How the Seattle Transformers Got Started
Zach Gill, Founder & Visionary
In 1993 Zach was born with Asperger’s Syndrome and Absence Seizure disorder. At a young age Zach found peace & joy in taking stats while watching NBA games on ESPN, drawing out brackets from scratch on the back of his homework while in class, and getting the neighborhood kids together for full court 3v3 tournaments. You could certainly say his obsessive passion and desire growing up was basketball and bringing genuine people together through the sport he loved most.
From 2006 to 2012 Zach faced many challenges at home and often struggled with learning how to fit in socially with the world. Due to these circumstances, he went through a lot of depression and overindulged himself with food & drink as an escape – topping out at around 330lbs. He ultimately began to lose hope after feeling like his birth was a mistake and doubted that he’d ever make it in life. As a result of his socioemotional exhaustion and defeated mindset, Zach began to run away from home and had regular suicidal thoughts.
In 2013 Zach found the Lord through his community involvement with a men’s group at North County Christ The King church in Kendall, WA. After accepting Jesus Christ as his savior, Zach experienced a liberating feeling of no longer caring about what this world thinks of him and he began to appreciate & embrace his uniqueness. A year later he made a personal decision to get rebaptized the weekend of his 21st birthday at NCCTK Kendall. Following the baptism, Zach did a lot of soul searching and reflected on how he could make the greatest impact possible while giving up his life for Jesus’ glory instead of suicide. Shortly thereafter, he received a vision that one day he would be used to advance the Kingdom of God by creating a professional basketball team for the Christian audience through the public display of player testimonies and community philanthropy.
In 2016 Zach embarked on that mission by creating Christian Faith Basketball Club; a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to serving adult athletes with hidden talent who’ve lost hope of playing professionally. Christian Faith Basketball Club is fueled by a holistic approach to player-person development in addition to offering year-round organized basketball. Zach faithfully executes being the hands & feet of Christ in the lives of these athletes by offering his training services free of charge to those who choose to entrust him. He calls it the GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense) Grind since it’s a freely given opportunity with unmerited favor that exemplifies the love God has for His people who genuinely pursue a relationship with Him.
In 2020 Zach leveraged the time he invested into those athletes when he founded the Seattle Transformers; a professional basketball organization for former Christian Faith Basketball Club athletes who faithfully entrusted Zach with their development. They are nicknamed the Transformers because of how their players were transformed through Christ. Each transformed athlete typically establishes a renewed inner peace of mind, ends up discovering their life’s purpose, and grows a heart for community involvement. As a result of Zach’s selfless commitment to athletes in need of hope, and the faith his players show in his leadership capabilities, the Seattle Transformers have inhabited a genuine culture of iron sharpening iron that promotes social change through its crazy faith and radical inclusivity.
In 2024 Zach scaled his calling by launching the Junior Transformers, an initiative servicing high school and college athletes who train with him; Transformers International, an initiative servicing overseas professionals who train with him in addition to offering professional exhibition tours and sports ministry trips abroad; Faith Over Sight Kingdom Management, an athlete representation agency specializing in NIL branding and marketing for ALL athletes who train with him; Transformers Basketball Network, a streaming TV channel in collaboration with Faith Network and ABAGALE TV; and the Transforming Lives Foundation, the official 501c3 charitable fund for all of the Seattle Transformers’ philanthropic endeavors.
Some of the many roles Zach currently fulfills for the Seattle Transformers are General Manager: signing players, coaches, general staffing, and media members; Chief Revenue Officer: Director of Corporate Partnerships, Director of Ticketing, Director of Merchandising, Transformers Basketball Network Commercial Advertising Sales, Transforming Lives Foundation Fundraising, and Bookkeeping; Chief Marketing Officer: Head of Community Programming, and Media Content Strategy; Chief Logistics Officer: Event Planner, Travel Coordinator, and Head of Strategic Planning & Urban Redevelopment.
Zach’s motivation for doing all of this is to be a living example of what it looks like for one to effectively give up their life for Jesus’ sake in order to gain it, guide individuals he works with towards experiencing the same liberation & hope Jesus gave him, and inspire as many other people as possible to turn their hearts towards Jesus after witnessing the relationship-driven kingdom recruiting principles fueled by faith & inclusion that the Seattle Transformers organization stands on.