Latest / Witness the Wonder Christian Podcast: Supernatural Christian Testimonies, Miracles, and God Stories / Todd Coconato: Stabbed 9 Times, He Heard God’s Voice & Miraculously Survived

Transcript

Todd Coconato: Stabbed 9 Times, He Heard God’s Voice & Miraculously Survived · Witness the Wonder Christian Podcast: Supernatural Christian Testimonies, Miracles, and God Stories

• 0:00
  I'm just going to go hang out my friends.
• 0:01
  I got to be a big deal one night.
• 0:04
  That night I go out and I get stabbed 9 times.
• 0:08
  Fun in the heart. Hot Coconado had money, access,
• 0:12
  and Hollywood connections. He was acting alongside names
• 0:16
  like Alyssa Milano and Corey Feldman.
• 0:19
  And none of that say to him the night he was stabbed 9 times
• 0:24
  while he was bleeding out in the back seat of his car, he says he
• 0:27
  heard God ask him one question, and the way he answered that
• 0:31
  question would determine whether he lived or died.
• 0:33
  If you've ever questioned whether your past disqualifies
• 0:37
  you or felt caught between two lives, this story is for you.
• 0:50
  When people see you today, they they see a pastor.
• 0:55
  Is he a speaker? I see media personality.
• 0:58
  Since I started fearing your story, I was like, these are
• 1:00
  perfect, but it's the wonderful guest.
• 1:04
  Yeah, I'll give you the what I call the 50,000 foot level
• 1:07
  because it's a long story, but basically, you know, we moved
• 1:10
  from Cincinnati, OH to Los Angeles.
• 1:12
  We moved there. I was pretty young.
• 1:14
  I was, I think about 8 years old or so and my mom was told we
• 1:17
  moved to Southern California. She met some people and she was
• 1:20
  told, you know, if you live here, the thing to do with your
• 1:22
  kid is to get them into acting, you know, give it.
• 1:24
  So, so she, you know, I don't even know what I was, I was a
• 1:28
  little kid. But she found an agent, found a
• 1:31
  manager. And if you're in acting, it's
• 1:34
  very important who manages you and who's your agent because
• 1:37
  some agents get, you know, work, other agents very connected.
• 1:40
  We happen to land on a woman in Jean Page and it was amazing.
• 1:43
  She was a really good child manager.
• 1:46
  And so she done a lot of work. So I was a work actor.
• 1:50
  A lot of times people say, well, you know, what were you on?
• 1:52
  Of course it's going to be the first question.
• 1:53
  So I was on a lot of things as a guest.
• 1:55
  So they have something called like a principal role where
• 1:57
  you're a principal on a commercial or you're a guest on
• 2:00
  a sitcom or so that's what I did.
• 2:02
  I wasn't like famous, but I was working.
• 2:04
  I made good money. But what's interesting is from a
• 2:07
  young age, I got to know a lot of the young actresses.
• 2:12
  I'll give you an example like Alyssa Milano or you know, that
• 2:15
  was the generation that. I was actually but.
• 2:19
  Who's the boss? And yeah, you know, I was on
• 2:21
  Who's the boss before. So, you know, there was just,
• 2:24
  yeah, I got to meet. And it's a pretty small
• 2:26
  community, especially when you're a child actor.
• 2:28
  And at that period of time, I mean, we're going back to like,
• 2:30
  the 80s and, you know, so it was a much different time than now.
• 2:34
  And so there wasn't social media and all the different things.
• 2:37
  So, you know, I got to fraternize, if you will, with a
• 2:40
  lot of the people that would be well known.
• 2:41
  I mean, I'm Corey Feldman, you know, people like that.
• 2:43
  That was that generation. So I saw a lot of things, and
• 2:47
  this was really before I was a believer.
• 2:50
  I had a form of godliness. I mean, went to Catholic, you
• 2:52
  know, church and our family was Italian.
• 2:54
  I got my communion and things like that.
• 2:56
  But I really haven't had an encounter with the Blue Spirit
• 2:58
  yet. So I would feel certain things
• 3:01
  spiritually, but I didn't know what I was feeling.
• 3:04
  But I remember there was times and it's so interesting because
• 3:06
  the time that we're in right now, a lot of stuff about
• 3:09
  Hollywood is coming out, even with this whole music, you know,
• 3:11
  Epstein files and you know, but there's things that I saw back
• 3:15
  then that I kind of kept inside for like 25 years, 30 years,
• 3:18
  because I didn't really know. Thank God I was protected.
