Edited by Hope Mayes

I have always been interested in music, ever since I was seven years old. When the Beatles came on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964, I turned to my mom and said, “That guitar player, George Harrison? That’s what I want to be.” Later that week, my mom bought me my first guitar and I started taking lessons at seven years old. I had no idea that that small musical instrument would turn out to be a big spiritual instrument for God to use to affect His plan for my whole life.

My first opportunity to play came when the Catholic church I was raised in needed a guitar player in their folk mass band. Even though I was a shy kid my mom said “Why don’t you go?” I tried out and they took me on board at twelve years old.

A couple years into playing for the Catholic church, a boyfriend of one of the girls in the folk mass was starting a rock and roll band and needed a guitar player. I tried out and the band hired me; they liked the way I played. Because I was only fourteen and the guys in the group were much older than me, they said, “Dennis, grow a mustache and talk with a low voice so you look older.” I borrowed my mom’s eyebrow pencil and colored in my mustache a bit; it was hilarious. I joined them in playing parties, at schools and even clubs, proving myself as the youngest person to join a musician’s union at fifteen years old in New Haven, Connecticut. Slowly, over the next seven years, my career as a professional musician began to grow. And all the while I continued to play guitar in the folk mass in that old Catholic church.

During those years of growing fame, I did not feel like I knew enough about God and His Word. I set out on a quest to find out who God really was and why I was here. My quest for truth took me through years of experimenting with transcendental meditation, astral projection, martial arts, and even studying under the Dali Lama’s teachings. After three years of what felt like chasing the wind, a series of events took me to the end of my rope; the relationship I was in went downhill, the band I was in fell apart, I had just bought a home and I could not pay it off. I came to a point of suicide. I did not want to live anymore because everything I was living for had fallen apart.

One day on a Thursday afternoon I sat at the kitchen table with a Sam’s Club sized bottle of aspirin and a bottle of water; I was about to take my life. When suddenly I felt a still small voice say “Go to church. Right now.” I listened to the voice and I went into the only church I knew. The doors to the Catholic sanctuary were open. With no one around, I walked up to the altar and knelt down. “Oh Lord” I prayed from the bottom of my heart, “I’ve blown it. I have blown the life you’ve given me. I am not going to ask you for a new relationship, I am not going to ask you to fix my business or my band. All I ask is that you give me a reason to live. I will do whatever you want me to do, go wherever you want me to go. Just give me a reason to live.”

I felt the same still small voice I had heard at my kitchen counter speak to my heart again, “You will live for me because I died for you.”

I said to the Lord, “Lord, I believe who the Bible says you are; Jesus, the Son of God who died for my sins and was raised from the dead. I know that somehow that cleanses me, but I don’t understand it. Help me understand.” That is when I felt a rush, that I now know as the Holy Spirit, come over me. I felt clean for the first time in my life. I came back to my house and I was just thrilled. I began reading my Bible and growing more and more eager to tell others about my relationship with God.

Two weeks later, I was playing my guitar on the front steps and thinking over the events of the last couple weeks. That was when my next-door neighbor pulled into the driveway across the street, smoke billowing from her overheating engine. I put my guitar aside and ran to help the beautiful woman who introduced herself as Bobbie. That day, I met my future wife whom I will be married to for thirty-six years in the summer of 2020.

From then on, not only did Bobbie begin to disciple me, but her dad and the pastor of their church began discipling me too. I read my Bible and attended church regularly; learning things about God I had never known. I was all in for Him. I went through a three-year Bible college program in about a year and a half, still playing music for income on the side. Every so often, Bobbie and I would get to perform worship music for events in our small Florida town.

After that year, gigs and jobs began drying up. I was sure this meant the Lord was preparing Bobbie and I for a new season, but I never would have been able to guess what He had in store. One morning through prayer, I felt the Spirit of the Lord speak to me and say, “I am going to put you back to where I took you out of. There are people out there that will never step foot in a church and I want you to tell them what I have done for you.”

