What did Paul realize was the most important thing the local church could have?
Paul realized that the most important thing the local church could have was men gifted to proclaim the truth of God's Word without benefit of a written New Testament. Since the Gospels and his letters were not yet available as Scripture, early apostolic churches had to depend on gifted men who could teach Pauline doctrine and speak forth God's Word.
Les explains that Paul, writing to the Corinthians, recognized the greatest spiritual gift for that time was prophesy—speaking forth the Word of God. Because no New Testament existed yet, the Gospels had not been written, and Paul's own letters had not gone out as the Word of God, these early apostolic churches were growing in the pagan world without the written Word. They therefore had to depend on gifted men who could teach people the Pauline doctrines rather than what was still coming out of the Old Testament, or there would have been pandemonium. Paul, by inspiration, saw that the most important thing the local church could have was men who could proclaim the truth of God's Word without having it in print. He thus told them to desire the gift to proclaim the Word of God. Later, as he said in chapter 13, that gift would fade away and no longer be valid because the printed page would be available; believers would no longer need men gifted to proclaim the Word strictly by God's power, since now we have the Word of God.