• 3:22
  But I had friends that, you know, I had gone through some
• 3:24
  pretty crazy stuff. They talk about the casting
• 3:26
  couch and things like that. So I remember, you know, here's
• 3:29
  one and since I remember, but they told my mom who was a stage
• 3:33
  bomb, you know, that you stay out here and Todd come in the
• 3:36
  room and all of a sudden I'm like this young kids with like
• 3:39
  all these kind of slimy, you know, executives and I felt
• 3:43
  really uncomfortable. There was one time remember I
• 3:45
  was alone with this guy and it was it was really sketchy.
• 3:48
  But you know, thankfully God has protection on me.
• 3:51
  But you know, I just would go on these sets.
• 3:53
  I'd go to some of these record labels and different things like
• 3:56
  that over the years. I would sense darkness and I
• 3:59
  would see certain things that I knew from a spiritual state.
• 4:02
  There was more to the story. And so as I grew up, what
• 4:06
  happened was I started getting into a young Hollywood, which is
• 4:08
  like the club scene, the mansion parties, you know, you kind of,
• 4:12
  so I found myself really deep into that world.
• 4:15
  They come club kids and I go to underground raves and you know,
• 4:18
  I, I lived in the San Fernando Valley, which is like a hop,
• 4:20
  skip and a jump from Hollywood. And so at that point I started
• 4:23
  seeing the drugs and the alcohol and the promiscuous lifestyle
• 4:26
  and it's just like a vortex. It sucks you in.
• 4:29
  And so for many years I was sucked into that vortex.
• 4:32
  And I thought this was normal. I thought this was success.
• 4:34
  And I was making really good money.
• 4:36
  When I talk about really good, like $5000 a day, back then that
• 4:39
  was a lot of money. Yeah.
• 4:40
  So, you know, I mean, I had a really nice place.
• 4:42
  I had nice cars, you know, all the things in the world.
• 4:46
  But there was an emptiness in me.
• 4:48
  And I saw the emptiness and the club owners.
• 4:51
  I saw the emptiness and the other actors and actresses, many
• 4:54
  of them much more well known than me, when I saw some of them
• 4:57
  had millions of dollars. Some of them were like the
• 4:59
  people who literally on the walls of their room had their
• 5:01
  posters. And I'm watching them and I, you
• 5:04
  know, see that they're very empty, very broken, very
• 5:06
  insecure. And so it was like this really
• 5:09
  unique perspective that the Lord allowed me to see.
• 5:11
  And I remember around that time, this is probably when I'm about
• 5:14
  19 or so, I met a youth pastor. His name was Alex.
• 5:18
  And he's now going to be with the Lord.
• 5:20
  But you know, he was making like 40 grand a year, you know,
• 5:23
  didn't have all the, you know, the nice shiny things that all
• 5:27
  these actors and actress had, but his family would eat
• 5:30
  together and they'd pray. And there was like this love
• 5:33
  that you could just, it was so tangible.
• 5:36
  There was a joy and a peace that this man has.
• 5:39
  And so he would he would decide and I I'm really for
• 5:42
  discipleship because I think that it's something that we
• 5:44
  really lack in the church. But you know, it wasn't for
• 5:48
  like, Hey, look at me, I'm discipling Todd.
• 5:50
  He would just go and meet me at a Mexican restaurant or at, you
• 5:53
  know, a coffee shop and spent hours and I would ask him
• 5:56
  questions. And the other thing I love about
• 5:58
  me is he was who's hard on and he'd say, yeah, he'd say, you
• 6:01
  know what? You you shouldn't be sleeping
• 6:03
  around. You shouldn't be doing this, you
• 6:05
  know, and he'd say, and This is why it frees God.
• 6:07
  And you'd open the scripture and he'd start showing me, you know,
• 6:10
  So between him and my praying mom, the Lord started getting a
• 6:13
  hold of my life. And I started going to a church,
• 6:16
  which in Southern California at the time, the church on the way.
• 6:19
  It was a a really big moment at church.
• 6:21
  And somehow I got, you know, invited there.
• 6:23
  And I went there and I thought I was walking into, like, I mean,
• 6:26
  I thought I was going to get, like, a lightning bolt.
• 6:28
  Strikingly. I was sweating and nervous.
• 6:31
  And I would go there every once in a while, but I still didn't
• 6:34
  give my life. And so eventually my mom invites
• 6:36
  me to this Foursquare convention in Honolulu, HI.
• 6:40
  And I was living with my girlfriend.
• 6:42
  I had this beautiful condo and Alexis and all that stuff.
• 6:44
  And somehow I was like, that's a free trip to, you know, Hawaii.
• 6:48
  I'll go spend some time with my family.
• 6:50
  So I end up saying yes. And I go there.