So, Bobbie and I put together a show of country, gospel, and good story songs and approached the manager of our local Holiday Inn because we knew the hotel often had bands play on the weekends. “My wife and I play music and if you ever need an evening filled or if you have a cancellation, give us a call.” A couple days later, the phone rang.

We enjoyed our time playing in the small Holiday Inn that weekend and as it turned out, the audience loved it too! The opportunity arose to play in a big hotel in Orlando, Florida where in the audience that night was not just one, but two agents from a popular cruise ship company. When they asked us if we would ever consider playing professionally on one of their cruise ships we were taken aback. We knew God was doing something. We said, “We’ll have to pray about it… Where we going?”

Within only a month, we were out at sea, on a beautiful cruise ship, playing music. The company continually asked Bobbie and I to stay and play for them; they loved us. Before long, we went from just playing music to writing and headlining our own songs in the main theatres on the cruise ships. It was a blessing from the Lord.

Even though we knew the Lord was opening all these doors, we still had this feeling like there was a lack in ministry. Two weeks into headlining, we sat in the cruise director’s office getting ready for a show and we overheard the some of the cruise staff talking. “Well who is going to do the Sunday Service? The captain doesn’t want to do it. I don’t want to do it either.” Bobby and I looked at each other and thought, that’s our que! We interrupted and said, “Excuse me, we’ll do it!” They liked the service we put together so much that they actually revised our contract to say we are required to do the ship’s Sunday services. The ministry did not stop there. We took the opportunity to start and lead crew services and crew Bible studies. The Lord blessed us to see vacationers and crew members get saved every week and every Sunday service. We were thrilled to do this on and off for over twenty years.

The only problem we saw was the fact that most of the cruises were only seven to ten days. With that little time, we did not have a chance to disciple people. Sending them home with a wave and a “Find a good church!” never sat well in our hearts. During that time, my wife and I hoped and prayed that someday the Lord would give us a church so we could disciple people and duplicate what the Lord has done in our lives.

In 2016, we knew God was getting ready to change our season. He opened up the door to take the opportunity to be pastors of Refuge Church in Rock Island, Tennessee. Since then, we have pastored at this church for about four years and have loved every second of this season. The weekly opportunities we had on the cruise ship days to be in front of large crowds, not only playing music but speaking, was what prepared us to be at this point of pastoring and ministering in a church setting.

When we started out in ministry, we looked to our heroes and tried to be like them. But something that we have learned over the years is, the Lord wants us to be ourselves. Along the way it is okay to pick up things from people who we admire. But there is strength in embracing who God wants us to be. Lord give us the power to be what you want us to be, and use the unique skills you have given us as instruments for your glory.

To connect with the Refuge Assembly of God in Soddy Daisy, TN or Pastor Dennis and Bobbie, visit their website here.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How can you use the creative abilities God has given you to further your ministry or reach out to an untouched part of your community/area of influence?
2. Are there areas of your ministry or discipleship relationships that can be taken to a deeper level beyond where they are at now?
3. What unconventional opportunities has God placed before you that you can utilize to advance the Kingdom?
4. How can the church better reach those on the fringes of society? How can we better promote unity in the midst of our diversity?
5. Are you on a quest for truth? Are there people in your life or in your church seeking reason and purpose? Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance on how to find truth and how to encourage others towards godly purpose.

The post Dennis Parillo: A Cruise Ship Musician’s Testimony… appeared first on Rural Advancement.

By Hope Mayes

Who would have guessed the same couple that stood on major cruise ship stages every evening as headlining musicians would not only act as pastors to guests and crew on Sunday mornings, but after twenty years would land in Tennessee as pastors of a rural church?

Dennis and Bobbie Parillo have been used by God in a variety of settings all their lives. But no matter where God has placed them, He has always included their passion and talent for music. Few rural ministers can say they have retired from working as cruise ship pastors as well as music entertainment headliners.

