Celebration three-dozen episodes and taking a look ahead to see what’s in store for future episodes. Justin also announces a short break for the podcast and shares a little backstory for it. One final announcement is the podcast will be moving onto Youtube in the not-too-distant future, Lord willing. The show will continue to be featured on the various podcast mediums it is already featured on for those who prefer to listen audibly. A taste of the future episodes in the production pipeline: HIGHLIGHTS A massive series on Jonathan Edwards, exploring his life story, revival ministry, prolific theology, family legacy, personal spiritual disciplines and much more. Multiple guests are slated for the series. Scotty Kessler is booked for two upcoming episodes featuring two different inspiring men of God. The testimony of a Mexican man who escaped custody, tried to murder a guard and was finally saved by Christ from a life of addiction. Multiple episodes featuring different members of a group of mormons who were all saved out of the LDS faith and into orthodox Christianity. And many more! 

The Transformation Podcast

Ep. 36: A Look Ahead for the Podcast and Break Announcement

Brian Barcelona had a radical encounter with God as a young adult. Not too long after, this led to Brian preaching the Gospel in high schools. The first Jesus Club had 30 kids, but as Brian preached straight down the middle with the unadulterated Gospel message, the club soon grew to 600 kids meeting regularly to hear the Word and encounter the living God. Sometimes Brian would encounter large groups of kids who were devoted to living life in violent gangs. “Why are you fightin’ over colors? Are you Crayola? Why are you fighting over streets? Your parents can barely afford their rent. Why are you dying for something that means nothing?” As Brian declared this at one particular meeting, a gang member stood up and said, “What do I have to do to be saved?” Brian’s response: “Man, give up everything.” It’s this type of fidelity to the testimony of the Gospel that has stirred so many hearts in a growing number of Jesus Clubs throughout the nation. As Mark and Stephanie Kram testified on Episode 27, 100 kids got saved at a high school in Justin’s neighborhood last year through a Jesus Club on that campus. Listen to this week’s episode (audio above) to hear the full report of what God is doing through this encouraging ministry. HIGHLIGHTS Brian moved his ministry to L.A. where he ended up on the 700 Club and many other Christian shows. This exposure helped spur the Jesus Club idea into a movement that grew far beyond Brian's direct ministry. Brian shares at the beginning of the episode how the Dream Center, a Christian nonprofit, is serving people in need during the coranavirus quarantines. Brian got to travel to Brazil to witness the historic gatherings that took place during the recent revival. 

Ep. 35: Brian Barcelona on the Jesus Movement Growing in High Schools

In Episode 9, Derrick Rhayn shared the incredible story of how God led him to Himself. In this episode, Derrick is back, sharing from under 24/7 quarantine in Paris. Derrick has been trying to live as all-in as he can to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Even though he is only a little more than a year old in the faith, Derrick has seen much encouraging fruit from the last several months of constantly saying “Yes!” to what God asks of him. In the time since recording his testimony on the podcast, Derrick has been on a mission trip to Mazatlan Mexico, a brief mission to Boston, another back to Mazatlan and an 81-day prayer-laden trip to Macedonia. Now, Derrick is preparing to enter into a discipleship training school at the YWAM base in Paris. He almost didn’t make it to Parish though, as he wasn’t due there for another few weeks and the presidential order halting travel to and from Europe would have grounded him stateside. Thankfully, God prompted Derrick to leave on the 13th and his plane was the last one leaving the Denver airport to Portugal (his connecting flight). In this episode, Derrick shares the apparent insanity of saying “Yes” to God–even to two-hour mission trips across the U.S. and the fruit that he’s seen from them. He shares how he’s seen the Lord save over 50 people on these little excursions and also the deeper fruit of forging a faith-first relationship with Christ. Derrick also opens up about the journey in his prayer life the Lord has had him on and how it wasn’t until hour three in a particular prayer session that he received impromptu direction from the Holy Spirit to go on a mission to Macedonia. While there, he continued his journey in prayer, praying for several hours per day. Listen to the audio (above) in this week’s to hear the full report from this young missionary’s travels. HIGHLIGHTS His second Mazatlan trip was only 24 hours but him and his ministry partner saw around 50 people saved during that time. While in Mazatlan with his church (City Central), Derrick saw a Spirit-inspired picture of the WOrd of God being planted on a local island that has the reputation of being particularly dark, spiritually. Now the local Christians have put up signs all around the island that have Bible verses in spanish. In Boston, Derrick met a woman who was struggling with suicidal thoughts and he was able to tell her, "God sent me all away across the country to talk to you." Derrick is enrolling in a music-based DTS that will minister abroad with music. 