• 6:52
  And in this convention, my mom says, just come to one meeting
• 6:56
  and then the rest of the time you can sit on the beach, you
• 6:58
  know, just got one meeting right.
• 6:59
  And then we'll spend some time again.
• 7:00
  So I go to this meeting. It's all these four square
• 7:02
  pastors. And I felt the tangible presence
• 7:06
  of the Lord. It was like you could cut the
• 7:08
  atmosphere with like a knife. I mean, it was like, you know,
• 7:11
  and talk about the sweating and that, you know, I felt all that,
• 7:13
  but I, I couldn't take it. So I walked outside into this
• 7:16
  beautiful Destanzo garden, which was at the Honolulu Convention
• 7:19
  Center. And I there was like a movie,
• 7:22
  like a beam of light was like shining on me and it was like
• 7:25
  misting and literally just got to my knees.
• 7:27
  And it was at that moment I repented.
• 7:29
  And instead of going to one meeting, I went to every meeting
• 7:33
  that that conference had. I had pastors praying over me.
• 7:36
  I walked the beach in Honolulu and have a, you know, really
• 7:39
  amazing reconciliation with my father because we had a chagrin
• 7:42
  relationship. He's very angry man for many
• 7:45
  years. But we wrecked salt on that
• 7:46
  beach. And so this trip was I'm
• 7:48
  monumental. So I get home, I tell my
• 7:50
  girlfriend like I got saved, you know, she's like, what does that
• 7:53
  mean? I'm he's, you know, I can't live
• 7:55
  with you anymore. I'm probably not going to drug
• 7:57
  deal and all this other stuff anymore.
• 7:59
  And so anyway, ends up moving home with my parents.
• 8:01
  And that was a shock because, you know, I go from the $5000 a
• 8:06
  night to like no money, you know, it was like a whole, you
• 8:11
  know, where do I go? Do I get a job?
• 8:12
  You know, what do I do? I end up getting a job at like
• 8:15
  Macy's. And I think it was Burbank.
• 8:16
  You know, I'm working over there with this company's clothing
• 8:19
  company and minimum wage, living home with my parents again, like
• 8:24
  just, you know, Friday night, I used to be at the club with all
• 8:26
  these people, Carmen Electra and be real.
• 8:28
  Now I'm sitting at home, you know, Friday night, you know,
• 8:30
  and, and so for two years I went through this and I have a real
• 8:33
  hard for people in church that when they 1st come out of the
• 8:37
  world because for me, I went through this for like 2 years.
• 8:40
  Only the greeters would basically say hi to you know,
• 8:43
  there was a lot and it was a great church, but they all knew
• 8:45
  each other. And here I'm coming from the
• 8:47
  club scene. I totally really got fish out of
• 8:49
  water. I want to pause for a second
• 8:51
  because in just a moment you're going to hear the question that
• 8:55
  God asked Todd while he lay dying.
• 8:58
  I want you to pay attention to how He answered it, because it's
• 9:01
  in the way he answered it that caused everything to shift for
• 9:05
  time. And so after two years, what
• 9:08
  ends up happening is I go back to my family, I have a night
• 9:11
  where I'm like, you know what, I'm just going to go hang out my
• 9:13
  friends. I got to be a big deal one
• 9:14
  night. That night I go out and I get
• 9:19
  stabbed 9 times, fun in the heart by a man that was probably
• 9:22
  really drunk and probably on drugs.
• 9:24
  He thought I was coming for his girlfriend.
• 9:26
  I'm not saying I was perfectly innocent, but what ended up
• 9:29
  happening was I never would have imagined, you know, he comes out
• 9:32
  with a kitchen knife and just first ones in the heart and then
• 9:35
  you know I'm trying to fight and then eat more times.
• 9:38
  So here I am stabbed 9 times and I end up on the ground and the
• 9:43
  man that stabbed me somehow has this moment of sobriety and
• 9:48
  picks me up with a screaming girlfriend in the back and they
• 9:51
  put me in my car and they drive me to Granada Hills Hospital.
• 9:55
  So on the way to Granada Hills hospital with the guy that just
• 9:59
  stabbed me and the girl sitting in shotgun, I'm in the middle
• 10:02
  seat dying, losing so much blood.
• 10:05
  It's like a movie. It's like a movie and on the way
• 10:09
  there I go into this white like it was like tunnel vision.
• 10:13
  And I've talked to Lee Strobel about this.
• 10:15
  He says this is something that a lot of near death experiences
• 10:17
  experience. He says it's very commensurate
• 10:20
  what he's heard. And it was like, it was like
• 10:21
  white and all I could hear was the audible voice of God.
