long family association with the university. 她的父亲是一名39岁的HSU英语教师, 开始于第一次世界大战之前, 他和卢拉·梅都是HSU的学生. 从那时起, all four of Helen Jean’s children and two of her seven grandchildren have graduated from Hardin-Simmons—she is still hoping to recruit the youngest three.

在阿比林高中读书时, Helen Jean worked on the student newspaper and was later on the staff of the HSU Brand. She worked summers and part-time during her college years as a reporter for the Abilene Reporter-中文博彩平台 with the intention of becoming a journalist. But her plans were interrupted her senior year at Hardin-Simmons when the Lord called her to vocational Christian service.

Helen Jean graduated magna cum laude from Hardin-Simmons in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in journalism. 除了在HSU的四年里担任品牌员工之外, 她是阿尔法气的成员 , 被选入《美国学生名人录, 被选为最受欢迎的人, 是无伴奏合唱团和大学合唱团的成员.

1948年离开大后, Helen Jean attended Southwest Missouri State College in Springfield where she became Baptist campus minister for the three colleges in the city. She also later was employed as Baptist campus minister at Sam Houston University in Huntsville, 德州, 以及休斯顿莱斯大学和贝勒大学医学院的研究人员. She also served as youth and music director at First Baptist Church in Henrietta, 德州.

Helen Jean attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, 1951年获宗教教育硕士学位. It was during her second year in seminary that Helen Jean somewhat reluctantly submitted to the Lord’s further call into foreign missions.

In 1952, 海伦·简嫁给了基思·帕克斯, whom she had originally met at the 德州 State Baptist Student Union Convention, when Keith—a student at the University of North 德州—was the state BSU president and Helen Jean was a delegate from Hardin-Simmons. They became better acquainted later at Southwestern Seminary in classes and campus activities.

在他们的第一个儿子出生后不久, Helen Jean and Keith were appointed by the Foreign Mission Board as missionaries to Indonesia in 1954. 在印尼的14年里, while Keith served on the faculty of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Indonesia, Helen Jean在小教堂里培训印尼人当老师, 她在神学院教授音乐和宗教教育, 领导印尼神学院唱诗班, 带他们开始第一次全岛之旅, and held conversational English classes with Muslim faculty wives of the Diponegoro State University. 她一边做这一切，一边抚养四个孩子. 海伦·简称自己为“传教士家庭主妇”,” taking pride in the fact that no one else could fill her role in the specific relationship God had given her with her husband and children. 让耶稣成为孩子们生活的中心是她的主要使命.

当主呼召基思回美国时. S. in 1968, Helen Jean felt she had lost her country, her people, and her calling. 但是带着他们的四个孩子(年龄从5岁到14岁不等), Helen Jean gradually adapted to her new stateside role of education and support for world missions. 在Keith的职业生涯中, 首先担任东南亚地区主管, 然后是任务支持司司长, and later as president of the Foreign (now International) Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and then as global missions coordinator with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Helen Jean found herself uniquely related to the Mission Board as an unofficial representative. 在她的角色中, 她在教堂里演讲, 在学生和各种会议上, 并在美国各地主持了有关任务的研讨会, 祈祷, 和基督徒的生活. 她到世界各国去学习, 会见当地的基督教领袖和民众, 以及与传教士家庭的相互鼓励. In 1983, she authored a valuable book on intercessory 祈祷 for global missions titled Holding the Ropes.

In 1987, Helen Jean获颁中大杰出校友奖, both for her outstanding accomplishments in missions and her devotion to the university. In 2007, she was honored by the Logsdon School of Theology with the Jesse C. 弗莱彻杰出服务奖.

Helen Jean’s decision to follow God’s call into missions has exponentially increased His Kingdom as all four of her children have exemplified the teachings of Jesus and have been obedient to God’s call in their own lives. 在开罗做了八年传教士之后, 埃及, 她的大儿子, 兰德尔, transitioned to government service and now serves as a business and professional consultant there. 她的第二个儿子, 肯特, 普莱诺, 德州, 是“未得之民使命”的首席执行官, 目前总部位于西雅图, 华盛顿. Her daughter, Eloise, is associate pastor at Pilgrim Church in Duxbury, Massachusetts. 还有她最小的儿子, 斯坦, is professor and director of field education at Bethany International University in the Republic of Singapore.

We at Hardin-Simmons University join with her children and grandchildren as we “rise up and call her blessed.” It is the high honor of Hardin-Simmons University to recognize one of her own and to formally induct 海伦·珍·帕克斯 into the HSU 领袖堂.