Transformed: Living Your Identity in Christ
“Get saved, be healed, get equipped, make a disciple.”
by Kyle Spradley
National Director
For a year, the Lord kept stirring my heart toward something unusual: a one-day workshop. For an organization built on three- to six-day conferences, that's not a small shift — it's a different animal entirely. One day? My first reaction was skepticism. There's so much ground to cover; what could we possibly cover in a single day, and do it justice?
Then the Holy Spirit brought back something I'd read years earlier on the Church of Uganda's website: "Get saved, be healed, get equipped, make a disciple." Four words, and three of them fit neatly into the discipleship path most of us already recognize. But the second one — be healed — is the odd one out. In Western discipleship models, healing rarely gets treated as essential. Barna Group's research bears this out: discipleship in the West tends to center on biblical literacy, prayer, and moral behavior, with little room left for the emotional and spiritual wounds people carry. Healing, in whatever form it takes, has never been an afterthought in SOMA's Core Teachings — it's been there from the start.
That slogan from the Church of Uganda website became the seed — and it grew into a one-day spiritual workshop called "Transformed: Living Your Identity in Christ." Along the way, I've encountered many devoted Christians who are still quietly carrying emotional baggage: old wounds, unforgiveness, or a nagging sense of being "less than." That's a problem worth naming, because these broken places are exactly where the enemy likes to work. They're doorways — ways in for fear, self-disdain, bitterness, and unworthiness to take root and keep us shackled. And what better strategy for crippling Christians than to keep us oppressed, and to feed on lies? We have an enemy who is prowling around, and his name is Satan.
But here's the good news: Jesus came to set us free! That's the whole point of Transformed, a workshop designed to walk systematically through four key areas of discipleship, while equipping Christians of every age with practical, concrete tools for actually living in freedom and grace, not just hearing about it.
After our most recent diocesan workshop, several participants shared testimonies of spiritual growth or newfound freedom. Here are a few examples, pulled directly from the conference evaluations:
“It was revealed to me that were “things” weighing me down spiritually that I had not thought about before.”
“I was reminded of who I am in Christ and that his resurrection power is in me.”
“I have been in the wilderness for a while. This conference reminded me of my calling in Christ and the mission we’re called to.
“This workshop covered vital aspects of discipleship that are often not discussed in our parishes.”
As an evangelist, one of my greatest joys is equipping Christians in practical ways for ministry, then sending them out with the encouragement to go and do the same. One topic we cover in the workshop is generational sin and curses (Exodus 20:4-6). We close that session with a guided prayers: first, we repent on behalf of ourselves and our ancestors, for any rejection of God, involvement in occultism, or other forms of idolatry or spiritualism. Then we renounce and, in Jesus' name, break the power of any curses that may have been passed down. Finally, we ask the Holy Spirit to fill us afresh.
After the practicum, I asked the group if anyone had experienced anything. Several hands went up, including one from a young man who shared some details.
At the end of the day, each participant received a prayer booklet covering physical healing, inner healing, freedom from spiritual oppression, addiction, and generational curses. Once we'd worked through the prayers together, I encouraged everyone to take their booklet home and lead someone else through whichever prayer best fit their situation.
Three days after the workshop, I heard the rest of the story: that same young man who was freed, led his girlfriend through the very same prayer, using his new booklet. She had drifted from the Church and was in a genuinely hard place in her life. As he prayed with her, she too was set free, and has since rededicated her life to Christ. Praise the Lord!
This is SOMA's model at work: EQUIP, RENEW, and EMPOWER leaders with the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Great Commission.
To invite a Transformed workshop to your church or diocese, contact Kyle Spradley, National Director, kyle@somausa.org.