Ep. 34: In the Mission Dojo: Derrick Rhayn’s Updates from the Field

The stats wouldn’t have predicted Josh McDowell would turn out to be one of the world’s most famous evangelists. Josh’s early life seemed headed for destruction. His dad was drunk just about 24/7 and a man who lived in Josh’s childhood home repeatedly sexually assaulted Josh for much of his young life. That is, until Josh violently threatened him to never touch him again. Josh’s anger being used as a tool to attempt to bring some order to the chaos of his home was a recurring theme. When Josh’s dad would hit Josh’s mom, Josh would fight him. He’d even tie up his dad in the barn to keep him from embarrassing the family when guests came over. In frustration he even swore off his belief in a good, loving God. It’s perhaps no surprise that when Josh came of age and enrolled at community college, Josh became antagonistic to a group of Christian students that attempted to love him. The group’s joy and kindness frustrated Josh and he set out to disprove their belief using all the tools of modern academia. Josh even saved up and flew himself to the other side of the world to study in Europe’s great libraries. He had hoped to disprove the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. Instead, he wound up believing the truth that it had indeed happened as described in the pages of scripture. Josh surrendered to Christ in the months that followed that epiphany and God began to move in His life powerfully. After being discipled by a local pastor for some time, he was encouraged to confront his dad and forgive him. Hesitantly, Josh followed through with setting up a time to meet with his dad. When he did, all that came out of his mouth was “I love you.” Those words had a profound effect on teh senior McDowell, and he ended up giving his life to Christ sometime later. The change in him was so radical that his small town immediately took notice and, before too long, others came to Christ. Josh’s mom passed away and he never got to speak to her about Christ. Then, a few years into his walk with Jesus, Josh’s dad passed away. This left Josh without family and pondering the state of his mother’s soul. One day, he was praying and asking God to show him whether his mom had ever surrendered her life to him. Josh thought this prayer would likely never be answered, but 90 minutes later, as he walked a pier not far from his seminary campus in California, he ran into a sweet older lady fishing on the doc. The lady struck up conversation and mentioned that she had family in the same town in Michigan Josh was from. It turned out that this lady was Josh’s aunt, his mom’s sister. Finding out that this woman was very dedicated to God, he asked if his mom had ever given her life to Christ. His aunt told him the incredible story of her and Josh’s mom giving their lives to Christ at a tent revival meeting as teenagers. The Lord had brought them together that day, thousands of miles from Josh’s home, in order to answer Josh’s prayer for assurance as well as to address Josh’s lack of family. Listen to the full story as well as hear Josh’s parenting and discipleship advice in this week’s episode. Audio above! HIGHLIGHTS Josh shared on his 7 keys to effective parenting with Justin (link below). Josh's real name is "Jos" but when he was a school athlete, someone printed it "Josh" in that paper and it stuck. Josh shared about his great wife and the advice his mother-in-law gave for raising great children. Even though Josh has written over 150 books, Josh said he'd be fine if he never wrote another one again because each one "guts you." 

p. 33: The Roots of an Evangelist: Josh McDowell’s Origin Story

Hudson Taylor is one of the most famous missionaries of the modern era––and for good reason. By the end of Hudson’s life, countless Chinese Christians owed their spiritual salvation to God working through Hudson Taylor’s willingness to venture where few would dare. Born to a Christian family, Hudson’s father had a strong desire to evangelize China but was unable to due to life circumstances. So his father did the next best thing, he prayed and asked God that if the family had a son that he would be a missionary to China. Though Hudson didn’t learn of this story until several years on the mission field, God still answered this prayer mightily in making Hudson the most influential missionary to ever evangelize China. Hudson’s spiritual legacy wasn’t limited to his father. His mother and sister both set out to pray for Hudson’s salvation while, as a young man, he ran with “infidels.” ONe day his sister enetered in her diary that she would pray for  Hudson every day until he was saved. A month later, Hudson’s mother was on an extended trip when she fel thte uncontrollable urge to leave the dinner table and pray for Hudson until he was saved. Mrs. Taylor poured out her soul for hours before God until, just as her last bit of energy was sapped, she felt the Spirit tell her he was indeed saved. At that same hour, Hudson felt the pull to read a tract in his father’s study which convicted him of the truth of the Gospel. Hudson later wrote that the unbelievers he hung around used to say that the Christians they knew said they believed the Bible but didn’t live like it was true. When Hudson was saved, this notion stuck with Hudson and made him resolve to live like the Bible was true. This started with training himself for the mission field by living on as little as possible as well as living by faith. Sometimes he would just sell off anything he owned that he felt he’d feel ashamed to give an account to Jesus about if the Lord were to come back in that moment. Other times, he’d do things like purposely neglect to tell his boss when his paycheck was long pass due. He opted instead to let God remind the absent-minded supervisor, which God always did, but at the last possible second so as to underscore the miraculous nature of the situation. After many experiences like this, Hudson set out to China on a miraculous voyage where, had it not been for God responding to the prayers of the few believers on the ship, they would have died on multiple occasions. In China, Hudson had many more miraculous adventures in the early years until he was finally led to start the China Inland Mission. Listen to this week’s episode (audio above) to hear many of the miraculous stories from Hudson’s missionary life. HIGHLIGHTS When Hudson arrived in China, he found himself in the middle of a war with little to no contacts. At several points, Hudson or a fellow missionary narrowly missed by bullets or canon balls. Just before the Boxer Rebellion, which targeted Christians, and after long decades of Taylor's service, the China Inland Mission boasted 811 missionaries, 171 stations, 223 out-stations, 387 chapels; 581 paid native helpers, 193 unpaid native helpers, 12,964 total baptisms; as well as, 266 churches, 788 boarding scholars, 1382 day schools, 6 hospitals and 46 opium refuges. It is estimated that roughly 1/10 of China's 1 billion population is Christian. Today, many Chinese Christians take a spiritual pilgrimage to Hudson's hometown in England to see where their spiritual heritage began. 