• 10:25
  I didn't see God. I, you know, I can't tell you,
• 10:28
  but I knew it was God. And he said, do you want to live
• 10:30
  or do you want to die? And I said, I want to live.
• 10:33
  And he says, well, if you live, you got to tell people that I'm
• 10:35
  real. And for the rest of your life,
• 10:37
  we got to live for me. You know, you got to be on fire
• 10:39
  for me for the rest of your life.
• 10:41
  And so I felt like it was like an Isaiah 6.
• 10:43
  You know, I saw the Lord seat on the throne.
• 10:44
  I didn't see him. But what do you do when you're
• 10:47
  in the presence of God like Isaiah?
• 10:49
  Send me, right. I mean, what are you going to
• 10:51
  do? Yeah, send me.
• 10:52
  So I said yes. And it was like the moment I say
• 10:55
  yes and wake up and I don't know what happened to the car.
• 10:58
  I still to this day, I have no idea how the car got back.
• 11:00
  And you know, the guy that drove it, somehow he left it or
• 11:03
  whatever. I don't know how that all
• 11:04
  happened. But my parents got the car.
• 11:05
  But but what happened was this woman standing over me and she's
• 11:08
  like, you shouldn't be a liar. She said it's an absolute
• 11:12
  miracle. And I knew it was a miracle
• 11:13
  because I've just been in God's presence.
• 11:15
  I was just like, yeah, you know. And so the next couple weeks I
• 11:19
  was in intensive care unit. And then they eventually let me
• 11:21
  out. And within like a month, I was
• 11:24
  pretty much OK. I mean, other than my body being
• 11:27
  in shock. I mean, I was back in the gym
• 11:28
  within a short period of time. And you would think that then,
• 11:32
  you know, I did, I didn't go back.
• 11:36
  But here's what happened. You know, I, I, I had a lot of
• 11:41
  brokenness, you know, so I was, I was questioning, you know, I
• 11:44
  think what the devil does is when you have a really big
• 11:46
  breakthrough, he'll start, you know, did you really hear God?
• 11:49
  Did you really get some, you know, you start to have.
• 11:51
  So I was pretty convinced, but he said three people to convince
• 11:56
  me more. So I'm in the, I go back to
• 11:58
  work. I'm at the Burbank Macy's in the
• 12:00
  men's department. And you ever remember like the
• 12:02
  old Pentecostal churches and they have the women with the
• 12:04
  hats, you know since. This yes.
• 12:08
  Precious prayer warrior, you know, their voice shakes a
• 12:11
  little bit. Yeah.
• 12:12
  She comes in and Burbank, CA is like all Armenian people because
• 12:16
  it's like the Armenian capital for, you know, the United
• 12:18
  States, basically. So, you know, they're believers.
• 12:20
  Armenians are players. So there's always little
• 12:23
  precious Armenian women that work at Burbank bases.
• 12:25
  I'm in. The best part, this woman comes
• 12:26
  up and she goes, the Lord showed me your face.
• 12:29
  I was shopping and he gave me a word for you and I'm going to
• 12:32
  give you a word. And so here in the Burbank men's
• 12:35
  department, she's prophesying and she said they hand the Lord
• 12:38
  is on you. You know, the Lord's going to
• 12:40
  use you. And she starts getting a
• 12:41
  scripture, you know that, you know, just going off of this
• 12:44
  whole prophetic word. And we're all just like, is this
• 12:47
  happening in the men's department?
• 12:48
  Like is, you know, we're like a church.
• 12:50
  And so I start tearing up all the little pushes.
• 12:53
  Armenian women start tearing up. Everybody's tearing up, but she
• 12:55
  leaves. So that was that.
• 12:57
  And then like about a day or two later, I'm in Sherman Oaks, CA
• 13:01
  and I go to like coffee shop there and I'm having coffee and
• 13:05
  I'm just minding my own business.
• 13:06
  This guy comes up to me. I got a word for you and just
• 13:09
  blurts out almost identical, like what the woman's.
• 13:13
  I mean, it was so close that like, it was like same word, you
• 13:16
  know, just a confirmation. The Bible says in the mouth that
• 13:19
  two or more witnesses might, you know, so almost identical.
• 13:22
  So I'm again just shocked, like, OK, how's this happening to my
• 13:26
  mom? Put these people up to this?
• 13:27
  Like, is there some conspiracy here?
• 13:29
  This is too weird. So the Lord is it again, I go to
• 13:34
  24 Hour Fitness Northridge, CA. I'm sitting there very
• 13:37
  lightweights because I've just been stopped.
