All the Things: "When Do We Get to Do the Stuff"?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wake-Up Call

Episode: All the Things: "When Do We Get to Do the Stuff"?
Host: Dan Wilt (& J.D.)
Date: May 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode, nestled in the days following Pentecost Sunday, launches a new series with a Pentecostal heartbeat: “All the Things.” Host Dan Wilt, joined this (and every Tuesday) by J.D., explores what it means to live as “Pentecost people” in ordinary life. The guiding question: When do we get to do the stuff?—that is, when do regular followers of Jesus participate in the miraculous and loving works described in the New Testament? Through personal stories, reflections on church history, and practical prompts, the hosts challenge and encourage listeners to step into “everyday ministry in the power of the Spirit.”

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Invitation to Community Transformation (00:04–03:59)

• Dan Wilt sets the table for listeners to engage this journey not alone but in small communities—a “band,” family, friends, or small groups.
• He promotes using the companion journal: a tool for recording prayers, reflections, and documenting transformation as it happens.

2. Foundation in Scripture (04:00–07:29)

• The day’s Scripture: Acts 1:1-2—“all that Jesus began to do and to teach.”
• Key reflection: We don’t need perfect conditions before ministering to others; God works through us wherever we are.
• Story: A Methodist pastor, weary from administrative duties, asks John Wimber how to minister in the Spirit. Wimber’s advice: let God change you on the inside, and be available to the Father anywhere, anytime. The pastor’s life—and others’ lives—change as he simply does what Jesus did.

"He didn’t think about doing it, he just did it, and lives were changed."
— Dan Wilt (06:16)

3. John Wimber: “When Do We Get to Do the Stuff?” (07:30–10:55)

• Dan Wilt shares the origin of today’s titular question, first posed by John Wimber, Vineyard founder and Dan’s own mentor.
• John Wimber’s frustration: The gap between New Testament Christianity (miracles, spiritual gifts as “normal”) and his church experience.
• Wimber wanted action, not just discussion: “When do we get to do the stuff?”
• Core Insight: In the New Testament, spiritual gifts and miracles are not options—they are “normal, essential, necessary” for awakening hearts and confirming Jesus’ good news.

4. The Commission Still Stands (10:55–12:25)

• The answer to “when”: Today. Jesus’ commission still applies—preach and demonstrate the Kingdom in the Spirit’s power, wherever you are.

“Today, all the things that Jesus did, you and I are invited, commissioned and empowered to do with Him... in our homes, in our relationships, our towns, our cities.”
— Dan Wilt (11:34)

5. Demonstrating the Kingdom in Ordinary Life (12:26–13:40)

• Ministry is not for an elite few—but for all who follow Jesus.
• Partner with the Father in his work of healing “hearts, minds, and bodies” by the Spirit.

6. Reflective Prayer & Journal Prompts (13:41–16:04)

• Prayer: Expresses the desire for boldness to join Jesus’ work in everyday contexts.
• Two main journal prompts:
  1. “What have you done in your life that Jesus did?” Emphasis: Don’t shortchange yourself—notice how God has already worked through you. (14:50)
  2. “Have you primarily sought to imitate Jesus’ character, or have you also practiced ministry with the Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts?” (15:45)

“Our model when we're looking at the Gospels is not the disciples, it’s Jesus. Jesus is the one who, living in us, is making us like him.”
— Dan Wilt (14:57)

7. The Spirit’s Fruit and Gifts—Naturally Supernatural (16:05–17:14)

• Spiritual gifts are exciting, but always entwined with the fruit of the Spirit—character comes first.
• The truly “supernatural” life is gentle, humble, and compassionate; not “flaky and wacky.”

8. “Activation” for Today (17:15–18:40)

• Practice: Pay attention to who crosses your path today—ask God for discernment of His work in their life, and join in.
• Ministry is always Jesus (by the Spirit) working through us—not our own efforts. “Christ living in me and through me in the world.” (18:34)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On today as the day for “doing the stuff”:
  “Every day to me is the day after the day of Pentecost. It’s today.”
  — J.D. (16:29)
• On faith-in-action:
  “Faith is acting as if the thing Jesus is saying is true. And I just started doing it—and you know, it’s real.”
  — Dan Wilt (19:28–19:38)
• On ministry as Jesus-in-us:
  “The Holy Spirit’s in you. Now we’re going to begin to discern the Spirit’s voice, to act in faith, to be followers of Jesus, apprentices, but with his Spirit within us, doing His ministry through us. That was always the intent.”
  — J.D. (20:00–20:22)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:04 – 03:59: Introduction, call to do the series together, community emphasis.
• 04:00 – 07:29: Scripture reading (Acts 1:1-2), reflection on readiness for ministry.
• 07:30 – 10:55: John Wimber’s story and the “when do we get to do the stuff?” question.
• 10:56 – 12:25: The commission of ordinary believers.
• 12:26 – 13:40: Living out kingdom ministry today.
• 13:41 – 16:04: Prayer and journal prompts for reflection.
• 16:05 – 17:14: The role of character and the “naturally supernatural” way.
• 17:15 – 18:40: Activation: practical steps for today.
• 18:41 – 21:08: J.D. and Dan discuss the personal splinter and the challenge of enacting these truths.
• 21:09 – End: Worship segment (“How Great is Our God”) and outro.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is an energetic, compassionate invitation to participate in “the stuff” of kingdom ministry—not as a special event for spiritual elites, but the everyday normal of following Jesus. With practical prompts and deeply personal stories, Dan and J.D. demystify and democratize spiritual gifts, rooting charismatic ministry in love, humility, and obedience.

