Video summary
Alan Parr, the creator behind "The Beat," joins the conversation to explore a profound spiritual truth: while many believers are saved, they often remain unfree due to invisible internal chains rather than external circumstances. Raised in Pittsburgh and born into a family affected by divorce, Alan's faith journey began not in comfort but in pain, eventually leading him from a secular engineering career at Ford Motor Company to full-time ministry. His path was marked by pivotal moments of divine guidance, such as being intentionally discipled by Deacon Kevin Miller in college and receiving a clear calling to preach after a chance encounter with a bivocational pastor in Kansas City, which prompted him to leave his lucrative job to pursue theological studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.
The core of Alan's message focuses on identifying and breaking free from what he terms "soul chains"—deep-seated issues like unforgiveness, toxic thoughts, distorted identity, and generational trauma that hinder believers from experiencing the abundant life Jesus intended. He explains that many Christians focus on the symptoms of their struggles, such as low self-esteem or bad relationship choices, without addressing the root causes buried in their past. Alan emphasizes that true freedom requires digging beneath the surface to find the source of these binding issues, whether they are emotional, spiritual, sexual, or relational in nature. By confronting these underlying drivers rather than merely managing the outward behaviors, individuals can begin the transformative journey toward liberation.
Alan's personal story serves as a testament to this process, particularly regarding his long-term fear of marriage and his eventual union with his wife at age forty, which he attributes to overcoming deep-seated soul ties related to childhood trauma and family history. His transition from teaching high school math to becoming a worship pastor and eventually launching a successful YouTube channel in 2015 illustrates how God's calling can evolve through different seasons of life. Despite starting with no technical knowledge of video production, Alan dedicated a year to learning the craft, driven by a desire to raise a generation in biblical literacy and reach those who might not otherwise encounter his message.
Ultimately, Alan invites viewers to examine their own lives for these hidden constraints that keep them living beneath their purpose, assuring them that freedom is accessible through intentional spiritual work and reliance on God's grace. His book, "Breaking Through: How Ordinary Believers Experience Extraordinary Freedom," aims to equip readers with practical steps to identify and dismantle these soul chains. The conversation concludes with a hopeful vision of believers moving from a state of mere salvation to a life of genuine freedom, empowered by the same truths that have transformed Alan's own journey from a struggling engineer to a devoted minister sharing the gospel through digital media.
Read the full video transcript
Are you stuck in a cycle you can't seem
to break? The chains may not be around
you. They may be within you. YouTube
creator Alan Parr is here today to
reveal how to break free from toxic
thoughts, unforgiveness, and a distorted
identity to experience the freedom God
intended just like he does on his
channel, The Beat. Allan, welcome to
Unscripted Faith. Oh, I am so very
excited and so pumped up to be here and
uh just excited and I just realized and
we learned offline that uh we're we have
something in common. We're both in the
Pittsburgh area or at least I used to
be. So, thank you for having me and
excited for the conversation.
>> Oh, we're honored to have you. Listen,
Pittsburgh is always home for you and
you are always welcome here. When you
come, you got to come to the studio. So,
we're not doing this virtually here, you
know, but you know, introduce us and
give us a backdrop, Allan, to how you in
met the Lord and how you were raised.
Share with us your God story.
>> Yeah, so uh this really kind of ties
into um some of the things that I
discuss in my book, but uh as I
mentioned, I was raised in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. Um born in 75, giving my
age away. And uh so long story short um
my parents um got divorced whenever I
was about 6 years old or so. And neither
of them were really believers at the
time. My dad uh really had a difficult
time. Took it really really hard. And so
as a result, he ended up giving his life
to Christ about I'd say maybe a year
after the divorce. And so he just went
all in. Started preaching the gospel,
started like sharing his faith. And so
he actually led me and my sister to the
Lord. and I was about eight years old.
My sister was about 10 years old. And
so, um, basically that's kind of how my
faith journey got started. It was kind
of birthed out of pain and and different
things going on in our household. But
from about 8 until 17 or 18 before I
went off to college, I went to church. I
was a church boy. I sang in the choir,
did all those things, but I didn't
really have a true relationship with the
Lord at all. And as a result, I went off
to college and really just kind of lived
a prodal life. Did some things that, you
know, looking back wished I would have
done differently and whatnot. And it
wasn't until uh my sophomore year there
was a guy named Deacon Kevin Miller. I
went to a school in Cleveland, Ohio. And
this is why I'm so passionate about
disciplehip because he was intentional.
