From TEACHING to TRAINING with Mark Canada
Episode Summary
Too many churches inspire people on Sunday but fail to equip them for Monday. In this episode of Reinventing Church, Derek and Danielle talk with Mark Canada, Lead Pastor of Parkway Bible Church in Pflugerville, TX, about one of the most important shifts every church must make: moving from teaching to training.
While teaching delivers information, training develops skills. Mark shares Parkway’s vision of raising up 300 everyday missionaries, 30 missional communities, and 3 church plants by 2030, and why that requires building a training center culture. Together, we explore the gap between Sunday sermons and Monday living, the myth that you must do something perfectly the first time you try, and the power of reproducible environments where disciples can practice, fail, learn, and grow.
We also unpack the “Say it, See it, Try it, Tie it” framework, a simple but powerful way to move people beyond passive listening into active apprenticeship in the way of Jesus. Along the way, Derek and Danielle share personal reflections, leadership lessons, and this week’s Tip & Tool: a practical strategy for having hard conversations with courage and clarity.
If your church is over-inspired and under-trained, this conversation will give you language, principles, and hope for what’s possible when discipleship shifts from information to transformation.
LINKS & RESOURCES
SHOW NOTES
Key Insights from Dave Rhodes (Clarity House)
The Case for Training Centers
- Most churches excel at teaching but lack true training environments that build disciple making skills.
- Training is a culture where people practice, fail safely, get feedback, and imitate healthy models.
- Information alone does not mature disciples. Imitation matters.
- The Monday problem is real. Training bridges the gap between Sunday insight and weekday action.
- Fight the myth that you must be perfect the first time you try something.
- Use Say It, See It, Try It, Tie It to move ideas into action.
Key Insights from Pastor Mark Canada (Parkway Bible | Pflugerville, TX)
1. A Needed Shift
- Parkway rejected the Functional Great Commission and returned to multiplying disciples who live on mission.
2. The 4 M Strategy
- Merge: worship and the Word.
- Mature: life groups across all ages.
- Mobilize: equip people to use their gifts in church and community.
- Multiply: everyday missionaries and church plants.
3. Parkway Institute
- Interactive training through classes, cohorts, and seminars.
- Discipleship 1.0 to 3.0 is a flexible guide that can be reproduced by normal people.
4. Four Diagnostic Questions
- Are you in the Word
- Are you in the Family
- Are you in the Trenches
- Are you in the Field
5. Skills Over Knowledge
- Train simple gospel tools like Three Circles, send people to try, then debrief.
6. Vulnerability of Trainers
- Leaders model real life. Elders and staff track a monthly missional temperature to keep the culture honest.
7. Make it Transferable
- Choose quality over quantity so everything can be reused without a superstar leader.
8. Four Foundational Shifts
- From Consuming to Contributing
- From Informing to Equipping
- From Gathering to Scattering
- From Quantity to Quality
Behind the Curtain at Grace
Grace is piloting Dream Disciple trainings like Intentional Friend and Handcrafted Calling. The team started by building the full master training, then pulled reproducible modules down for other settings. Early fruit includes first time prayer moments, deeper meal conversations, and people naming their calling with fresh clarity.
Tips and Tools: Say the Hard Thing
Tip: Write the sentence you need to say.
For a hard conversation, script the exact sentence that addresses the real issue, and do not leave until you have said it. This forces clarity and keeps you from dancing around the problem.
Quick Application
Audit your environments. Look at your church calendar and identify how many spaces are teaching-focused versus training-focused. How could one of them become a practical learning lab?
