Podcast Summary: Transformation Church – "Vision Is Most Valuable // Vision Sunday 2026" // Pastor Michael Todd

Date: January 11, 2026
Host/Speaker: Pastor Michael Todd, Transformation Church

Brief Overview

In this year’s Vision Sunday, Pastor Michael Todd unpacks the foundational theme "Vision Is Most Valuable," challenging the congregation to recognize, steward, and act upon the God-given visions for their lives and for the Transformation Church community. Michael Todd invites everyone to focus not on the nostalgia of past victories or the comfort of the familiar, but to courageously "move forward" into God’s newness for 2026. The episode is filled with passionate teaching, storytelling, and practical steps to receiving and running with divine vision.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Incomparable Value of Vision

• Vision vs. Wealth:
  • Pastor Todd opens by questioning what’s truly more valuable—money or vision—highlighting that without vision, material gain lacks purpose.
    • "We have been duped in this culture to think that something we can hold is more valuable than something that we hold." (03:00)
• Cultural distractions:
  • Many people adapt their identities based on suggestions rather than a God-given vision, leading to cycles of dissatisfaction and instability.

Four Truths About Vision

(Unveiled with clarity and stories that anchor each principle)

1. Vision Needs a Vessel

• God accomplishes vision through willing people—those ready to "catch" what He wants to do.
• "Could God trust you with an idea? Some of y’all saying 'yeah,' but you won’t even write it down." (08:00)
• Requires faith, readiness (even a notepad by the bed), and action—no need for group consensus before obedience.

2. Vision Must Be Visible

• Vision doesn’t exist until it’s written down—referencing Habakkuk 2:2:
  • "Write what you see... make it big so it can be read on the run." (15:45)
• Compares vision to a billboard—must be clear, public, and legible from a distance.
• Encourages everyone to literally write down goals, dreams, and prophetic words.

3. Vision Must Be Vast

• Real vision is bigger than what’s attainable alone—it demands faith and God’s intervention.
  • "If God doesn’t need to show up, I need to shut it down. It’s not a vision if God don’t need to show up." (20:55)
• Pastor Todd recounts declaring a multi-ethnic, multi-generational church years ago, despite skepticism, as an example of God-sized vision.
• Urges the congregation to "try again" despite past failures or disappointment.

4. Vision Requires a Vehicle

• God uses the church—a collective, not just individuals—as His primary means to advance His purposes.
  • "The church is one of God’s primary vehicles to expand His kingdom... and we have to invest in the vehicle of the church." (28:00)
• Illustrates through a spontaneous choir moment: Many voices unified are more impactful than a solo.
• Calls to deeper community—joining groups (tribes), collaborating in faith, and not living in spiritual isolation.

Leaving the Past for God’s "New"

• Warns against idolizing prior successes or nostalgia—past victories can become limits if we romanticize them.
  • "The biggest enemy to what God wants to do next is the praise and the idolization of what He already did." (33:50)
• Cites Isaiah 43’s command to “forget” the miracles of the past so God can do something new.
  • "Forget the greatest miracle. He said it’s not worth being compared to what I’m about to do." (61:34)
• Encourages professional “forgetting” of the past to make space for greater things ahead.

Vision Sunday Retrospective: Words of the Year

Pastor Todd recounts how God has given Transformation Church a prophetic word each year to guide the next season, revisiting:

• 2015: Survive
• 2016: Maintain
• 2017: Beyond
• 2018: Stride (Find the pace of grace)
• 2019: Release
• 2020: Stronger
• 2021: Anchored
• 2022: Holy (Purification through trial)
• 2023: Kingdom (Walking in authority despite adversity)
• 2024: Fruit (Let every struggle yield lasting fruit)
• 2025: Focus
• 2026: FORWARD—The prophetic word for this year.

(Full review and specific stories: 37:57–54:45)

The Call to Move Forward

• 2026 is about pressing ahead.
  • "The word for 2026 is falling forward... everything is ahead." (70:10)
• Faith is inherently forward-looking; God never assigns faith for what’s behind but always for what’s yet to come.
  • Drawing from Philippians 3:12–14—focusing on "forgetting the past and reaching forward."
• Personal, practical applications: Label what’s past as "the past," clear out unhelpful relationships and mindsets, declare progress over stagnant areas of life.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Value and Nature of Vision:

  • "Vision is seen with your eyes closed. Sight is seeing with your eyes open." (61:42)
  • "Some of you are so bound by nostalgia that you are divorcing the future that God has for you because you've made an idol out of nostalgia." (61:45)

• On Making Vision Visible:

  • "It is not real if it is not written. It needs to be big—like billboard big." (15:55)

• On Risking for the God-sized Vision:

  • "If God doesn’t need to show up, I probably need to shut it down." (20:55)

• On the Church as God’s Vehicle:

  • "The church thing is the whole reason I went to the cross... so that people could find, through this local ecclesia, that you're not alone." (28:20)

• On Letting Go of the Past:

  • “Forget the greatest miracle. He said it’s not worth being compared to what I’m about to do.” (61:34)

• Prophetic Declaration:

  • "2026—It’s gonna be new... This is new love, this is new joy, this is new peace, this is new confidence, this is new security, this is new safety, this is new.” (61:43)

Important Timestamps

• 01:01: Introduction, setting up the power and need for vision.
• 08:00: Truth #1 – Vision needs a vessel.
• 15:45: Truth #2 – Vision must be visible.
• 20:55: Truth #3 – Vision must be vast.
• 28:00: Truth #4 – Vision requires a vehicle (the church).
• 37:57: Recounting God’s faithfulness and the importance of remembering, but not idolizing, past miracles.
• 54:45: Annual words of the year for Transformation Church; lessons from faithfulness and obedience.
• 61:04: The biblical call to “forget” the past and press forward; unveiling 2026's word: FORWARD.
• 70:10: Outlining the practical implications of "forward," the nature of faith, and a powerful invitation to salvation and renewal in Christ.

Final Charge to the Church

Pastor Todd ends with a fervent call to "focus on forgetting," to "move forward," and to trust that the coming year’s miracles will far surpass even the greatest works of the past:

• "Everything is ahead. Forward. Every area that's been stagnant in your life, I want you to speak over it: forward." (70:30)
• A corporate prayer seals this commitment, inviting everyone to receive newness, vision, and the courage to step forward by faith.

Overall, this episode is a stirring, clear call to recognize and act on vision as the most valuable asset, personally and as a church. Transformation Church steps into 2026 with collective expectation, strategic focus, and a unified declaration: Forward is the only direction.

For reflection and next steps:

• Write down the vision for your life or calling—make it plain, bold, and visible.
• Let go of nostalgia; trust God’s intention for “new.”
• Join with others in community to amplify impact.
• Ask: Are you moving forward, or holding onto what was?
• Accept the call to faith, not just as belief, but as movement into God’s unfolding future for you.