Avery T. Willis Jr. has been a pastor missionary seminary president and missions administrator in addition to being a popular author and speaker. He received his BA from Oklahoma Baptist University and his MDiv and ThD from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He pastored for ten years in Texas and Oklahoma. He served as a missionary with the International Mission Board for fourteen years and as president of the Indonesian Baptist Seminary in Indonesia for six years.
Avery returned to the United States to lead for 15 years the adult discipleship program for Southern Baptists available through LifeWay Christian Resources. He served as the senior vice president for Overseas Operations for the International Mission Board from 1993 to 2004 administrating the work of 5 600 missionaries. After retirement from that position he moved to Bella Vista Arkansas to work in missions traveling internationally almost 25 weeks per year as a speaker trainer and consultant to missionaries and nationals. He served as the executive director of the International Orality Network and as chairman of the board for the OneStory Partnership a coalition of global missionary organizations including the International Mission Board Wycliffe Bible Translators Campus Crusade for Christ Youth With a Mission and Trans World Radio. He also was ambassador at large for the Avery T. Willis Center for Global Outreach at Oklahoma Baptist University. He was involved in the Finishing the Task movement to reduce the number of unreached unengaged people groups to zero (www.finishingthetask.org). He was a member of the steering committee for the Call2All Movement that is conducting forty congresses in all parts of the world in the next three years (www.call2all.org ).
