It was a nasty day for churchgoers this past weekend. Michael Todd, a pastor at Tulsa’s Transformation Church, came under fire for his Sunday sermon after rubbing his saliva on a parishioner’s face. The churchgoer was apparently his younger brother, regardless, the incident left much of his congregation disgusted. In the midst of a global pandemic, it’s probably a bad idea to rub saliva on another’s face.
The controversial display came while Todd delivered a message about how a “vision from God might get nasty.” After coughing and spitting into his hand, Todd rubbed his hands together and smeared saliva across his brother’s face. The crowd was audibly disgusted while Todd continued his message, “What I’m telling you: how you just reacted is how the people in your life will react when God is doing what it takes for the miracle.”
Image via HNHH
Since the incident, thousands of social media users have shared their disgust with Todd and his poorly delivered message. In response, the pastor hopped on Instagram to share his own disgust and the true intent of his sermon.
“That was gross. I want to validate everybody’s feelings,” he said. “That was a distraction to what I was really trying to do. I was really trying to make the world come alive and for people to see the story, but yesterday it got too live,” he continued. Todd went on to explain that his mission is to help people and his passion drives him to do extreme things.
Todd and his wife were appointed as the leaders of the Transformation Church in 2015. Since then, he has published a few books, dropped a handful of gospel songs, and worked alongside Oklahoma’s governor to deliver a state-wide day of prayer against COVID-19.