Pastor Michael Todd Uses Unconventional Sermon Illustrations at Transformation Church
Even outside of noise complaints, Michael Todd, who pastors Transformation Church, is no stranger to controversy.
Last year, Todd was preaching a sermon on relationships and chose to cuddle a mannequin in a bed on stage while delivering the message. The sermon was part of a series entitled, “Cuffing Season,” drawing a parallel to worldly desires and actions we’re willing to be “cuffed” to instead of Christ.
During the particular message, Todd climbed into the bed on stage and said that “we invite people into our beds, and they can be fake.” Todd continued while holding the torso of the mannequin close: “We don’t care who we cuddle with if it makes us feel comfortable. It don’t matter when it’s convenient.”
Later that same year, Pastor Mike Todd received criticism for smearing spit and mucous across the face of his brother—a willing volunteer—during a sermon. Todd was preaching on the familiar passage of Mark 8:22-26, where Jesus heals a blind man by spreading his own spit over the man’s eyes. During the sermon, Todd drew the conclusion that receiving vision from God could be “nasty.”
Congregants were repulsed, and Christian leaders spoke out in opposition. “Mike Todd’s demonstration was a disgusting display of theological and homiletical malpractice,” said Dr. Neichelle Guidry. “But, it was also scripturally inaccurate.”
Christian author Danté Stewart took to X (formerly Twitter) with his objections. “That Mike Todd video has so many layers of terribleness wrapped up in it, I don’t know even where to start,” Stewart posted. “The audacity. The cult energy. The spiritual and theological abusiveness. The hocking and rubbing and spitting and deflecting. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Ain’t no way.”
After the online backlash, Todd responded, “I was really trying to make the Word come alive and for people to see the story, but yesterday it got too live, and I own that.”