Ep. 32: Called Inland: The Life and Legacy of Hudson Taylor (with Scotty Kessler)

In last week’s episode, we heard the gripping story of Kim Phuc’s life before being saved by Christ. We heard about her idyllic childhood being traumatically altered by the napalm attack which was captured in the world-famous “Napalm Girl” photo. We heard how her only dream was to be a doctor so she could save the lives of others just like the doctors of the Barski Unit that had saved her life. We heard how that dream was stolen from her by the communist government who used her as political propaganda. And ultimately, we heard how Christ miraculously saved this despairing young woman just two days before her planned suicide. When we left Kim, she was still living under the oppression of the Communist government, who had shutdown her church and imprisoned its pastors.  So what became of Kim and her new faith? Did her faith survive spiritual isolation? Did Kim survive Communism at all? Better yet, could she escape these terrible circumstances as a young girl with no connections and no means to do so? In this episode, we pick Kim’s story back up and we will get answers to all these questions and more. Once again, you’re up for an unbelievable journey as the conclusion to this story is just as wild as the start. This episode is about how God miraculously saved Kim Phuc from Communism. One of the first significant steps the Lord took to save Kim from Communism was to miraculously create a friendship between the Vietnamese Prime Minister and herself. This friendship allowed Kim to leave Vietnam under the auspices of studying abroad in Cuba. Cuba was still a Communist country but at least moving there kept her away from the abusive hands of the Vietnamese Government as they continually objectified her as mere political propaganda. Kim was still without Christian fellowship for many years but it was in Cuba that Kim met her husband. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be seem beautiful again to a man after her accident, but this man 100 committed to her. The two married and planned their honeymoon in another Communist country, which was the extent of where they were allowed to travel by the Communist regime. It was on this trip that God worked a series of major miracles in the couple’s life. The miracle that set off the whole chain of divine blessings happened while they were at a quick layover in the Toronto airport. Kim had been looking for a chance to defect from her country and the Lord revealed an opportunity to do just that as she waited in that airport. Kim told her husband, who wasn’t a believer, that she felt the Holy Spirit told her this was the time to defect and that she was going to obey what God had shared. Her husband thought she was seriously challenged, not knowing what to do, but ultimately his love for his wife was enough to take the chance. The couple did not get back on their plane. They instead hid and took a leap of faith asking someone what they should do. They didn’t know anyone in Canada and they didn’t have any resources to support themselves. All of this would be moot though if Canada wouldn’t let them enter the country. Kim’s husband was very scared as the consequences for their actions could be very severe. But the Holy Spirit assured Kim and she spoke to her husband confidently that everything was going to miraculously work out because God was taking care of them. Sure enough, divine appointment after divine appointment started revealing themselves. Perhaps the chief among the miracles was that this exact time happened to be during a very small, unprecedented window where Canada was allowing people in the couple’s situation to enter the country. Eventually God secured the couple housing, jobs and even a church. This last blessing was not only sweet for Kim who had been spiritually surviving only with her personal Bible and solitary prayer, but Kim’s husband had become a Christian as well. Once he had witnessed the miraculous way God had saved the couple from Communism, his eyes were opened and he gave his life to Christ. Listen to the episode above for the incredible full story of Kim Phúc’s life. Don’t miss part 1, as well, if you haven’t hear d it yet. HIGHLIGHTS Kim's parents, who were dedicated to the Cao Dai religion of her youth, have converted to Christianity and, by the grace of God, been able to move to Canada to be with their daughter's family. Kim lived in Cuba for six years. Today Kim has undergone advanced treatments that have relieved her of the lifelong pain caused by the napalm. The napalm attack actually perpetrated by the U.S. military. The attack was not supposed to be carried out but was an accident. Kim met the pilot later in life and he profusely apologized while Kim completely forgave him. 

