Digital Social Hour
How a Stroke Changed My Life and Faith Forever | Travis Hearn DSH #1110
Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:00:00 -0000
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How can a life-changing stroke transform your faith and purpose? 🤔 Tune in now to hear this incredible story of survival, resilience, and miracles on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly. 🙌 From an unexpected health crisis to a miraculous recovery, this episode dives deep into how a massive stroke changed everything for our guest—and how faith, hope, and determination paved the way to healing. 🕊️ Discover how his journey inspired not only a renewed purpose but also a powerful message of hope. From struggles with speech therapy to overcoming unimaginable odds, this story is packed with valuable insights that will motivate and inspire you. 💪✨ Don't miss out—watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets! 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Join the conversation and share your thoughts below. 💬 Let’s spread hope together! 🌟 #followupvisitors #churchcommunications #churchgrowthprinciples #churchgrowthtips #biblicalchurchgrowth CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Travis’ Stroke 00:34 - Collaborating with Other Churches 03:42 - Travis’ Near Death Experience 09:20 - The Day of the Stroke 20:45 - Health Factors Leading to Stroke 23:46 - The Existence of Evil 27:18 - Jesus: The Most Famous Person 29:21 - The Meaning of Numbers 31:58 - Church Growth vs. Business Growth 42:30 - Where to Find Sean 42:32 - New Book Release 46:08 - The Fire Book Overview 46:20 - Audible Recommendations 46:25 - Thank You for Joining APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Travis Hearn https://www.instagram.com/travishearn SPONSORS: SPECIALIZED RECRUITING GROUP: https://www.srgpros.com/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/
Chapter 1: How did Travis Hearn's stroke change his life?
I texted my wife Natalie and I go, babe, I'm dropping grapes. It's kind of weird. Well, she called me and she's like, Travis, please go back out to your car. And I thought I said I'm dropping grapes, but it said something more like I'm dropping drapes or something like that. She wants to call 911. She gets 911 on the call and she goes, I think my husband's having a stroke. I'm being wheeled out.
I looked at Natalie and I said, okay, I'm just getting some tests. I'll be right back. And dude, I get in the ambulance. I don't remember anything. How's your day been? Man, it's been good. I just got back from Miami. Yeah? How was that? It was great. I shot a podcast with a pastor out there named Rich Wilkerson Jr. Rich Wilkerson Jr. I haven't heard of him.
He's big. Yeah, he's a nationally known... I would say globally known. Yeah, good dude. Nice. Big following, you know, a lot of people. So you're collaborative with other pastors of different churches?
Yeah. The pastor world's easier for me because they're friends. I know those guys and stuff, so... Leveraging that is a little bit easier than leveraging outside of the church world. But Cody's been awesome. John a lot. There's so many people that go to our church that we can tap into.
Yeah, John's a great dude. Yeah, I didn't know that about that because certain churches are kind of, they keep to themselves, right? You know what?
Some do. I think some do. There's a pretty good network, though, across the nation of pastors that are connected. It's like you're trying to do this thing and you find like minds. It's like anything, but like-mindedness. And then church is a little bit like. it's so broad, like church broad, right? So then like with us, it's like certain churches, the size, right?
So who can I rub shoulders with that has a church around my size? Who's going through the same problems, issues, challenges, you know? And for me, who's got bigger vision even than I have and things like that. So, yeah, but- And ours is so unique because ours started as a Bible study for the Arizona Cardinals football team. Really? Yeah, it didn't start out to be a church.
It started out to be a Bible study for pro football players that eventually opened to the public, and that's the church. Wow. That is crazy. So how many members is it now? It's about 10,000 every Sunday. Holy crap. Yeah. That's insane, dude. Yeah. I did not know churches got to that size. I know. I just had Erwin McManus on for the second time.
I've never met him. Really? He is. I love that guy. And I have a lot of friends that know him. Oh, if I could facilitate that, I'd love to. Yeah, that'd be cool.
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Chapter 2: What were the signs leading up to the stroke?
He's been one of my favorite guests. He's the man. I just spoke at his church. You did? It was my first time in a church in, man, 15 years. No way. Yeah. What'd you speak on? What was it about? We spoke on just life. It was right before the election. So we're talking about the divide that politics has been causing and it was in LA.