Their closing words and worship reinforce the main point: “Today is the day” to do the works of Jesus, through his Spirit, wherever you are.

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Memorable moment:

“We're starting to wake up here.”
— Dan Wilt (20:33)

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For reflection: Which “things” have you already done in Jesus’ name? Where are you invited, today, to join in doing the stuff?

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Transcript

[Dan Wilt]

Foreign

[J.D.]

Sower Nation Today is Tuesday, May 26th, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm Dan Wilt and this is your wake up call. I am so thrilled to be in this new series together with the Heart of Pentecost beating in it and through it. We've just come through Pentecost Sunday and we're, we are called to be invited to be Pentecost people in the world. So all the things everyday, ministry in the power of the Spirit is all about becoming people of Pentecost. I want to encourage you as we begin to consider doing this with some friends. If you have a band, that would be fantastic because there are going to be conversations along the way that are going to encourage you, inspire you, renew you. And it'd be great to do it with others others. But you can of course do it on your own. I'd encourage you to get a hold of the journal. This has not only all the entries, but also prayers and journaling prompts and activations. It's going to be a place where you write down the names of people you're praying for, where you're going to see results happen in this documentation of what we're doing together. I'd encourage you to do this with small groups. We have congregations that are doing this right along with the series, some that are going to do it later. We're going to be really investing time in seeing that community of the body of Christ, that is who we are as the wake up call community, really opening up our hearts to Jesus, moving in us and using us in new and beautiful ways in our lives. So I'd encourage you to do it with others. Then I have something special to tell you. J.D. is going to join me every Tuesday, today, Taco Tuesday, to have a conversation about that day's entry, which is going to be pretty special. We really do well when he and I are going back and forth talking about what the Spirit is doing in our lives. And I think that'll be a fun addition to every one of these entries. So he's going to be joining me later on before we sing and I'd encourage you every Tuesday to stay tuned for those. Okay, well, wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Let's pray our prayer of consecration together as we begin. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you and we're praying in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our entry today is titled all the Things When Do we get to do the Stuff? And our passage is today as it was yesterday. Acts 1, verses 1 to 2 Hear the word of the Lord in my former book Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, he had chosen the Word of the Lord. Consider this. Today's story illustrates that we don't need to have everything in order before we can be about the business of our Father in people's lives. And here's our story for today. A Methodist pastor once came to John Wimber, the late founder of the Vineyard movement, with a burning question. He wanted to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, but he was consumed by the work of committees and administration. Can anyone relate to this? John encouraged him a to focus on God, changing him on the inside rather than on the outside challenges, and B to invite the Father to work through him no matter where he he was. Well, the pastor went for it. He began to ask God who to pray for and how to pray. He began to ask people all around him if he could pray for them. He didn't think about doing it, he just did it and lives were changed. When I think of all the things that Jesus did and taught, everything that Luke must have been thinking about when he wrote Acts 1, verses 1 and 2, I'm reminded of a famous anecdote about John Wimber, who was a mentor to me and to tens, if not hundreds of thousands over over the decades. But he was a very specific mentor to me in many ways over my journey as a follower of Jesus, as a pastor and as a leader, and especially near the end of his life. So here's his story. When John first became a follower of Jesus and began reading his Bible after coming off drugs and dropping out of the music industry scene, he took in all the stories of miracles performed by Jesus and his disciples. To John, miracles and spiritual gifts seem to be very normal parts of the Christian life. For the early church, each of those gifts and the miraculous experiences connected to them seem to reveal God's love to a person. Remember JD's definition of awakening? It's God's love expressed and experienced to a person, then moving through a person to a person, and so on and so on, leading that person to follow Jesus, often along with family and friends. To John, the New Testament and early Christians seem to believe that spiritual gifts were not optional, they were normal, they were essential. They were necessary to awaken the heart to Jesus. They made living witnesses out of ordinary disciples. They confirmed the good news of Jesus was true through and through. So after reading the gospels in the New Testament and experiencing the dryness of a particular church service, John Wimber had one singular pressing question. When do we get to do the stuff? When do we get to do the stuff? John was trying to bridge the gap between what he saw in the New Testament and what he saw in current church life. He believed that Jesus was training apprentices, not spectators. Right, and what was the stuff that John wanted to do? Well, John was talking about all the things of Acts 1. He was talking about life to life, kingdom ministry, in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. John would go on to lead a global movement, the Vineyard movement, which is a substantial part of my own church background