31: Christ Saves the Napalm Girl From Communism: Part 2 of Kim Phúc’s Testimony

On June 8th, 1972, Vietnamese AP photographer, Nick Ut, snapped a photo that would become what is thought to be one of the most memorable photographs of the 20th century. The photo, which was later dubbed “The Napalm Girl,” captured a heart-wrenching scene that took place just after a Vietnam-War napalm attack. Children are fleeing toward the camera as their mouths make out visible screams. Soldiers follow close behind with smoke filling the whole of the background. But the center of the photograph is a little girl, naked, screaming out in pain from the napalm that had gripped hold of her skin. It’s a startling photograph to take in. Many attribute it helping end the Vietnam war as its powerful imagery made its way around the globe as front page news.   The photograph was soon the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize, earning its place in our collective cultural memory as one of the most iconic images of its generation, but what about that little girl? What ever happened to her? What became of her injuries? Her life? Did she survive? Did she go on to live a healthy life or did she even live very long after the photograph was taken? The little girl’s name is Kim Phúc and her story was only beginning with the events captured in this photograph. Shortly after the attack, Kim found her way to a hospital where she was basically left for dead. Through a series of Divine  miracles, she was rescued from this place and admitted into an exclusive hospital that specialized in cases like hers. Through excruciating pain, Kim was brought back from the brink of death, but the pain would torment her for decades. Ten years after the attack, when Kim was 19 years old, she was studying to become a doctor at a Vietnamese university. The dream to become a doctor and help others the way she was helped after the attack was the one hope that had pulled her through the continued suffering and lingering trauma. This dream was stolen from her by the communist Vietnamese government that discovered that the world-famous Napalm Girl was still alive. They saw in Kim a propaganda tool that could help advance their political and policy goals. The communists began pulling her out of class and ushering her off to press conferences packed with Western reporters. The reporters would ask questions and Kim would answer honestly in her native Vietnamese tongue, but the Communist interpreter would answer the party talking points instead of relaying Kim’s actual responses. Eventually, Kim was kicked out of school for missing so much class time as the Communists continued to interrupt her studies in pursuit of their political goals. Not only that, but the government assigned a minder to constantly monitor her and follow her around. Kim had lost her privacy and, most importantly to her, she had lost her dream to become a doctor. Kim was at the end of her will to live. She began to plan the taking of her own life. As she was hiding from her Communist minder a few days until her planned suicide, she sought refuge in the city library. She plopped down in the religion section and began to peruse books until she came across a New Testament written in Vietnamese. With curiosity, she began to devour the Scriptures until she landed upon the words of Jesus in John 14:6, ““I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Fatherexcept through me.” This contradicted everything Kim had learned from her universalist Eastern religion taught to her by her local Cao Dai priest. Jesus was a good moral teacher, how could He claim to be so exclusive? Yet, she persisted in wrestling with the Scripture and Jesus’ claims in them until God began to reveal the truth of Christ and His teachings of being the only way to God. At the same time, God sent a pastor into her life from a local church that would soon after be shutdown by the atheistic government. Though these leaders would soon be imprisoned, God used them to assist Kim in her journey to understand and accept the Gospel of Jesus. In the life of Jesus, Kim saw someone who knew suffering like she knew suffering and yet offered unadulterated hope. Kim found freedom from all her bitterness, pain and suffering in the Gospel of Jesus. In today’s episode, listen to Kim Phúc tell her amazing story of suffering and faith in Christ. Stay tuned next week for part 2 where we jump deeper into her story of how Christ helped Kim survive, and ultimately miraculously escape, Communism. HIGHLIGHTS Kim had a happy, idyllic childhood before the war. Kim's relatively well-off family were the benefactors of the local Cao Dai temple, where Kim learned the universalist religion of her childhood. The family was seeking refuge in the temple when the napalm attack took place and Kim was burned. The pastor who helped disciple Kim, just happened to come into her life right at the same time she had encountered the New Testament in the library. All of it adds up to God divinely pursuing Kim in her brokenness. LINKS John 14:6 Fire Road: The Napalm Girl’s Journey through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace (Kim's Book) 

30: Christ Saves The Napalm Girl: Kim Phúc’s Testimony

Dan Hegelund was born to the radical Jesus-Movement leader, Linda Meissner. Linda had been used as a powerful evangelist, seeing tens of thousands of people come to Christ. At one point, Linda was preaching the Gospel on the streets of Scandanavia and felt led to move into an abandoned military base where a community of hippies had created living space. As Linda lived among these hippies, she saw people begin to come to Christ. One was a man who, after a walking with the Lord for a while, decided he wanted to pursue Linda. The two were married and shortly after welcomed Dan into the world. Unfortunately, not long after, Dan’s father backslid into a lifestyle of alcohol and drug abuse. Nevertheless, though LInda’s heart was broken, she committed to being a godly mother to Dan and continued to preach the Gospel. Unfortunately for Dan, the community became a hostile place for a child. Police raids and the lack of the rule of moral law left Dan feeling despairing of life as a small child. Yet, this is exactly when God showed up in Dan’s life. Dan began to intimately encounter God at a young age and by the age of 13 had what he would call “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” This experience was not a rare thing in the Pentecostal background of his mother, but it did produce uncommon results. As a 13-year-old, Dan was regularly evangelizing non-believers and bringing them to a weekly Bible study that he led. The young man was on fire for God. Later, he finally found a church that was different than the stale, dead churches he’d previously encountered in Scandinavia. He felt led to get involved in it and for a time this seemed to quench the fiery ministry he’d been leading. The trade off was that he was able to grow in discipleship and maturity as a follower of Christ. God blessed this season, bring Dan a wife and giving him many ministry opportunities. For ministry, Dan started and led Gospel choirs and eventually became the worship director of a Central-European church that was experiencing massive revival. One day, Dan felt he received a prophetic word for his mother, Linda. It had been 40 years since her heyday as an evangelist and he felt the Lord say to her that, like Moses being in the wilderness for 40 years in a foreign land and then being called back to do Kingdom work in his twilight years, God was telling Linda he had work for her to do back in the U.S. where she had been a central part of the Jesus Movement in the 70’s. Dan, Linda and Dan’s family all moved back to the United States and, after settling in, God shared with Dan that it was time for him to resurrect that vision he had as a fiery teenage-church-planter and plant churches himself. Today, Dan has planted a church in Tacoma, WA where his mother serves as the Lead Evangelist. Listen to this week’s episode (above) to hear all the details of what God has done in Dan’s life! HIGHLIGHTS Even though Gospel choirs originated in Black American culture, they've become very popular in Scandinavia. Dan started and directed large one that were televised on T.V. The church that Dan was on staff at not only experienced a truly massive revival, from the church, countless churches have been planted. Dan recounts how he experienced "power" after he was baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is similar to how the early Pentecostals described their experience. They testified that their ability in ministry and discipleship was greatly strengthened. 