• 13:39
  So I'm trying to work my way back into working out because,
• 13:42
  you know, I was an actor and it's a big deal for me to work
• 13:44
  out and everything. So yeah, I'm like lifting these
• 13:47
  like baby weights and this tatted up guy who look like, you
• 13:51
  know, he was like a gangster, but like really slow guy turns
• 13:54
  around. I got a word for you.
• 13:56
  I'm like sitting here, are you kidding me?
• 13:58
  And this tatted up gangster looking buff guy starts giving
• 14:02
  almost the identical word as the woman in the Macy's in the
• 14:05
  coffee shop. So you know, at this point,
• 14:08
  like, OK, like this can't be, you know, obviously God
• 14:10
  speaking. So I run out to the parking lot
• 14:13
  and I go into my truck and I just start crying and weeping
• 14:16
  before the Lord. And I said, well, Lord, clearly
• 14:18
  you are trying to do something with this pretty thick headed to
• 14:21
  South end that preaching is like the last thing that I ever
• 14:24
  aspired to be or do. And my dad told me we'll make no
• 14:27
  money and I'll be poor and it's the worst job choice in in the
• 14:30
  world. But you know, something is
• 14:33
  happening. So I said yes again to the Lord
• 14:35
  at that moment. It was like, well, what do I, I
• 14:37
  do? I got to, I got to get to know
• 14:38
  the Bible. I got to, so I enroll in Bible
• 14:40
  college. I went to Jackie Ford School,
• 14:42
  King's College, a seminary and, you know, just the doors and the
• 14:46
  favor. I mean, we're talking like 28
• 14:49
  years ago, 27 years ago. I've just been, it's been crazy
• 14:52
  to see God's hand, you know, all these years.
• 14:55
  And we're actually in the process of buying a building
• 14:57
  right now here in Nashville. The Lord is using US in many
• 15:01
  ways, but I just, I'm a pastor, I'm an evangelist only by God's
• 15:07
  grace. And, you know, just sitting to
• 15:09
  see what's happening in our world.
• 15:10
  And just, I think it's a very important time.
• 15:14
  I think that we all need to take very seriously the time that
• 15:16
  we're in right now. But I think the Lord's favor and
• 15:19
  grace is on those who say yes to the call.
• 15:22
  And he'll use anybody, He'll use anybody that, that that has a
• 15:26
  heart for souls. You know, if you have a heart
• 15:28
  for soul running, which is the main thing, it's the Great
• 15:32
  Commission and you know, it's not about us.
• 15:35
  It's not about our name or our ministry or self promotion or
• 15:38
  but if you make it about him and souls, there's something very
• 15:42
  special and people say, well, what's the secrets of there's
• 15:45
  this things like the Bible literally tells you what we're
• 15:47
  supposed to do as a believer. And when we say yes, we do that,
• 15:51
  there's this thing that happens where voice spirits with us
• 15:53
  every day and gives us divine appointments and just orders our
• 15:57
  steps. And it's not easy, but it's
• 16:00
  worth it and you know it. Starts you.
• 16:03
  I promise you it will stretch. You.
• 16:04
  It'll stretch you. Anything you can.
• 16:07
  Imagine yes, so that's kind of in a nutshell.
• 16:09
  And it's like, it's always hard to tell a story because it's
• 16:11
  such a for so much, you know? But I, I try to do my best in
• 16:14
  shortening it. Yeah, that was such a story.
• 16:17
  There was so many points in there where Scott just stuck it.
• 16:22
  So many. So many points.
• 16:24
  That's just, like I said, a fraction.
• 16:26
  Right. And so I'm like First off, wow,
• 16:29
  God was like there did he coming after him fart?
• 16:33
  So what did he do? He basically called you to be a
• 16:36
  pastor through those 3 words. And now what are you doing
• 16:41
  today? You're buying a shirt you bought
• 16:42
  you're. Buying a building but you're.
• 16:44
  I'm to tell you this story because this is crazy.
• 16:46
  So, you know, you say yes. And then for years we had a very
• 16:50
  what I call Remnant Church in Chatsworth, CA with my family.
• 16:54
  And it was, you know, we're hitting the grind.
• 16:57
  I mean, it was, you know, we weren't well known.
• 16:59
  It wasn't, you know, financially glad.
• 17:00
  I mean, we, we got by, we had mana, but it was a remnant
• 17:03
  Church in Southern California. And the Lord moved there in
• 17:07
  miraculous way. We had a beautiful building,
• 17:10
  wonderful congregation. There was a lot of actors and
• 17:12
  actresses and media people that came through there over the
• 17:14
  years, a lot of people were impacted by this very remnant
• 17:17
  group. And about 6 1/2 years ago or so,
• 17:21
  the Lord spoke to my wife, to myself, and said, you need to go
• 17:24
  to Nashville. So when I had got married to my
• 17:27
  wife, I said, look, I'm called to the industry, I'm called the
• 17:30
  Hollywood. Like the Lord is like told the
• 17:33
  whole story. She understood she was in with
• 17:35
  it. So we were planning on staying
• 17:37
  in California. You're not going anywhere
• 17:39
  because I was fighting in California and standing for help
• 17:42
  and the Lord uprooted us and it was very difficult.
