Allen Parr has used his zeal for God and ministry background to deliver some of the most compelling videos for the Christian community via YouTube. I had an opportunity to speak with Parr on the ViZion United podcast, and we discussed a variety of topics including ministry, marriage, and pop culture.
Parr saw the current digital trend of today’s culture, and what he set his eyes on was a lot of “filth and foolishness” going viral and reaching millions of people, he explained. Determined to use these platforms for good, and use them for a better purpose. Parr also saw a significant dropoff in churches using the Bible to address hard questions instead of using a lot of “gimmicks.”
Accepting Christ at an early age, Parr admitted that between 8 and 19, he was not committed to living the principles of God. However, in his sophomore year in college, someone came into his life as a mentor, and this allowed him to realize that he is living a double life. Parr rededicated his life to Christ, and began to attend Dallas Theological Seminary after quitting his corporate America job as an engineer.
Not getting married until he was 40 years old, Parr has used is years as a single man as well as a married man to minister to both groups.
In today’s pop culture, the Christian voice has been diluted for a variety of reasons, with one specifically being the concept of truth being subjective and relative. Parr addressed this “your truth, my truth” issue that has spread to many members of the Christian community.
“It touches on a pain point for me, or a frustration, rather, that I have with our Christian society today, and that is simply us not willing to take a stand for truth, and being more concerned about what other people are going to think rather than what God is gonna think,” said Parr. “And it’s just an idea that, you’re gonna stand before God one day, and you’re gonna have to give an account for how you lived your life. And to think that we fear the opinions of men more than we fear God just speaks to the fact that we don’t understand what our mission is, what our purpose is, what we’re left on this earth to do.
“I would love to see more Christians be willing to be unpopular, be willing to be ridiculed, and simply stand for it and say, ‘you know what? Abortion is wrong, or same-sex marriage is wrong, or transgender bathrooms are wrong. These things are wrong. This is basically trying to change up God’s plan and what God says is right, and try to mix the genders and mix things together.’ And so, what I would say to that Christian would be to really ask yourself, what is it that you really, really believe? And, once you come to that, ask God for a boldness to be able to express that, and stop caring so much about what other people think and care a little bit more about what God would think about you.”
Parr also addressed failed Christian marriage, and how many are Christians by “name only, but not practice.” You can hear the full interview below.
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