29: The Roots of a Church Planter: Dan Hegelund’s Encouraging Story

Tiffany Bluhm was abandoned as an infant on the streets India and later adopted by a family in the United States. She never forgot the feeling of abandonment or of being a little different than her peers. These things might have been good enough reasons to compel her to never consider adopting a child of her own. Nonetheless, the God who adopts followers of His Son, Fathering them from into His Heavenly Kingdom, stirred Tiffany and her husband Derek’s hearts towards adopting a child of their own. One day, while gazing at a small baby with dark skin, Tiffany heard the Lord whisper to her, “Your baby’s going to have real dark skin.” Since Tiffany is Indian, this wasn’t a surprise, but she felt the Lord was speaking of even darker skin. The couple eventually settled on adopting from Uganda. The couple went forward knowing their process would be arduous. They would soon find out they had no idea how difficult it would be. Initially only thinking of adopting one child, the Bluhm’s were challenged by an adoption representative to adopt two. They prayerfully accepted the challenge and eventually made their way to Uganda. After arriving, the couple were able to meet their new boys, who they named Lucius and Jericho, and they were given accommodations to live in while they waited out the legal process necessary to bring their children home. The initial adjustment period for the kids was trying. The kids, being toddlers who had rarely, if ever, seen a male adult, presented unique challenges for Derek as he sought to fill the role of a father. Even more heart-wrenching was watching little Jericho bang his head on floor for 8-10 hours a day while he processed the trauma of this new situation. His previous life’s circumstances were very difficult, but they were all he knew. Now he found himself with people he didn’t know in a situation he didn’t recognize. Yet, over the weeks and months, the foursome settled into the reality of being a family and true, deep bonds formed in this short time. It seemed the rhythm of what life was going to look like for this family had begun to reveal itself. Then the unthinkable happened. The Bluhm’s were told that they were not going to be able to keep Lucius. It turns out he had a relative in the Ugandan government who didn’t like the idea of foreigners adopting someone from his family. This was devastating news to the little Bluhm squad. Derek and Lucius had formed a deep bond. In fact, where it had taken much longer for Jericho to call Derek “Daddy,” it was a relatively short process for Lucius. He had truly begun to flourish for the first time in his short life, and since the relative didn’t actually want to adopt Lucius himself, he would have to return to orphanage life. While the family was still processing this grief, it began to look like they might lose Jericho as well. As their stay extended well beyond their original plans and began to near the four-month mark, Tiffany says she found herself reaching the limits of her faith. Despair looked like it might overcome her. But God, Who is never exhausted and never surprised, supported Tiffany when she was at her lowest by rousing a sister in Christ on the other side of the world to begin to pray non-stop until there was breakthrough in Tiffany’s situation. It was the middle of the night where this woman lived, but the Spirit stirred her to message Tiffany and let her know that she felt Tiffany was struggling and that this sister was praying. After much prayer, the Holy Spirit gave the woman confidence that something had changed in Tiffany’s situation. Indeed, something significant had happened, because at the very hour the woman felt stirred to begin to pray, the Bluhm’s legal representation was meeting with a Ugandan judge regarding Jericho’s status with the family. The case was moved forward and not long after the family was able to come home to the United States together. Today Jericho is a school-aged boy and big brother to little brother, Kingston. Listen to this week’s episode to hear all of the Bluhm’s incredible story and to be encouraged by Justin’s conversation with Tiffany!   HIGHLIGHTS Tiffany mentions at the beginning of the episode that she was waiting to hear back about a book deal. She has since written multiple books! (This episode was recorded over three years ago but just released in 2020!) The Bluhm's name for Jericho was based on one of the first promises for the people of Israel being tied to the city of the same name. Lucius means "light." Derek was initially only going to come for the first few weeks but he ended up needing to stay for the entire four months. 