So as someone who's a conservative to speak in that crowd, I was a little uncomfortable, but he made me feel right at home. That's awesome. And people were coming up to me after saying it was like one of the best talks. That is awesome. Yeah. So I love how like inclusive he is.
yeah he's a great dude he's got big vision he's got great teachings he's wise and and actually cody knows him too um yeah he speaks up a lot of the same events that you do so and you guys both share those near-death experience stories as well yeah i know you had a major one in 22 right yeah that rocked your world yeah yeah came out of nowhere unexpected completely yeah unexpected completely wow no signs at all nope holy crap yeah totally blindsided so you just woke up in the hospital
So going back to the church, it starts as a Bible study for the Arizona Cardinals, opens to the public, grows to what it is now. Well, I like music. Dude, I like music. I think church should be fun. You know, like church, I mean, I think church should be fun. It should be like a celebration, not a funeral. It should be like, I believe Jesus is risen, man. Like, let's have a good time.
God's not dead. So I'm a musician. So I'm a worship leader. I sing, I play guitar, play keyboard, play drums. So I really was meticulous and like particular about building our worship team, our music team. Well, you know, we've got incredible, incredible people. and singers, they're so good. So we decided, let's start writing songs. Like, we've never done this. Like, let's try to write songs.
We wrote our first song. We recorded it, produced it, and then released it to the world and on all music platforms. It was our first one. And that song released November 11th of 2022. And that song is called, He is the Miracle. The song's about God. Jesus is the miracle, right? So then on Sunday, I preached a sermon.
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Chapter 3: What miraculous events occurred during Travis's recovery?
It's not good. Your husband's suffering from a massive brain bleed. We have to helicopter him to a level one trauma center. And so I get, you know, helicopter to a level one trauma center. Dude, I'm gone. I lost my speech, my cognition, my memory, my motor skills. I'm gone. And the crazy thing is, is like when this happened, you know, it happened so fast. You ask, it came out of nowhere.
It came out of nowhere. I mean, nowhere. Like I've always almost felt invincible to really, to some degree. Like I feel like I don't get sick, like I don't break body parts, bones. Like I'm, I'm like, all of a sudden this came out of nowhere. So it was bad.
I mean, it was bad that when I was in, it was a couple of days into it when I couldn't, you know, when I mean I lost my speech, I mean, like that. And when I was in that state of being, the doctor told my wife that she should be prepared and warned that this particular stroke, the effects of this particular stroke are irreversible. Whoa. Yeah. So he's telling Natalie, this is your new husband.
He's a vegetable. And... Actually, you know what? The crazy thing about this is that, I mean, it's all crazy. There's not a crazy thing. It's all crazy. The whole thing's crazy. But when the doctor said that,
to my wife she's a woman of god like like we're kind of freaks dude like we're jesus fanatics women women of god men of god and she was like i'm not gonna i'm not gonna i'm not gonna accept that like she didn't say that but she's thinking like i'm not gonna accept that and she goes to the bible and like i need a new i need a verse i need something to hold on to bro she goes to this verse in acts chapter 3 verse 16 and the verse says
by faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see now is completely healed. That's what it says. Yeah.
And she just pulled a random verse, random verse, right? So she, she clings to that verse. She actually posted on her Instagram story. Um, and, and, and we, we save that, uh, So we started praying, believing. I mean, everybody all over the world that knew me, they're praying, churches and pastors and friends and family and like Acts 3.16 and that God would heal this man.
And so then on Wednesday, I got admitted on Monday, on Wednesday, So what they do is stroke a patient. So mine was in the basal ganglia area. So I've learned so much about strokes because they're not all the same, right? They can be massive. They can be minor. They, depending on where it is, they can be a blood clot. They can be a brain bleed. Mine was a brain bleed, a massive brain bleed. So
The basal ganglia area is like the brainstem area. So like somebody could bleed here or here or whatever, and it might affect something. But because of where I bled, everything goes through the brainstem. So it affected everything. It affected like, you know, I'm crazy. I tell you, I'm crazy. I'm a Jesus freak crazy man. But I think the world is spiritual before it's physical.
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Chapter 4: How did faith play a role in Travis's healing?
Great. So it's, I can only explain it like that. Cause like I'm a pastor, but like I didn't, I didn't grow up in church. Like I partied my way through school. I've done drugs and lots of them and smoked out. And then I got, I got, I became a Christian after getting a DUI, getting arrested, getting put in jail. And that night I went from jail to Jesus.
Like that night, that's what redirected my life. Like crazy story. So think about for a minute, like these tests and he goes, what's your kid's names? And I go 40. It's like, you're almost passed out drunk. Like you're, you, you're kind of like, you're way back there somewhere. And I knew this was bad. And I had tears in my eyes. I looked up to my wife who was standing right by my bedside.