He came down to our campus every other
Friday night and he started discipling
me and several of my other friends uh on
campus. helped us really work through
our relationship issues, work through
different things, answered questions we
had about the Bible, used to teach us
stories in the Bible. And that was the
first time in around 1995 or so that I
actually got interested in the Bible,
actually learned how to study the Bible
and actually started reading it for
myself for the first time in my life
because somebody was intentional about
coming down to our campus and spending
some time discipling us. And so that was
a 95 and uh I haven't been able to put
the Bible down since. It's been 30 31
years or so. And um I I love teaching
the word. I love reading the word. I
love studying the word. And so that's
kind of my discipleship salvation story.
And of course there's a lot of other
details in those last 30 years of like
um me teaching high school and and
eventually starting my YouTube channel
and whatnot.
>> Wow. Well, you know, I have heard so
many times over and over again the
impact of one-on-one disciplehip. And I
think that that can be lost on us,
Allan. I think that we a lot of times
think ministry or if we want to make an
impact in someone's life, we've got to
have a big platform and we've we've got
to go out and talk to the crowds. But
really where life transformation
happens, just like Jesus modeled, is in
those one- on-one small circle intimate
settings. share with me how you began to
discern that you were called to ministry
or called to share maybe that testimony
in a broader way.
>> Yeah. So, this is a kind of a a really
fun story. So, I was working as an
engineer, which is what I thought I was
going to be doing for the rest of my
life. Graduated from uh school in
Cleveland, Ohio with my uh masters in
electrical engineering. went off to work
at Ford Motor Company in Detroit,
Michigan from 1998 to 2000 and really
didn't have any fulfillment in the job.
It was more like a paycheck. The pay was
good, but really didn't love it at all.
And so, while I was there, I was
attending a local church and I had the
opportunity to teach a Bible study a
couple of times on Tuesday nights, uh,
filling in for the teacher that was
there at the time. And so that was my
first uh introduction to teaching the
Bible. I had no idea what I was doing.
The lesson probably wasn't any good, but
I left those Bible study sessions like,
"Wow, that was fun." Like, and people
came up to me and they were like, "Man,
you really taught it in a way that made
sense. It broke it down. Like, it was
easy to understand. Thank you so much."
So, at this point, I was still like,
"Okay, well, that's good. I'm not gonna
quit my job or anything, but you know, I
I enjoy doing this." And so then uh by
the providence of God, I got moved from
Detroit, Michigan over to Kansas City,
Missouri at a assembly plant at
Claycomo, Missouri. And just the
providence of God, like I was there at
this assembly plant and um I was looking
for a place to get my haircut. So I saw
another black guy. I was like, "Okay, he
probably knows where I can get my
haircut." So he was he was a pastor. He
ended up being a bivocational pastor. So
he was a assembly worker by day and a
pastor by night and weekend. And so I
just providentially ran into him was
like, "Hey, where can I get my haircut?"
He told me, we started talking,
developed a relationship. And after some
time, he was like, "Hey, have you ever
preached a sermon?" I was like, "No,
I've taught some Bible studies." And I
he was like, "Well, you know, I've got a
church and we'd love to put you up to
preach." And I'm like, "Well, okay, I'll
give it a shot." And so while I was in
Claycomo, Missouri, I got a chance to
preach two sermons on a Sunday morning
to a really small storefront church.
Probably about 15 20 people in there
total, including him and his family and
me and a couple of guests and things
like that. And but it was really more
about how God confirmed in those two
sermons that this is what I was called
to do. It's like that was the only
purpose for me to be there. And the
feeling that I got when I got off that
pull pit and it was like, okay, God made
it very abundantly clear that this is
what I'm supposed to do with the rest of
my life. So to put a bow on this, I had
a decision to make. Am I going to stay
in a career that I'm not fulfilled in
just because the money is good, or am I
going to fulfill and follow the calling
that I knew deep in my spirit that God
had for me? And so thankfully, I made
the decision to quit my job in 2000. and
I came down to Dallas, enrolled in
Dallas Theological Seminary, and
graduated in 2004, my master of
theology, and I've been teaching the
word ever since. And so I I point back
to that moment um as a pivotal moment in
my life. Um so that's kind of how I got
my call to ministry. I love that. And
it's looked different in all the
seasons. You're a worship pastor. You've
done roles in teaching and and and now
you have taken to YouTube to really
raise up a generation in biblical
literacy. How did you know YouTube and
now? Hey friends, if this conversation
is encouraging you, consider donating to
Cornerstone TV [music] to make these
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ctvn.org/donate.
