Transformation Ministry changes lives

In March 2007, Linda Zobel had lost hope. Her food struggle had become a stronghold in her life.

After seeing an advertisement in the newspaper about a transformation class, Zobel prayed for deliverance and decided to attend.

Now, 13 months later, and 80 pounds lighter, her life has been transformed. She admits it was different this time, she wasn’t doing it in her own power.

“It’s about being set free,” said Zobel, “the key is obedience — it led to God being big.”

Today, she is a witness to this ministry and has also found her place serving on the board in an outreach capacity.

Joy Rollins was 49 years old when she founded Transformation Ministry. She had reached a point in her life where she had struggled with food all her life. She had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart palpitations and knew a heart attack was just around the corner. Realizing she needed to begin a new relationship with God, and understanding that He was her only hope, she earnestly prayed and gave it all over to Him at church. Almost instantly, she became filled with hope and joy. Rollins finally felt free. Her transformation had begun and she began journaling because she felt God wanted her to share her testimony of her weight loss; the first 80 pounds. This journal would later be titled, “Transformation: God’s Path Out of Obesity” and would become Rollins’ first book.

Transformation Ministry is about letting go of your strongholds and turning them over to God. People are struggling with many different issues and they need to realize there is hope in whatever situation they are stuck in and that hope is God. Transformation, according to Rollins, is so much more than physical. Rollins describes the ministry as a spiritual journey rather than a program. It is about having a relationship with God so that you can do what He wants you to do, she points out.

While Rollins began the ministry for weight loss, she says that people have come to the ministry for many other reasons as well. Whatever they are struggling with, they can bring it to the workshop. The focus of the ministry includes the realization that God totally accepts us as we are and gives us the confidence to grow closer to Him so that He can transform us into the image of Christ. Upon this realization, we are freed from bondage to our weaknesses and fleshly desires by aligning them with God’s desires for us. In the early part of her surrender and yearning, Rollins wrote a song titled, “Transform Me.” The words, she says, tell what it is we are asking of God when we ask Him to transform us. These lines, from her song, are an example of that:

Change my mind, Lord, transform me

Heal my body, transform me

Tame my tongue, transform me

Control my thoughts, transform me

Zobel shares her past struggles, prior to her transformation, of yo-yo dieting, beating herself up over things in her life she hadn’t faced yet and dealt with, and other things that had become strongholds in her life. She defines a stronghold as a weakness someone has, that Satan uses in their lives, to keep them from being all God wants them to be. They can’t break free on their own. She references Galatians 5:1, which tells us we have been set free but we have to claim it.

Both Rollins and Zobel want people to know they are available to provide testimonies, share about the Ministry, or tailor their information to meet the needs and time allotments of any situation. There are similar programs out there, such as Weigh Down Workshop and First Place, however, these classes are led through a DVD and workbook, not person to person and individualized like Transformation Ministry.
Rollins and Transformation Ministry are planning a conference day this summer in Warrenton. Lee Catherine Clayton and Cammie Shelata, of Immersed, will lead the praise and worship portion of the conference. More information is available by contacting Rollins at or Zobel at 825-6506.

Zobel unashamedly points out that God isn’t done with them yet. She highlights Phillipians 1:6 that says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will continue it, until the day of Jesus Christ,” and, 80 pounds lighter and going strong, Zobel stresses that, “this is not a success story, it’s a surrender story.”

Amy Wagner covers church news for the Star Exponent. Have a story idea? E-mail her at