The Transformation Podcast

Justin Mayfield
  • 5.0 (56)
  • CHRISTIANITY
The Transformation Podcast

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.

  1. 04/11/2020

    A Look Ahead for the Podcast and Break Announcement

    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!

    13 min

  2. 03/26/2020

    Brian Barcelona on the Jesus Movement Growing in High Schools

    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.

    49 min

  3. 03/19/2020

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

    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.

    1h 8m

  4. 03/12/2020

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

    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."

    34 min

  5. 03/05/2020

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

    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.

    1h 20m

  6. 02/20/2020

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

    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 Commu

    55 min

  7. 02/14/2020

    Christ Saves The Napalm Girl: 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 und

    1 hr

  8. 02/06/2020

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

    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.

    1h 12m
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About

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.

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