for almost 40 years that seeks to embody a Jesus like word centered, spirit filled heaven meets earth, love motivated, power activated, naturally supernatural approach to living. And if you're asking today like John did, when do we get to do the stuff? My answer is today we can do the stuff. Today Jesus commissioned his first disciples, his apprentices, to go out into the world to to do two things simultaneously. They would preach the good news of the kingdom of God and they would demonstrate that news through signs and wonders that led back to the love of God. So here is a gospel truth to set us free. Today all the things that Jesus did, you and I are invited, commissioned and empowered to do with him. And where will that be? It will be in our sphere of influence, in our relationships, in our towns, in our cities, in our homes, in our one on one relationships. That's the place. That is the location where Jesus will living in you, move through you to touch others lives. Today we get to do the stuff of kingdom ministry. Today you and I get to partner with the Father in healing hearts, minds and bodies by the power of the Spirit living in us. So here's our prayer for today. Lord Jesus, I want to do the stuff of the kingdom of God. I want to join you in your work, in my neighborhood, in my workplace and in my home. Give me the desire and the boldness to move into a fresh season of learning to minister to others with you. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. And here are our journal prompts for today. What have you done in your life that Jesus did? Now let me give you a context for that question. What have you done in your life that Jesus did. So instead of starting from a oh, I haven't really done much, don't start there. Start with believing that God has been at work in you, through you, since you began following Jesus in a profound and powerful way, ministering to hearts through you. Look back over your life, look back over the decades and begin to write down in your journal, what have I done that is the same kind of thing that Jesus did. Where have I undone, excuse me, undid with the Spirit, the works of the evil one? Where have I participated in proclaiming good news to someone who was poor, who was poor in spirit? Where have I done done in my life what Jesus did? Begin to draw that one to one correlation. JD Often says our model when we're looking at the Gospels is not the disciples, it's Jesus. Jesus is the one who living in us is making us like him. And we move from consecration into transformation, into demonstration. That's the pattern of the awakened life. So what have you done in your life that Jesus did? And the second question, have you primarily sought to imitate Jesus character, his ethics, his ways of treating people? Or have you also practiced participating in ministry with the Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts? Have you moved in a way in your life that reflects his character moving through you, his ethics, his ways of treating people? Remember, we're going to come back to this again and again because spiritual gifts get all sorts of people excited about drama and fireworks. And what we see in Jesus is how he self describes. I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart. Jesus moved with compassion. We don't see flaky and wacky leading the way here in what Jesus does. We see him moving in a very naturally supernatural way. And he's moving in the the, the gifts of the Spirit all intermingled with his person. The, the fruit of the Spirit is character. And that's what Gordon Fee says, is that that animating life of the church is the Holy Spirit. We are moving in gentleness and humility, moved by compassion. And we're doing it with the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, grace, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against those things the scripture says there's no law. These things were in the lead in Jesus. They can be in the lead in our lives. So journal your reflection on that question. Have you been just about focusing on being like Jesus in your gentleness and humility of heart, or have you also added to that, expressing his love to the world, then moving in spiritual gifts as you understand them? And we'll be exploring that as we go along and then today's activation. And let me say again about activations. I am participating with you every single day in these activations. This is a we thing. This is a you and I thing. This is us doing this together today. Notice who God is bringing across your path. Ask the Lord to begin to give you discernment as to what he is already doing in their lives so that you can begin to join Him. Ask the Lord to begin to give you discernment as to what he's already doing in their lives so that you can begin to join Him. Because he's leading the ministry, not you and me. His spirit within us. Jesus, spirit within us is doing the ministry through us, not you and me. You see, we get really confused when we start making this about we did this and we do that and we. When we lose the plot there, we get everything wrong. This is about Jesus living in us, the moving through us. That was the plan from the beginning. No longer is it I who live, Paul said. But it is Christ living in me and through me in the world. All right. Well, John David, good to see you. Before we sing, let's talk a little bit.

[Dan Wilt]

Surprise, surprise. Did you miss me? Well, I missed you so bad, I had to come back here and jump in with Dan and share in the goodness of all the things.

[J.D.]

Well, why don't we start with we today have been talking about when do we get to do the stuff? And we've just really begun our all the things journey. I'd love to hear from you. Just where did this, you know, this began? I shared that this began in a conversation we had about getting into these things and talking about what this means for everyday people. Yes, do it. Getting the professional Christianity, you know, out of the way and the microphones and stages and all this. Just say, what's it mean for you and me today to walk in everyday ministry with the spirit?