And I said, count it all joy. And the doctor goes, what'd he say? Now remember, I can't talk. And I say, as plain as day, count it all joy. And Natalie said, he's quoting a Bible verse from the book of James. I've been sharing this story, not getting emotional. But because today's the day, it's just extra emotional. She said he's quoting a Bible verse from the book of James that says,
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience, perseverance have its perfect work in you that you may be mature and complete. Well, this is the crazy thing about that story. To me, I can't tell you my children's names, but I can quote a Bible verse in context of the situation as plain as day. Wow.
And it makes me think about scripture, because the Bible says about the Bible that the word of God is living and active. It says that it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It says that it will never return void. And man, Friday, dude, Friday, I got released from the hospital. Five days later, I got released from the hospital. And God did the miracle. He is the miracle. And so...
You know, it's been a journey. It's been two years. That two years has been incredible. It's been a lot of growth, a lot of learning, a lot of therapy. I did six different therapies for, gosh, six months every day, you know, physical therapy, cognition therapy, hyperbarics therapy, speech therapy.
My doctor, speech therapist, she goes, hey, I heard you're a, I know you're an influential pastor, you know, And, and she said, I watched your clips on Instagram of you preaching and stuff. And she goes, I thought it would be cool. Why don't you, as part of your speech therapy, preach to me? And I was like, no way. Like, come on, let's go.
I'm like, you know, kind of slurry, like a drunk, like that's where I was at this, this point in my life. And, um, and man, I was preaching to her. Like I was preaching to 10,000 people, man, me and her. And I got my little, you know, iPad and I'm just, I'm giving her everything I got, you know, incredible. And it was part of my speech therapy.
But yeah, man, those first six months were wild because I was rescued. I didn't die. Um, and, and my body was healing and, and I had, I, God did his part, but I also, I also played a role in it, you know, working, getting after it. I mean, they'd show me flashcards even several months after this brain bleed. They're simple, like five-year-olds can do them. And there'd be 50 flashcards.
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Chapter 5: What lessons did Travis learn from his near-death experience?
That's so crazy, man. Crazy. Incredible. Did you regain all your memories?
Yeah. I would say I'm... I'm almost all the way back to normal in every area of my life, better than normal in many areas of my life. I do still have numbness in my whole right side. So it's not numb, like stab me. I can't feel it numb. It's numb. Like my foot's asleep, numb, and it never unsleeps. It never wakes up. That's annoying, dude. Cause like right now it's like tingles. It's tingles.
It's, it's, it's been challenging. I don't learn to re relearn to type. Wow. there's challenges that pop up and it doesn't mean you're still not created to do it. It might mean you need to pivot on how you do it. And for me, it's, I'm a pastor. I, I, I, I love people. I preach God's word. I want to give people hope. And so like my calling hasn't changed, but the way I do it has.
So now, so now like even in my studio, my sermon writing studio, you know, I have this headset where I can type, but I, I could go, Hey, Philippians four 13 says, you know, I could type that Philippians 4.13 says, and then I could go, I could do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I could say it and it types it in. So technology is pretty cool today.
I can literally go back and forth and there's no, there's no like, you know, uh, delay. Um, and so I'm still working. I'm still, uh, you know, I changed my nutrition, my entire physique changed. Is that what caused the stroke? You think poor health physically? I asked the question because obviously I don't want it to happen again. So they said this particular stroke, first of all, it's a fluke.
Second of all, you have no other areas in your brain that are compromised. My six-month scan, my six-month post-stroke scan, I was healed. It was completely, he said, you could see like a scar, you could see where it happened, but it was healed. Um, they said it could have been an old high school injury. It could have been a sports injury, football, basketball could have been a car wreck.
Um, they said, you know, when you have a blood vessel that's compromised, I mean, you never know. It may never blow. And mine, mine, mine blew. And I was like, is it nutrition? Nope. You know, stress? Nope. Um, You know, it could have just been an old injury. Who knows? I believe it was targeted from the enemy. I believe that I do God's work and I do good work and I try to bring hope to the world.
And I think the enemy wanted to shut that down. And I think the timing of it is living proof of that with, you know, that he is the miracle release and that he is a miracle sermon. I think he was trying to shut me up. So now I'm speaking louder.
Yeah, I love that, man. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of coincidences leading up to it too. Yeah. It's just weird timing. Yes. When you say enemy, who exactly...
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Chapter 6: How has Travis adapted his life after the stroke?
