The Oklahoma-based Transformation Church has split opinions after footage of a rather extravagant Easter 2023 service emerged online.
A church in Tulsa, Oklahoma has found itself in the center of a spirited debate online after footage on TikTok appeared to show what looked like a service that was somewhat livelier than your typical Easter Sunday church congregation.
Some traditional Christians are annoyed at the church for indulging in what they believe to be an over-the-top, distracting celebration of the lord, though several worshippers are standing by Transformation Church.
Though he has not uploaded any footage himself, a lead pastor at the church billed the Easter celebrations as “something you do not want to miss” in a TikTok uploaded last week.
If you like your church sermons to be low-key, subtle and stripped back – then Transformation Church may not be the worshipping space for you.
Boasting a YouTube channel with just shy of two million subscribers, Transformation is a modern organization that has fully embraced the internet wave, and is known for uploading all of its high-production Sunday services online.
While they haven’t uploaded any footage of the Easter 2023 service themselves, second-hand footage from those who were either watching in the crowd or on the church’s live stream appears to show a host of exciting performances and intricate dance routines.
In footage uploaded to Twitter by a theology account, it appeared that there was, among other high-production performances, a rendition of Kesha’s ‘Die Young’, complete with alternative Christian lyrics:
The Kesha number was just one of many examples of extravagance seemingly displayed at the stadium-sized service, along with an impressive light show, countless backup dancers and several clouds of dry ice:
Who is Pastor Mike Todd?
The extravagant Easter service was foreshadowed on TikTok last week by one of the church’s leading pastors, Mike Todd, who runs Transformation alongside his wife and fellow pastor, Natalie Todd.
Todd epitomizes the idea of the modern pastor through his commitment to social media, where he has over 1.3 million followers on TikTok alone. Todd made the headlines last year after he came under fire for rubbing spit on a churchgoer during a service.
Transformation Church appears to have attempted to tell something of an alternative Easter story during their 2023 service, in a play they call Ransom, which you can read about on their Easter section.
Of course, religion is a deeply personal matter. So each time Transformation Church does something out of the ordinary, it inevitably divides opinions online.
The general criticisms of the 2023 Easter performance centered around the idea that mega-churches like theirs are untraditional, and don’t promote the right message:
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On the other hand, some people defended what they believed to be an impressive commitment to high-production worshipping:
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