• 17:44
  But we ended up moving to Nashville and I'm coming
• 17:47
  Nashville and I'm a conservative, I'm a Christian.
• 17:49
  I'm thinking this is buckle the Bible Belt.
• 17:51
  It's going to be easy. California was hard, but this is
• 17:54
  going to be easy. We get to Nashville and we Start
• 17:58
  learning about the spirit of religion, religious spirit.
• 18:01
  We Start learning about this territory where you think
• 18:04
  there's so many Christians, but there's actually a big battle
• 18:07
  that's going on for the heart of this country.
• 18:10
  And so it's been such a journey these last six years where, you
• 18:15
  know, we get out here and through the obedience of saying
• 18:17
  yes and not really knowing what's going to happen.
• 18:19
  And I didn't plan on planning a church, but you know, we just
• 18:22
  said yes. But in that obedience, the Lord
• 18:24
  all of a sudden, after all those years, see a lot of people in
• 18:27
  ministry, they think that it's going to happen right away and
• 18:29
  maybe it will. But God, God orders your steps.
• 18:32
  And the key is, is you serve an audience of 1.
• 18:34
  So it's not about notoriety or followers.
• 18:36
  You know, today's world, social media, people think lights and
• 18:38
  followers. It's got to be about the Lord.
• 18:41
  You got to always keep him the center.
• 18:43
  And that's the key. And so when all of a sudden we
• 18:46
  get here and our podcast COVID happens, the podcast takes off.
• 18:50
  Like, no, I'm not promoting it on social media, really I'm not.
• 18:54
  It's just what we were talking about in that time, people
• 18:58
  started seeking it out and, you know, sharing it.
• 19:01
  And so all of a sudden we go from like very few listeners to
• 19:04
  hundreds of thousands of listeners, like what's going on?
• 19:06
  You know, So he knew God was doing something.
• 19:09
  And all of a sudden, you know, conferences started reaching out
• 19:11
  and churches started reaching out.
• 19:12
  And I think that year we went to like 40 churches.
• 19:16
  It was just God started expanding the territory and we
• 19:18
  knew it was now, you know, And so ever since then, it's been
• 19:21
  like a roller coaster because it's just been, the floodgates
• 19:24
  have been opened and you know, there's been warfare, but
• 19:27
  there's been tremendous open doors.
• 19:29
  And we've seen his favor and we know it's God, you know, and so,
• 19:34
  you know, now I'm working with Mario Marillo Ministries.
• 19:36
  We're doing, I don't work for him, but we're, we're friends
• 19:39
  and I speak at his, you know, tech crusades and, and we do a
• 19:42
  show together called Firepower. And then we have a show on TV
• 19:45
  called the Todd Copanar Show. And I have a podcast that we do
• 19:47
  and then we have a church. And so we're busy, busy, busy.
• 19:52
  But we last year saw thousands of people come to work.
• 19:56
  And that is, you know, last year was the craziest year yet.
• 19:59
  And the last couple of years have been building, but we're
• 20:02
  doing events in different cities and crusades and different
• 20:05
  things. And it's just, it's the craziest
• 20:07
  thing. You go to a city.
• 20:08
  And you don't think anybody's going to show up.
• 20:10
  And then people show up and the Lord moves and it's like, what
• 20:13
  is going on? So this year we're going to go
• 20:16
  to a bunch of cities and we're just going to continue.
• 20:18
  And when we go, we just want to bless that city.
• 20:22
  We want to get people plugged into the church locally.
• 20:24
  We're going to be part of the functioning body.
• 20:26
  But it's just amazing that there are so many people, I call them
• 20:29
  remnant people that are like yourself.
• 20:32
  We prayed before the interview. And I could tell right away, you
• 20:34
  know, we're aligned in the spirit, but then have a hunger
• 20:38
  that have a heart for soul winning, that know that even
• 20:41
  though the hour is late, that the Lord is still moving upon
• 20:43
  the earth and that there's one more round.
• 20:46
  The end is not yet. And it's because there's a great
• 20:48
  harvest of people that they don't know about denominations.