“The opportunities every week to be in front of large crowds not only doing music but speaking was part of our training to bring us to this point. It prepped us for what we do now.”

In 2016, the Parillos sensed God asking them to retire from the music industry. When He moved them to Soddy Daisy, Tennessee to become the pastors of Refuge Assembly of God, they had no idea their background in performing music on cruise ships stages would transfer over as well as it did. The music industry prepared them for speaking to large audiences, and, unexpectedly, gave them a powerful testimony to share of how God’s sovereign hand protected them and helped them arise unscathed after coming shoulder to shoulder with the temptations that come along with the music industry. Even as they witnessed almost everyone around them fall into heavy drinking and drugs, Dennis and Bobbie are physical evidence that it is possible to refrain from and escape the pull of the worldly current. To this day, God has used them and their testimony to encourage people in their church and community who have dealt with similar issues.

“Being in the music industry for years, the Lord always kept us safe and out of that stuff even though people all around us were drinking heavily and using drugs. I saw from a very early age what it could do to people and it was not good.”

God has used Dennis and Bobbie and the power of this testimony to witness to members of their church and community in a variety of formats. One of those formats is a ministry called The Transformation Project.

The Transformation Project, originally based out of Chatenooga, TN, is a curriculum-based program. Some refer to it as a “little brother to Teen Challenge” because it helps people with life-controlling issues such as drug and alcohol addiction, but is a non-residential program. Several times a week, these students come together and go through the curriculum called “Living Free.” These meetings also give the students an opportunity to receive support, advice, and guidance from volunteers like the Parillos.

Dennis and Bobbie take these opportunities to speak into student’s lives, pray with them and share their story of how the Lord kept them from falling into the sins and temptations of the music industry. They share with them the good news that God is their protector. If they have fallen into these sins, He can most definitely pick them back up.

One husband and wife, after becoming associated with The Transformation Project, recognized the value of the curriculum and saw the potential benefits it could have on people’s lives. The couple made a significant impact when they decided to take this ministry to their family, friends and even to the local jails. To this day, this husband and wife remain involved by teaching one of the weekly Transformation groups.

“The biggest thing with this Transformation Project is being able to speak into these people’s lives. We get a chance to pray with them.”

The testimonies of this couple and of so many others who have come out of The Transformation Project has been a witness of the life changing power of God to so many people who have connected with Refuge Assembly. While the stories of some students are not yet complete and it can be difficult to see some continue to struggle through their life-controlling addictions, the Parillos and the rest of the volunteers are relentless in their prayers and discipleship.

 “The Lord will lead them. It might take a little bit more time for some of them, but He will lead them to get out of their addictions.”

This is their greatest pleasure in ministry; seeing the successes and having the ability to leave a legacy in each life. These rural Tennessee pastors have used their testimony to pass on knowledge and experience gained from their time in the music industry. They have both walked in the same shoes, faced the same choices and have both had the will to turn away from the life of drinking and drugs. It is their greatest pleasure to plant seeds in people’s lives, knowing that it is an eternal seed that will last and a fire that will not go out. And it is pure joy to witness the students cling to God, get involved in ministry and watch them run the path God has laid out for each one.

“Sometimes we learn it the hard way, but it leads to testimonies in the long run. Sometimes you have to get through the test before you see the testimony.”

Throughout their lives, Pastors Dennis and Bobbie Parillo, have performed on cruise ships to audiences of thousands as well as in small church congregations of less than fifty. They have found blessing, influence, and success in both settings. The success they have found in their music ministry, rural pastoral ministry and through The Transformation Project demonstrates that success is not measured by numbers, or how big or small the audience. God measures success by our willingness to say “Yes” to whatever He asks of us and our obedience in doing it well.

To connect with the Refuge Assembly of God in Soddy Daisy, TN or Pastors Dennis and Bobbie Parillo, visit their website at https://refugeagtn.com/. 

The post From Headlining Musicians to Rural Tennessee Pastors appeared first on Rural Advancement.