28: The God Who Never Sleeps: Tiffany Bluhm’s Incredible Adoption Story

Stephanie Kram never expected to be leading a high school ministry, but God unmistakably called her to it. The fruit of the ministry testifies to that well enough: the meetings are overflowing capacity and tons of kids have decided to follow Jesus. It all started one day when when Stephanie was scrolling through Instagram and noticed an account talking about something called Jesus Club. Fast forward to a little while later and she found herself listening to an out-of-town speaker at local church named Brian Barcelona. Brian just happened to be the founder of Jesus Club. While Stephanie listened to this man testify to how God had been using Jesus Club to reach kids, she had what she can only describe as the most powerful encounter with God she’s ever had. She felt the Holy Spirit come over her and bear witness to her soul that she was supposed to do something similar in a local high school. The high school she had in mind had a reputation as not being very friendly to ministries, however. Even local Young Life staff reported not being able to be on campus. Nonetheless, she felt led to pursue this particular high school as the site for her Jesus Club. So prayerfully, Stephanie pursued and obtained a meeting with the school principal. The morning of the meeting she read in her Bible about Jesus instructing the apostles to not prepare anything to say before they were brought before leaders because the Holy Spirit would direct their mouths in the moment. So Stephanie surrendered her preparation to God and prayerfully went to her meeting. In the meeting the principal initially seemed skeptical but stephanie was just straightforward about her intentions and her heart for his students. The principal seemed almost immediately change demeanors and began to tell her about several difficulties he was encountering among the student body. He then asked how she could help. From this point, Stephanie was allowed to begin to pursue starting a club on campus. As soon as she stepped foot on campus, God began opening doors. Pretty soon after she entered the school, a young woman came up to her who remembered her from a previous job Stephanie had mentoring youth. This girl happened to be a follower of Christ, herself, and upon learning what Stephanie was up to, she told her about a teacher in the school who oversaw a Bible club. Stephanie met with this teacher who then told her that the club had been dying and she had been earnestly praying for the Lord to send someone to spearhead a new effort with it. She also shared that the existing name of the club was Jesus Club–the very name Stephanie had in mind for the club and the name of the original ministry that had inspired it. From there the club grew from a few students to 80 regular attendees and even more who have given their life to Christ in the few years since Stephanie stepped foot on campus. The club has had an impact on kids from virtually every walk of life. Stephanie is joined by her husband Mark, who has taken on a leadership role alongside her and Jon Osterman (from episode 13). The couple shares several miraculous and encouraging stories from their time in Jesus Club. Listen to this week’s episode for the entire encouraging story! HIGHLIGHTS The teacher/club adviser who originally led the the club belongs to a small local church that have been praying for the kids of the school by name for years. The Krams shared with particular fondness their experiences sharing the love of Christ with members of a group of gay students. Some were enthusiastic about the invitation but one in particular seemed the least open in the group to attending the club but ended up giving his life to Christ. The club packs out two classrooms and the club leadership is actively petitioning the school administration to meet in the gym. 

27: Jesus Club! (How Countless Kids are Getting Saved at a Local High School w/ Mark and Stephanie Kram)

Few men have impacted the world as George Müller of Bristol did. He was counted as a main inspiration for legendary contemporaries like C.T. Studd and Hudson Taylor. His witness was even the sole inspiration for the 1859 revival in Ireland, which itself was a large inspiration for the famous 1904 Great Revival in Wales. He lived a long life and before he died, he would care for over 10,000 orphans, print and distribute nearly 2 million bibles, distribute over 3 million tracks and Christian books, support 115 missionaries, pay for the schooling of 81,000 kids,  and create home Sunday-schools which nearly 33,000 children attended. He paid for all this by raising over $150 million (in today’s dollars). But none of this was what George considered his primary ministry. His main goal was to make his life a witness to “a prayer-hearing God.” He did this by relentlessly praying for every need, no matter how minute or gigantic, and recording God’s answers to those prayers as they happened. In fact, he never actually raised a dime of that 150 million dollars by asking for it like regular fundraisers. All of it was miraculously given to him by donors in answer to prayers. He would then publish all the answers to prayer in regular reports for the public. However, he had one exception to this process. He would not publish the report if the finances in the report made certain needs clear. He would wait until all financial needs were met until publishing so that no one would give in response to the report itself. He went to such great lengths to make sure God got glory for these answered prayers that if there was a particularly big need, he wouldn’t even tell his wife, lest she accidentally let slip the need to someone else. Even if someone came to him and told him they’d like to give to the ministry but they wanted to make sure their money was needed at that particular time, George would refuse to divulge if there were any needs and instead tell them to go pray and ask God whether they should give. He did this even in times when there was in fact imminent, dire need. He once told his eventual biographer, Arthur Pierson, “Not once, or five times, or five hundred times, but thousands of times in these threescore years, have we had in hand not enough for one more meal, either in food or in funds; but not once has God failed us; not once have we or the orphans gone hungry or lacked any good thing.” George recounted that often he’d be on his knees praying when the answer to that very prayer would show up. Though he oversaw orphanages that housed over 2,000 orphans, George never once asked a single soul for money for them, but he did ask God unceasingly and God never once failed to answer. HIGHLIGHTS George was "a very bad boy" as Arthur Pierson described his childhood. He was a habitual liar, thief and drunkard by his teens, even though his father had arranged for him to study to be a minister in the German state church. George estimates that less than 1% of his 900 fellow students in his divinity school actually feared God, but it was at a house meeting while attending this school that George first encountered the living God and never looked back. He devoured scripture, reading through the Bible on average of three times per year throughout his 60 years of ministry. When George was in his 70's, he travelled the world preaching. He traversed the globe multiple times, traveling 200,000 miles over 17 years. His main message when preaching was that a Christian's first duty every day was to get happy with God. He himself preferred to stay in hotels while traveling so he could make sure to have uninterrupted communion with God through His Word and prayer. 

