Todd Woodfill was raised in Temperance, MI by loving parents along with his two siblings. Todd was raised in the United Brethren, fundamental, premillennial, King James version church with Sunday school then church services every Sunday morning, Sunday evening church services, Wednesday youth group services, and volunteering at the church throughout the week. Todd was literally raised "IN" the church!
Todd learned a lot about Christianity, faith, Jesus' sacrifice, God's grace, and salvation. Unfortunately, although there were many good, God loving people in his church, Todd also learned about being self-righteous, demonstrating hate instead of love to people who didn't espouse the church's beliefs, "rule following" being more important that "relationship growing", and being judgmental regarding others. As Todd grew into adulthood, he found his inability to resolve these issues coupled with his other doubts found him drifting further and further from his faith.
Todd's life journey zig zagged for many years with a common theme of him happily proclaiming his faith in God each time he was on a mountaintop where his career excelled, he was financially stable, and his family was running smoothly. Yet, each time Todd found himself in one of life's valleys of either dealing with slow career advancement, financial struggles, or family unrest, he immediately struggled to see God working in his life and as such fell back to trying to do life on his own and ignoring God. It was a vicious cycle that fed on itself.
As far as the world was concerned, Todd was successful. He had a career in management of multiple Fortune 500 companies, constantly advancing in title and pay, had multiple successful business ventures, had the large home, expensive cars, and toys galore. Yet, Todd found himself constantly wanting for more, unhappy with his current position, seeking higher pay, wanting bigger, better, more and more. No matter his career level, pay, or possessions, he couldn't find peace. He was searching for more and nothing seemed to be able to fill the void.
Todd was looking to people, career paths, and success to fill him, but whatever splashed into his bucket only leaked out. He had a bunch of those ‘cracked cisterns’ in his heart that are mentioned in Jeremiah—the kind that obviously don’t hold water. It was because of this, no matter what came into his life he was left feeling empty. Thankfully, through the daily demonstration of faith Todd's wife lived, the introduction of a few Godly mentors, God's patience and the foundation built decades previously by his parents, Todd finally discovered that the void in his life he was unable to fill was only able to be filled by God.
When Todd speaks about this time, he describes it as an eye opening, life changing, false idol destroying, soul fulfilling time in his life where he was certain he had surrendered everything to God. Then out of the blue, Todd receives a terminal diagnosis that turned his world upside down. The story is long but the main point is that through the Godly intervention of his wife and his friends who are faith leaders, Todd discovered that he hadn't surrendered everything. He had been holding back two main things, both of which he constantly asked God to bless but he was unwilling to completely turnover to God...his family and his money.
Todd was gripping these final holdouts with all his might, wanting God's provision on both but unable to release control. It was through the release of control of these though that Todd finally won. He won that elusive peace he had been searching for and he did it through surrender. Todd loves to joke that if he believed in the prosperity gospel, it is here that he would be able to share all the financial gains, family success, and business success he immediately found in his surrender. The fact is, Todd immediately encountered massive business setbacks, financial strain, family unrest, and health issues.
That's what actually makes Todd's story so great though. Through all of this, Todd still has that peace he had been searching for. For every failed business venture Todd has a story of a person helped through his Defeat Suicide foundation. For every financial shortcoming Todd has a story of a man who has prayed for salvation as they work through one of his men's Bible studies. God hasn't promised him worldly success and Todd is finally OK with that, embracing that he is working on a kingdom mission and although daily life may not always be smooth, he is working to find and follow the path God has laid for him.
