(Photo: screengrab)
Senior pastor of Transformation Church, Michael Toddm sat down with Matt and Laurie Crouch on TBN’s show “Praise” to talk about his journey in leadership. Before becoming the pastor of Transformation Church, Todd served as the sound man, the youth pastor, and then the main pastor.
Todd confessed that he never wanted to be the pastor of Transformation Church. In September 2014, the Pastor at the time, Gary Mcintosh, informed Toddl that he would become the lead pastor of the church because Mcintosh believed that he had the vision for where the congregation was headed. Todd declined the offer at first and recalled saying, “I don’t even like people that much.’’ He reconsidered after discovering it was a five-year plan.
“There was a divine grace that came over my life on February 1, 2015, when me and my wife stepped into that role; we stepped in knowing that we didn’t know anything except God was with us,” Todd realized.
At the time, the congregation had about 300 members and his sermons were only receiving 100 views on Youtube. The Relationship Goals bestselling author realized that the Holy Spirit was working on Todd’s relationship with God and fixing things in his heart so that he could be elevated.
“The darkroom is where God develops your character and the darkroom is where God keeps working those things out of you where you can still be used on the platform, but know you are nasty behind the scenes,” he revealed.
The pastor is often suspicious of those who are an overnight success. “I always try to figure out how long they have been in the darkroom,’’ he said to emphasize the point that there should be a development process before one’s success.
There was a transition that happened for Todd and the Transformation Church. “In 2017 something miraculous happened. It was a moment where God challenged me to be obedient and do less,” he remembered. He noted that God wanted him to stride, meaning, “walk in long decisive steps in an intentional direction.”
The church was excelling, but Todd realized that he needed to focus more on purpose and his relationship with Christ than potential. He believes that the way to do it is to not want success.
“It’s not about the thing that provides the greatest platform, it’s the thing that God looks at and say’s that is what I proposed for you,” Todd stated. “I was going for God and got this.”
Todd is transparent about his testimony, revealing that he cheated on his wife before marriage, was addicted to pornography, and almost went to jail while leading as the church’s youth pastor. He shares freely because he wants to be an open vessel for God to use.
“God doesn’t bless who you pretend to be, He blesses who you really are.”