• 20:51
  They don't know about all the stuff that we in the Christian
• 20:53
  community argue over. All they know is I'm broken and
• 20:57
  they sense something and it's the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 20:59
  And the Lord wants those people to be pulled out of darkness and
• 21:03
  that the harvest is plentiful and the laborers refuse.
• 21:05
  So we're just kind of riding this wave.
• 21:08
  You know, it's a God thing and it's just unbelievable to see
• 21:11
  what he's doing. So about a week or so ago a
• 21:14
  building came available. We've moved on it.
• 21:16
  It's in contract right now. And we just believe that, you
• 21:21
  know, Lord is going to bless this place as a remnant center.
• 21:24
  And what we're looking to do is have these in many cities, but a
• 21:27
  point of context. So, you know, you have the
• 21:30
  Muslims and you have other people going in and
• 21:31
  evangelizing. And we need a response in the
• 21:34
  Christian community. We need to respond.
• 21:36
  And we need to get the kids in the community plugged in.
• 21:39
  And we got to make disciples and we could have a Center for
• 21:41
  prayer and all these different things.
• 21:43
  So that's what the remnant center is going to be.
• 21:45
  So I'm just super excited to see.
• 21:47
  A lot of my audience is like 18 to 35.
• 21:51
  And so they are out there, they're listening to this.
• 21:55
  They're like they're they're longing, they're working for
• 21:58
  God, you know, and I think it's through the Bible says we
• 22:02
  overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our
• 22:05
  testimony. And you have a powerful
• 22:07
  testimony. What would you say to people out
• 22:10
  there that they're listening and what they are not comfortable
• 22:13
  sharing their own testimony with that boldness that you have?
• 22:16
  Because I think it's so important that that we share
• 22:19
  this because that's how people come to know Christ.
• 22:22
  That's why it called me to start witness the OneNote come on,
• 22:25
  because we overcome through testimony and.
• 22:28
  I mean, wow. Your testimony I'm still like
• 22:30
  speechless 9 times like stabbed in the heart like seriously it's
• 22:34
  popping out the blood like. Outer membrane of the heart, you
• 22:37
  know. I believe that's what he wants
• 22:39
  to do is through our testimony. Sure that that when he says what
• 22:43
  do you mean by redneck? Because some people that's like
• 22:45
  a Christianese kind. Of yeah, it is.
• 22:47
  It is, yeah. Right.
• 22:51
  You know, to me, it just means the people that really have a
• 22:53
  hunger for God and his word and that, you know, we, we're
• 22:56
  searching for authenticity. We just, you know, it's like,
• 22:59
  are you real? Or, you know, we're just looking
• 23:01
  for somebody. It's like, you know, are you
• 23:02
  real? Are you about the Lord?
• 23:04
  Like it's not about all this other constructions and
• 23:06
  everything else, but it's like if you, I call it the main
• 23:09
  thing, but like if you focus on what the Scripture says and you
• 23:13
  don't follow all the winds of doctrine and all, like you said,
• 23:15
  the Christianese and all the different fads, you're just
• 23:17
  hungry and you're like, Lord, I want you.
• 23:19
  And you know what's so cool about that is if Dennis, he
• 23:22
  shows up and you know, he desires, he longs, you know, he
• 23:26
  says, draw near to me and I'll draw near to you and stand at
• 23:28
  the door of your heart knocking. So to the to the younger
• 23:31
  generation, you or anybody are searching for real.
• 23:35
  You've come into a world of, you know, tick tock and social
• 23:38
  media, all these influencers and all these different people.
• 23:41
  Now I have a young daughter and I'm watching her coming into
• 23:44
  this whole world. It's like there's so much
• 23:46
  influence. There's so many people vying for
• 23:47
  your attention and, you know, so many different directions you
• 23:50
  can go. But it's like, I really believe
• 23:52
  that God is calling us this generation specifically to not
• 23:56
  have to go into the world and have to go into all the
• 23:58
  different things that I had to, you know, I mean, thank God, he
• 24:01
  spared my life. But I hope you don't have to get
• 24:03
  stabbed by time and you know, and, and live that life because
• 24:07
  it took me so many years to get healed of so much of the
• 24:10
  brokenness and the things that, you know, Lord.
• 24:12
  And so I would just pray and my advice would be just go 100% for
• 24:16
  God and watch what he'll do in your life.
• 24:19
  It is the answer. It is the void.
• 24:21
  He's the void filler. Like, you know, so many people
• 24:23
  that are insecure in Hollywood and, and you know, there's
• 24:26
  different, but that he fills the void.