26: "To The Prayer-Hearing God:" The Incredible Life of George Müller (with Scotty Kessler)

In part 2 of our focus on the life of William J. Seymour, Jordan McCloud and Justin finish William’s story by reflecting on how William handled difficult situations. The short answer: with humility and a heart to glorify God. Jordan and Justin reflect on how lessons from Seymour’s life are applicable today, both in the Church and in greater society. A big theme that emerges in this episode is the Christlike way of responding to racism, bitterness and oppression. In all things, Seymour seemed to respond with humility and love out of reverence for Christ. Likewise, Seymour responded to injustices done to him from friends and even his mentor, with humility and love. He never stopped advocating for truth but seemed to take seriously that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” If you haven’t listened to part 1 in our series, check it out for a lot more of the details of this man’s story. HIGHLIGHTS Justin shared about how on the day Billy Graham died, God called Justin away from being political in the same way Billy abstained from politics. Jordan shared about the temptation to be bitter at one's cultural enemies in the same way Jonah was. The guys talked about the implications of Jesus' Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49) in today's divisive world. 

25: Racism, Humility and the Gospel: The Life of William J. Seymour Part 2 (with Jordan McCloud)

Though William J. Seymour was about as culturally disenfranchised as an American could be at the dawn of the 20th century, and though the time of influence was relatively short, he had the distinct honor to be the central figure in one of the largest movements in the last hundred years. The son of ex-African American slaves, we don’t know as much about the details of Seymour’s life as we’d like, but we do know that he grew up very poor. He also resided in the South during his formative years when the Klu Klux Klan was terrorizing Black families and circumstances weren’t generally favorable for those of African descent living in this area of the country. In his 20’s he bounced around Northern states working various jobs and being heavily influenced by various holiness churches. He also contracted Small Pox by this point of his life, and while his life was spared, he was left blind in one eye and with a partially disfigured face. At some point he was drawn to Texas and was able to attend Charles Parham’s 10-week Bible course. Though, it must be said that because of Texan segregation laws, he wasn’t actually able to sit in the class room or be a formal student. He took advantage of a legalist loophole where Parham allowed him to sit in the hallway to listen in to his teachings. It seems that Parham loved Black Americans but later also demonstrated racist tendencies which ultimately hurt Seymour. For the time being, however, Seymour learned from this Holiness teacher’s theology and, with only completing 5 weeks of the course, took off for Los Angeles where he felt called to pastor a small house church. Parham had a conviction that the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” that Jesus spoke of was something that would only be demonstrated by speaking in tongues. It was at one of his schools in 1901 that students began to speak in tongues en masse and so, in 1906, when Seymour took over pastoral duties at the small Los Angeles church, he began to preach that every Christian should desire the gift of tongues (known as glossolalia), as it would be evidence of the gift of being immersed in God’s Spirit. This theological position wasn’t received by all but a small band from the church rallied around Seymour and, after moving their reduced meetings to the home of one of the couples, the group began to experience the gift of tongues. This of course blossomed into the Azusa Revival which later gave birth to the global phenomenon known as the Pentecostal movement and its mainstream offshoot, the Charismatic movement. There is much to tell about this revival and its legacy, both arguably for the better and for the worse, but in this episode, Justin is joined by Jordan McCloud as they discuss not only the details of Seymour’s life but also the implications of both Seymour’s hallmark humility as well as his Christlike approach to race in the midst of one of the greatest eras of racial discord in U.S. history. Truly, the Azusa Revival is known by the famous line written by its primary documenter, Frank Bartleman: “The color line was washed away in the Blood [of Christ].” Listen along as Jordan and Justin discuss the life of William J. Seymour and the ways they see that his walk with God could inspire salt, light and peace in today’s world. HIGHLIGHTS Seymour grew out a beard to cover his facial disfiguration. His family only owned two pieces of furniture. The revival was marked by black, white, hispanic and other ethnicities all communing and leading together. The quote referenced in the title was from influential Pentecostal forerunner, William H. Durham. The full quote about Seymour is as follows: "He is the meekest man I ever met. He walks and talks with God. His power is in his weakness. He seems to maintain a helpless dependence on God and is simple-hearted as a little child, and at the same time is so filled with God that you feel the love and power every time you get near him." 

