How to parse bbcode with parser.php outside forum

Hello!
Just like everyone else I'm trying to make sortof a portal for the forums. I got a news forum and all threads make a new entry on the frontpage. Now the thing is I want images to display on the frontpage that were in the post but naturally since posts use bbcode it just types out the img bbcode.  So I've been trying for a good while now and searched everywhere on how to use the forums bbcode parsing (and smilies I guess) to work on the frontpage. Including parser.php and using preparse_bbcode() doesn't work for one. Is this possible with the hooks'n'stuff that parser.php might require and am I better off trying to make a very simple parser myself?