The Unbelievable Faith of Michael Todd
FAITH DEFINED
There are many things in our lives today that seem normal, but when they were first introduced, they were an unimageable invention that seemed like a crazy idea. For example, it was crazy to think someone could make a video phone call to someone around the world on a cordless, antenna free device (smartphone), but today most people use this device. Many things that seem crazy to people today could be normal in the future.
Michael relates this to his own life story, “God has asked me to do some crazy things, and I’ve seen crazy results because of faith.” Through the years, he has developed crazy faith which he defines as, “having thoughts and actions that lack reason but trusting fully in what you cannot explicitly prove.”
Many have a hard time exercising true faith. On your journey to crazy faith, Michael says you may first experience some of the following:
• Baby Faith – Walking in faith comes from crawling in faith first. There is big power in small faith, and faith starts with hope.
• Maybe Faith - Faith in God begins where human understanding ends. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. When you open your mind to the possibility of a miracle and think to yourself, “Maybe that could actually happen, that’s real faith. You might not be 100% sure, but God can work with 51%. Faith at 51% says, I can’t see the whole pathway, but Lord, I trust You enough to start walking anyway,” shares Michael.
• Wavy Faith – Step out of what’s safe (just like Peter stepping out of the boat to go to Jesus) and put your trust in Him. Even though Peter took his eyes off Jesus for a second at least he had faith enough to get out of the boat.
• Lazy Faith – Don’t sleep on God’s promises. Future generations are depending on the fruit of your faith. Faith is an action verb.
• Stating Faith – God wants to hear from you. Start saying out loud what you are believing God to do. There is power in the spoken word. In 2018, Michael’s son MJ was diagnosed with autism at two and half years old. He is now six years old. Together he and Natalie are trusting God for his total wholeness.
• Fading Faith – Even if MJ’s situation does not change, they know that God will sustain them through this.
DEVELOPING FAITH MUSCLES
In middle school Michael heard the scripture Habakkuk 2 that says, “Write the vision and make it plain” (NKJV) so he started applying this concept to his own life. He wanted a pair of Air Jordan’s so he began drawing a picture of the pair he wanted in great detail. It might sound silly, but this was the beginning of crazy faith in his life.
Eventually the shoes on the sketch pad ended up on his feet. By the time he was fifteen he used the same faith to purchase an $8,000-drum set. God had inspired the early prophetic drawings (shoes and drum sets) to build his faith muscle and prepare him for challenges he would face later in life as a father, husband and pastor with childlike assurance.
CRAZY FAITH IN ACTION
When Michael and his wife, Natalie took over Transformation Church (previously led by the McIntoshes) in 2015 there were about 300 members in attendance. One of the first things he did (thirty-seven days after becoming lead pastor) was write down a vision God gave him for a new building. At the time, they had just barely paid off their building which was a 33,000 square foot converted grocery store in the hood of Tulsa.
Michael typed up a list of what he was believing God to do for their church. The first thing he heard the Holy Spirit say, “The SpiritBank Event Center (SBEC) will be Transformation Church.” He searched online and found a picture of the facility then put a Transformation Church logo on it. Below the photo he typed, “The SpiritBank Event Center will be Transformation Church. We will have a state-of-the-art facility.”
He also added that someone would underwrite the whole thing. Each morning he would pray. When he made this announcement in church he says you could have heard the crickets. Surprisingly, the people in the congregation were on board with Michael’s vision for the church. The gap between God’s promise of the SBEC and His provision of Transformation Church’s new home was five years.
That wasn’t the end of the story. SBEC sits at the back of a seven-building commercial complex that is home to thirty-five businesses. After Transformation Church moved into the SBEC Michael felt God tell him, “Don’t take your foot off the gas. Believe Me for the whole thing.” One year and two months later Michael is managing the whole complex for God’s glory. He says, “It’s only crazy until it happens.”
“Every blessing and promise and provision God brings to you through crazy faith is intended to advance His mission of saving faith for everyone on the earth,” reveals Michael.