[Dan Wilt]

Wait, hang on. You got microphones and stages? Because I got none of that, Dan.

[J.D.]

Not talking about my microphones and stages. I'm talking about the microphones.

[Dan Wilt]

Yes, church. You're talking about church.

[J.D.]

Church as we know it.

[Dan Wilt]

Yes. Well, Dan, this is. I appreciate this series so much and that you're leading the sewer nation into it. It's so critical. Here we are just days after the day of Pentecost. Every day to me is the day after the day of Pentecost.

[J.D.]

Today.

[Dan Wilt]

It's today. I wore my favorite shirt. If you're watching this on YouTube, it says today. And no, we don't have any for Sale yet, but they're coming soon. And this has been a splinter in my soul for a long time. And it's. It's the words that Jesus, you know, he's coming to the end of his session on Earth, and he's preparing to go and lead his session on Earth from heaven. It's interesting, you know, his session on Earth was leading his session on Earth as it is in heaven. And then he's going to go and lead it from the other side.

[Worship Leader]

That's right.

[Dan Wilt]

In a way that is going to empower everyone to do it. And that's exactly what he's saying. I believe it may be John 14 where he says these things. He's talking to his disciples. They're all puzzled. They're like, he's leaving. Well, how's this going to go? It's not going to go well. How's this going to work with Jesus gone still here? It's why when he left, they hid, right? They went and hid. And of course, he sends the Holy Spirit. But the point is to say he. He says to them, guys, these things that I'm doing, greater things than these will you do. Because I go to the Father, because I'm going to the other. The other side. I'm going to go from here to there so that I can then go from there to everywhere. And that is. That means your backyard, your shop, your home, your neighborhood, your church, your town, your place of work, your school, where you're going to school today. Yeah, He's. He says you're gonna do essentially what you're saying in today's entry. The stuff. The stuff, Right.

[J.D.]

Yeah.

[Dan Wilt]

Am I reading that right, Dan?

[J.D.]

That's right.

[Dan Wilt]

Because here's the problem for me, the splinter, right? I'm like. I'm reading this and I'm like, well, hang on, something's wrong. Either this is wrong or I'm not getting it. And I came out on the side of, like, I guess I'm just not getting it. And so I've been on a journey, just like you, of. Of understanding, of seeking, of learning, of, like, well, why aren't we doing this stuff? And why aren't. You know, some years back, I feel like I just started acting. Faith is acting as if the thing Jesus is saying is true.

[Worship Leader]

Yeah.

[Dan Wilt]

And I just started doing it. And you know, it's real is what I'll say to you.

[J.D.]

Yeah.

[Dan Wilt]

And that's what we want for the series.

[J.D.]

That's right. And once you. Once you start doing it, you are the thing. Like, it's not that we have to practice. And then all of a sudden, maybe one day it's like, no, the Holy Spirit's in you. Now we're going to begin to discern the Spirit's voice, to act in faith, to be followers of Jesus apprentices, but with his spirit within us, doing his ministry through us. That was always the intent, right? The is the ascension. It was always the intent never for him to do it all. And then we watch and preach about it and talk about it for generations. Like it was always right here. It was.

[Dan Wilt]

He wants you and I with us, through us, in us.

[J.D.]

That's right.

[Dan Wilt]

All about us. So, yeah, thanks for the activation today. Yeah, this is. We're starting to wake up here.

[J.D.]

That's right.

[Dan Wilt]

And yeah, I think it's time to sing. Dan.

[J.D.]

It is. All right. Thanks, man. So today for our moment of worship in our meeting with Jesus, we're going to sing what is in our great Redeemer's praise. Number 31, the. The chorus, the worship song. How great is our God. So let's worship together.

[Worship Leader]

The splendor of a king clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide Trembles at his voice, Trembles at his voice. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God and all we'll see how great, how great is our God.

[J.D.]

H2H he stands.

[Worship Leader]

H2H he stands and time is in his hands. Beginning and the end, Beginning and the end. The God hit three in one. Father, spirit, son. The lion in the lamb. The lion in the lamb. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God and all we'll see how great, how great is our God. Cause you're the name upon names and you are worthy of all praise in my heart we'll sing how great is our God

[J.D.]

is.

[Worship Leader]

You're the name the only. You're the name above all names. You are worthy of all praise in my heart we'll sing how great is our God

[J.D.]

how great is our God?

[Worship Leader]

How great is our God? Sing with me how great is our God and all we'll see how great, how great is our God.

[J.D.]

And well, let's gather our seeds together and get ready to sew. We'll see you on the field for the awakening. I'm Dan.