33. But from 30 to 33, that was his actual ministry. That's, that's where he did his miracles. That's when he was crucified. It was three years. So why? Cause, cause it's just a cool myth. Like, cause you know, cause, and that's what I used to be like, dude, this is crazy. Cause I mean, there is something to this. Like, this is wild, man. Like God, are you real? God, are you not real? And, um,
And I've seen God prove to me time and time and time and time again, the realness of himself, the power of God. And I think if we try, like, think about this, like we try everything. We're humans. We're like, we're gonna try drugs. We're human. Try some alcohol. We would try some women. We would try some men.
We're gonna try, if I could just chase money, chase women, chase men, chase fun, chase material possessions. All of it leaves you still chasing. Like it's a dead end. And so my thought is for anybody that's listening, like, I mean, try it. Like chase Jesus. Just try it. See what happens. What do you got to lose at this point? Give it a shot, you know? And that's what I did. That's what I did.
I gave him a shot, you know? Wow. My life never been the same ever since. What a story. Do you believe numbers have meaning? Because Jesus died at 33. You mentioned you made the song on 11-11-22. Was that strategic?
No, it wasn't. It wasn't? No. No, it wasn't strategic. I mean, the day of the release was strategic, but not according to numbers. Okay. But yeah, that's pretty cool. Actually, I don't think I've ever even thought about that. So you just said that. Yeah. Well, I know there's a divide with certain religion and numerology and astrology. That's why I asked that.
Yeah. Nope. Nope. Didn't even think about it. That's pretty cool though. Interesting. 11-11. Yeah. That's angel numbers, right? That's pretty cool. Something like that. I don't know. Yeah. 11-11. I'm being honest. I have no idea. Well, yeah. 11-11. A lot of people make wishes at that time of life. Okay.
I don't know anything about wishes. I just know about praying to God. To Jesus. Good old prayer. That's all I know. Hard to be prayer, man. Yeah, exactly. I used to pray a lot growing up. Yeah. What do you mean used to? I went through a rebellion phase, man. Okay. Yeah. That's real. I might have to get back into it. That's real. I got it.
No, I definitely used to. And something I got away from, I think a lot of kids kind of, I don't know, church growing up could be a weird setting sometimes. Yeah, I think so.
I think, you know, like you said, sometimes not every child's the same, but like you grow up. Maybe certain kids too are smothered by it or they feel like, yeah, yeah, I don't know. And then they grow up and then they get their freedom and they're out of the house. And so I could see that.
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Chapter 7: What message of hope does Travis share with others?
yeah amen families families the way god created it absolutely that that family is the way the bible uh you know defines it you know so um me too you know like i i freaking love being a husband We're coming up on 27 years. Congrats. That's how old I am. Wow. Really? Yeah. You're a youngin', dude. See, I told you there's something with numbers. We're meant to meet.
Yeah, you're a baby. And then my oldest daughter's 23 and my son's 21 and my youngest is now 15. But yeah, man, I think, you know, we got to get you back in, man. I'm not opposed. I'd love to go to one of your, it's every Sunday? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, every Sunday. Next time I'm in town, I'll stop by. Or even watch it online. Oh, it's online? Impactchurch.com, yeah.
Wow, churches have adapted. Yeah, I know. Holy crap. We're probably the slower ones. We're trying to pivot and move with the times, but evolve. But yeah, yeah, YouTube, man, you can listen to sermons. And yeah, you should do that for sure.
I mean, I definitely want to touch on the growth because this is a business show. And you said it started off with just a one team, and now it's 10,000 people. How long did that take? 14 years. Okay. And was it steady growth over time? Was there specific tactics you used to grow?
Yes. I love that you said, too, this is a business show because the thing I think a lot of people maybe don't think about is like the church is still a business, right? I mean, it's a ministry. You're there to help people. But there's a lot of businesses that aren't churches that are there to help people. Right.
So think about what the church, you, you, you have employees, you have HR, you have hiring. Unfortunately, you even have firing, you know, you have time off, you have, you know, vacations, you have teams, you have culture, you have training, you have sessions, you have conferences, you have things where you're developing culture. You have money coming in. You have money going out. You got budgets.
You got departmental budgets. You got marketing. You got advertisements. You got branding. All of it. It's literally the same. So for us, if we look at it from a business perspective, we started as a Bible study for the Arizona Cardinals, open to the public. you're growing and now you have a church. So how do you grow this? How do you grow numerically? How do you grow spiritually?
How do you grow financially, right? Relationally, all the Elise, how do you grow? And so those are all business, those are good business tactics. So branding,
our name is impact church why well i wanted a one word purpose statement that's why i wanted one word that said all of it what is all of it well that i'm impacted by god but that i make an impact for god that i love my neighbor as myself that i help people that i love people serve people sacrifice for people impact that said it all so our pro athlete bible study
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