24: “The Meekest Man I Ever Met:” the Life of William J. Seymour (with Jordan McCloud)

Merry Christmas! Our gift to you is more than a dozen encouraging testimonies we’ve been collecting over the past few years. The stories range from helping people in need, to people being miraculously healed, to God saving folks from perilous circumstances. Justin has been walking around with a microphone in his bag almost everywhere he goes so he can collect testimonies as he encounters them. If someone started sharing a testimony with him, he would pull out his mic and ask them to share it on the recording. Even so, there are many he didn’t collect because of time, etc. and, yet, there is 90 minutes worth of testimonies on this episode. Listen to this week’s episode to hear all the encouraging stories! HIGHLIGHTS If you've heard Justin mention before how he's collected several random testimonies from one random Fred Meyer's store, this is the episode where you'll hear those particular stories, too. Truly, you'll know God can move anywhere, anytime, once you hear how many stories have happened in this little strip mall! As a bonus, Justin's wife, Brianna, also testifies on this episode in ways God has miraculously saved their family and delivered her from fear. Some of the people testifying have been guests on the podcast before. See if you can spot them! 

23: Merry Christmas! Our Gift to You is a Dozen Awesome Testimonies

Tyler Connell didn’t know what he was supposed to do with his life. He wanted to serve God but he needed God to tell him how. So he instinctually drove to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. He heard they prayed a lot there and he figured he needed a lot of that himself. During the short season he lived there, God gave him a prophetic dream that made it clear that he should join a missions organization called Youth with a Mission (aka YWAM). It was in YWAM that he finally found what he was looking for. Every YWAM’er has to go through a mission training school at one of countless YWAM bases around the world. Tyler chose to do his in Herrnhut, Germany, the famous town built by the Moravians and arguably the historical epicenter of modern Evangelicalism. While Tyler was at the training school he diligently sought the will of God for his life. One day, as he was praying, the Holy Spirit whispered to his heart, “Tyler, you’ve been coming to me like a slave comes to a master.” Instead, said the Spirit, He wanted Tyler to come to Him as a son to a father. Not long after this, a visiting leader, a woman with a prophetic gift, told Tyler she felt the Lord was going to do something special for him that week. Sure enough, as the week went on, Tyler found himself in multiple spontaneous prayer and worship times with fellow students that lasted for hours as God’s presence was almost palpably felt. Sensing a unique situation, Tyler asked God what He wanted to communicate with these sessions. It was at this point Tyler got his clarity. Via another prophetic dream and a handful of other miraculous means, God started rapidly revealing the battle plan for Tylers next season of life. Through this it became clear he was supposed to film documentary films and show them on college campuses in order to inspire folks to go into missions in the 1040 window. He also felt led to share this vision with a guy who was temporarily bunking in his dorm. He didn’t understand why he was led to do so until the guy responded with with great enthusiasm. He related to Tyler how he was a filmmaker and that he was at Herrnhut seeking vision on what he was supposed to do next. The two became partners and launched the Ekballo Project. They have made multiple films and shown them on over 60 college campuses. They have started a summer program for short-term student outreaches, as well. Tyler also shares three other powerful stories from his experiences of people miraculously coming to encounter the Gospel and the power of God. HIGHLIGHTS Tyler recounts the story of being in a nation with 50 known believers in Jesus. He and some others were worshipping for 12 hours straight when a couple walked into the building unannounced because of dream the guy had the night before involving Jesus and music in the same building. A story is shared about a muslim man who was physically blinded after a demonic attack years before. Tyler and his team ministered to him over several days until Jesus enountered the man and his sight was restored. Another time Tyler and his team were preparing to show the Jesus film in a remote village when they encountered a man who surprising spoke perfect English. The man opposed them vehemently at the start but then when the movie was shown, God spoke to the man in his mind and the man gave his life to Christ. 

22: Life Between Ten and Forty Degrees North: Tyler Connell and the Ekballo Story

A podcast full of miraculous stories about the shocking goodness of God. A lot of people believe humans were created by God. Not many realize we were created to be with Him. Without acknowledging this reality, we’re like cosmic orphans or like ICU patients without life support. We need God like we need oxygen. These stories testify to that truth. The mission of this podcast is to put a microphone in front of the witnesses of Jesus’ glory and be a loud voice for reporting on the news that really matters: God's miraculous deeds that happen all around us--but often lack the platform to be shared. Lives transformed by the Gospel, miraculous healing, God providing in radical ways, long-time believers who have seen God do wondrous things as their faith is stretched, even the inspiring testimonies of people who lived long ago: these are samples of what you'll find in these episodes.

hubhopper

The Transformation Podcast

hubhopper