Craig Parro Archives » GProCommission

August 14, 2018

When Preaching the Word is Costly

Guest post from Craig Parro, President of Leadership Resources To us, preaching the Word is a no-brainer. To people like Pastor John from Kenya, it is a costly choice. John used to be a “rhema” preacher—that is, one that ‘followed the Spirit’ in preaching—which really meant saying anything that came to his head at the moment. After studying 2 Timothy’s command to “preach the Word” during a TNT (Training National Trainers) workshop, John repented of his preaching approach and began to preach Word-saturated messages, beginning with Jonah. Many left his church, and one woman even said, “Tell the pastor we’ve had […]

June 5, 2018

Transformed Pulpits Lead to Transformed Communities

Shared with kind permission of Leadership Resources. What does a Movement of the Word actually look like . . . on the ground? Here’s the short answer: the Word faithfully taught and preached transforms pulpits, which then transform churches, which then transform communities. But, is this depth of transformation actually happening? YES! . . . Consider what’s happening in Vietnam and the story of our in-country leader, Chinh*. Chinh’s life and ministry have been transformed by LRI’s tools for digging into God’s Word. And it’s not just Chinh. This transformation has impacted many Vietnamese pastors, causing many to repent of misusing and […]

May 10, 2018

Preaching Content of the Bible is Not Enough

Shared with kind permission of Leadership Resources. Preaching the content of the Bible is not enough. Content must lead to intent. The Scriptures are purposeful…they were written to a particular group of people with the intention of bringing about a necessary (from God’s perspective) change. Our noble task, as teachers and preachers of God’s Word, is to discern the original aim of the text. Of course, this requires a careful reading of the both the text and the context. Once grasped, the original aim or the shepherding intent of the text leads us to a biblically-driven application for today. God’s aim then fuels […]

October 19, 2017

Preaching the Content of the Bible is Not Enough

Preaching the content of the Bible is not enough. Content must lead to intent. The Scriptures are purposeful…they were written to a particular group of people with the intention of bringing about a necessary (from God’s perspective) change. Our noble task, as teachers and preachers of God’s Word, is to discern the original aim of the text. Of course, this requires a careful reading of both the text and the context. Once grasped, the original aim or the shepherding intent of the text leads us to a biblically-driven application for today. God’s aim then fuels our application. Unfortunately, we might miss God’s aim […]

September 18, 2017

Why does biblical transformation matter?

Transformation on the ground Our first training session in an eastern Asian country was about to begin, in the foothills of the Himalayas. We were waiting for one more pastor to arrive. As I walked up the footpath to the training center, I saw a man trudging up the road towards me. I stopped, thinking: this is probably him. I greeted him with one of the few words I knew in his language. Switching quickly to English, I said ,“we’re ready to begin!” In spite of the language barrier, I persuaded him to follow me. During that first training session, the pastor, Tham, […]