Well, another interesting story at the
time uh in 2014 was a really pivotal
year for me because uh part of my
journey is I was single for a long long
long long period of time. Didn't get
married till I was 40 years old. And
that all ties into some of the soul
chains I talk about in the book with
regards to my family childhood and
trauma with multiple divorces in my
family. I had a very very deep-seated
fear of getting married. But in 2014, I
met my wife at a church. Uh well,
actually, I I wasn't attending that
church. She was a member of the church.
And so, uh I ended up uh being a member
of that church because you know how that
is. I met her. I was like, "Well, you
know, I'm going to start attending the
church that you go to." So, uh at the
time, I was kind of in between churches.
And so, we started, uh I started
attending a church with her, but it was
a mega church. It was a huge church. And
the opportunities to teach and preach
just weren't there. I wasn't going to
get opportunities to teach the word at a
10,000 member church. And so I knew deep
in my spirit that this is what God had
called me to. But up to this point, I
had done a lot of worship pastoring and
just teaching Bible studies on the side.
And so I said, "Okay, well, you know
what? I see people doing this YouTube
thing, not necessarily Christians and
Bible teachers, but just other people
that were really, really getting a lot
of reach and a lot of exposure with
their message on YouTube." So I said,
"Well, let me give this thing a You
know, I didn't know anything about video
editing, graphic design, thumbnails,
titles, cameras, audio, lighting, studio
setup. I knew nothing at all. I was a
math teacher at that point, teaching
high school math full-time. And so, um,
I figured, well, I'll learn it. I'll
I'll I'll try to figure out how to
create YouTube videos. I took a year
just trying to learn the craft. And uh
in 2015, I said, "Well, I'm going to
launch my first YouTube video August 17,
2015." Didn't have any expectations of
going full-time with it or anything like
that because I had a job and God's been
super faithful since.
>> It's amazing what you are doing. And one
of the big things you talk about, like
you said, is being set free from these
soul suckers, I'll call them, from these
places where you're locked in. Share
with us in our last few moments
together. give us a little taste of that
book you've released of what it is how
we can recognize that we have those soul
ties and then how we can begin to start
the journey to freedom.
>> Yeah. So, I wrote a book called uh
Breaking Through uh how ordinary
believers experience extraordinary
freedom. And it really uh kind of was
birthed out of my own journey of having
a lot of what I call soul chains in the
book. And these are things that, you
know, I guess you could use these
synonyms soul uh strongholds or whatnot,
but these are things that are really
keeping us bound. And basically, the
premise of the book is that many
Christians, most Christians are
forgiven, but not free. Right? We know
we're going to heaven. We're thanking
God for the fact that, you know, we we
we're going to heaven, we're saved, but
we're walking through this Christian
life with all of these things that are
holding us back, hindering us from
living the life of freedom, the abundant
life that Jesus intended for us to live.
And as a result, we're living beneath
our purpose. And so, I wanted to write a
book to highlight uh how do you identify
these soul chains? They could be
emotional, they could be spiritual, they
could be sexual, they could be
relational, they could be generational
like they were in my uh situation. Uh
and so how do you identify them in your
life? But then more importantly, how do
you actually break free from these
things? And so um you know, one tidbit
I'll give really quickly is you have to
get to the s the source of them and not
the symptoms. That's one of the things I
talk about in the book. A lot of times
we focus on the root the uh the the
fruit and the surface but we have to go
underneath that and say okay what is
driving the lust what is driving this
addiction what is driving the low
self-esteem what is driving the bad
relationship choices and whatnot and so
if we can do that uh we can experience
freedom and I'm at a point now that I
was I'm able to experience that freedom
in my life and I want to help other
people experience it as well. I love it
and I know no doubt when people get that
book and when they tune in to you on the
beat on YouTube that they are going to
experience freedom in a whole new way.
Thank you so much for stopping by to be
with us today, Alan. We so appreciate it
and hope to have you again on Unscripted
Faith.
>> Thank you for having me.