• 24:28
  He, you know, they told Me 2% recovery rate on the drugs, you
• 24:31
  know, like you have to go back to rehab and all these things,
• 24:34
  but the Lord just heal me, you know, And so he is the answer
• 24:39
  and he's real. And if anything, from quantum
• 24:41
  technology to all the different things, IAI, everything that's
• 24:44
  coming onto the scene right now, everything points back to God.
• 24:48
  And if you start studying Revelation in the Bible, like
• 24:51
  it's literally this, this ancient book that is telling you
• 24:55
  verbatim, not one thing wrong in the whole book, not one thing
• 24:58
  that's been proven wrong or fake news.
• 25:01
  Like everything, in fact, everything is being proven every
• 25:03
  single day. So imagine if you go into that
• 25:07
  and God's going to partner with you.
• 25:09
  It's the Great Commission. So he's going to partner with
• 25:12
  you and you're going to see His hand in his favorite.
• 25:14
  Not necessarily going to be easy, but it's going to be worth
• 25:16
  it. Absolutely.
• 25:17
  Does it fail every? Time.
• 25:19
  Yes, yes. You so much for for sharing all
• 25:22
  this. Do you have any final words
• 25:24
  like? Yeah, I just, I would say the
• 25:27
  testimony thing. So I was, I'm shy.
• 25:29
  I know you can't tell that now, but like my wife and I are both
• 25:32
  kind of probably more introverted naturally, but like
• 25:35
  I've learned to be extroverted. But share your testimony because
• 25:39
  it's the hardest eggs to crack. Will listen to your story and
• 25:44
  it's something that happens when you're shy.
• 25:45
  I've never had one person tell me like your story's not real or
• 25:49
  like it doesn't matter how much they hate God or they're anti
• 25:52
  God or anti whatever. You start telling them what
• 25:54
  happened, they they will listen. And that's because there's an
• 25:57
  anointing on your testimony. So if you don't know the Bible
• 26:00
  too well, get to know it, but share your testimony and watch
• 26:03
  what God does right. People it becomes, it becomes
• 26:07
  when it's real, yes, they're like, they can sense it, you
• 26:11
  know, I mean, they know what authenticity is and they can it
• 26:14
  connects us, our stories and the Bible says it's a screen, right?
• 26:20
  It's a bond. It's you've shared your deepest,
• 26:22
  you know, And it's like, I get you, Yeah.
• 26:25
  Yeah, absolutely. So much for being here.
• 26:28
  I appreciate you sharing your destiny and your story.
• 26:33
  And is there any way that people they want to, maybe they live in
• 26:36
  Nashville? Come, come to the church.
• 26:38
  We meet Friday nights right now at 6:30 PM in Hendersonville,
• 26:42
  which is a northern suburb of Nashville.
• 26:44
  It's about 25 minutes from where I'm at right now, but come on
• 26:48
  out Friday night. You could easily just put it in
• 26:50
  Google Maps, Todd Coconado Church.
• 26:52
  It'll come up and then come at 6:30.
• 26:54
  You can also follow me on Facebook and X.
• 26:56
  I'm on all the platforms under my name, Todd Coconado.
• 26:59
  Thank you so much. Wow.
• 27:02
  What stands out to me about Todd's story isn't just that he
• 27:05
  survived 9 stab wounds, it's that in the middle of what
• 27:10
  should have been the end, God asked him a question.
• 27:15
  Do you want to live? That question wasn't just about
• 27:20
  survival, it was about surrender.
• 27:23
  And every one of us faces that moment in some form.
• 27:27
  It may not be at knife point like Todd.
• 27:30
  Maybe it's fear or addiction, failure, disappointment.
• 27:36
  At some point we all face that deeper question, are we going to
• 27:41
  keep living for ourselves or are we going to surrender our will
• 27:46
  and live a sold out life for God?
• 27:48
  Todd's life changed because he said yes to God.
• 27:52
  And if you're watching or listening and you feel like your
• 27:55
  story has taken a turn you didn't expect, I want you to
• 28:00
  hear this clearly. It's not over.
• 28:04
  Your story is not over. The same God who met Todd in
• 28:08
  that car is ready to meet you in the middle of whatever situation
• 28:12
  you're facing. He's just waiting for you to ask
• 28:16
  Him to come into your situation. If this conversation resonated
• 28:21
  with you, don't just move on from it.
• 28:24
  Take some time to sit with it and then share it with someone
• 28:28
  who needs to hear it, too. If you believe in what we're
• 28:33
  building here, you can learn more or support the show at
• 28:37
  christinasmithofficial.com. Follow the show so you don't
• 28:42
  miss what's coming next. And if you've been encouraged by
• 28:45
  these conversations, consider leaving a review.
• 28:49
  It helps more people discover these stories.
• 28:51
  And remember, God is always at work in your story.