On the Difference between Winners and Losers - The Wake-Up Call

Podcast Summary: "On the Difference between Winners and Losers"

The Wake-Up Call — Hosted by John David Walt (Seedbed)
Date: March 19, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of The Wake-Up Call centers on discerning the difference between winners and losers from a spiritual growth perspective. Host John David Walt explores how real transformation is measured in a life oriented around Christ, drawing from 2 Peter 1:5–8. The discussion challenges listeners to consider how they define and measure their personal growth beyond mere activity or "vanity metrics," suggesting that authentic spiritual growth is seen in Christlike qualities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Consecration & the Great Hall of Transformation

The episode begins with a reminder of daily consecration—offering oneself to Jesus and entering a space Walt calls "the great hall of transformation," a metaphorical cathedral of God's presence where transformational exchange takes place.
- "He gives us peace, we give him anxiety. He gives us joy, we give him our despair. He gives us righteousness, we give him our sin. It's a good deal." (06:30)

Scripture Reflection: 2 Peter 1:5-8

Walt reads and reflects on:
“…make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (07:39)

Transformational Questions:

Walt shares a personal lesson from Maxie Dunham—a mentor who encouraged deep self-examination with the question: “Am I growing?”
- "You will never outgrow the depth of the questions you're willing to consistently ask yourself… These are not questions you learn to master. They are questions you must allow to master you." – Maxie Dunham, quoted by Walt (09:15)
The importance of letting deeper questions "penetrate to your depths" rather than being satisfied with surface-level answers.

Growth Metrics: Vanity Metrics vs. Real Scorecard

Walt recounts a report to his board in which he cited big numbers—website visits, downloads, book sales—but admits these were "vanity metrics":
- "It's easy to show high percentage data points of so-called growth in a new company... The deeper truth... was that our company had plateaued and was not really growing at all." (10:37)
He provocatively distinguishes between losers focusing on statistics and winners focusing on keeping “score”:
- “Do you all know who focuses on statistics?... losers. Do you know what winners focus on? ...the score. I'm not sure we know what the score is or even what the scorecard looks like.” (11:30)

Defining True Spiritual Growth

Walt warns against evaluating growth merely by how busy or active one is (e.g., how often one attends church or reads the Bible), contending that true growth is marked by the increasing presence of Christlike virtues.
- "When you aren't sure if you're growing, it's a seductive sleight of hand to try to prove you've been busy." (11:54)
Revisiting 2 Peter's list, Walt prompts:
- "What do you think are the markers or the metrics of real transformational growth? ...How can you answer... 'Am I growing?' if you don't know how or in what measure you are attempting to grow?" (12:20)

Personal Reflection & Journal Prompt

The episode encourages journaling about what real markers of growth might be, not just reporting religious or spiritual activities.
- "The score is a deeper matter. What's actually happening? How is Jesus manifesting himself to you and through you in the qualities of his life? That's the real question." (13:05)

Memorable Quotes

On Consecration:
“He gives us peace, we give him anxiety. He gives us joy, we give him our despair. He gives us righteousness, we give him our sin. It's a good deal.” — JD Walt (06:30)
On Deep Questions:
"You will never outgrow the depth of the questions you're willing to consistently ask yourself…They are questions you must allow to master you." — Maxie Dunham (quoted by Walt) (09:15)
On Score vs. Statistics:
“Do you all know who focuses on statistics?... losers. Do you know what winners focus on?... the score.” — JD Walt (11:30)
On Spiritual Growth:
"What's actually happening? How is Jesus manifesting himself to you and through you in the qualities of his life? That's the real question." — JD Walt (13:05)

Important Timestamps

06:30 — Consecration prayer and the “great hall of transformation”
07:39 — Reading and introduction to 2 Peter 1:5-8
09:15 — Quoting Maxie Dunham on transformational questions
10:37 — Vanity metrics vs. real growth in organizational and personal life
11:30 — Defining winners vs. losers: Focus on the score
12:20 — Prompting listeners to identify truly transformational metrics
13:05 — Encouragement to journal about real growth metrics

Listener Reflection & Challenge

Journal prompt:
“What do you think are the markers or metrics of real transformational growth?”
Avoid confusing busyness or activity with transformation.
Consider: "How is Jesus manifesting himself to you and through you in the qualities of his life?"

Closing & Community

Walt emphasizes connection and caring for the community, not numbers:
- “For us, it's not about the numbers. It's about you. It's about your heart and your home, your family, your church, your community… We care about you.” (13:46)
Practical encouragement:
- Encourage others through calls, texts, or handwritten cards as simple expressions of love—ways to "sow" seeds from home.
  - “Ask Jesus, who do you want to encourage through me today? ...When Jesus is involved, it’s so unfortunate. Awakening.” (20:10–21:14)

Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is warm, reflective, and encouraging, delivered in JD Walt's personal, pastoral tone. There's a mix of depth, gentle humor, and practical spirituality, inviting listeners to seek authentic transformation and connection.

For further engagement:
Listeners are invited to reflect deeply, journal their thoughts, and consider how Christ's virtues are increasingly present in their own lives, moving beyond activities to real spiritual change.

Transcript

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Sower Nation. Are you ready for a brand new day? Well, ready or not, here it comes. It is Thursday, March 19th, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt and this is your wake up call. Now, I have two very quick preliminaries that I'd like to get in front of you before we dive in this morning. One, we're dropping a new podcast this week, our Conversations. I'd love for you to check that out and share that with others. It's one of the ways we reach new people for the Wake Up Call. So there's that one. You can probably see the link in the email today or in the notes of the platform you're watching this on. Second one. I'm excited. I'm really getting excited about Unpuzzled. We have to think ahead. I want you to have one of our brand new workbooks in your hands as we get going on that. So you can see the link to that on the top of the email and we'll also put that in all the show notes. But we're studying Ephesians, y'. All. We're going to dive into a six week verse by verse study of the Paul's letter to the, to the Christians in Ephesus. And that's going to pick up the Monday after Easter, take us all the way up to the day of Pentecost. And we've, we've built this workbook. It's the first time we've done anything like this. And I think the podcast is actually Nick and me. Nick is our director and producer for the Wake Up Call and he's on the podcast Conversation with me and we're talking about that book, if I'm right, the Workbook. So would you just share my joy, Check it out and grab a copy. You're going to be guinea pigs and I want to hear how it goes. So. But again, always like to say that's, that's not required. That's, that's a bonus. Wake up calls free online. It's just, it always will be. So all that said, you ready to dive into the meeting with Jesus today? You know how it begins. Consecration. Wake up sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. 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. Well, he's with us. And we're now stepping into what I call the great hall of transformation, the great cathedral of the presence of God and where he is. Change happens, we receive revelation and we respond with our lives. It's a beautiful exchange that happens. He gives us. He gives us peace, we give him anxiety. He gives us joy, we give him our despair. He gives us righteousness, we give him our sin. It's a good deal. Well, today's entry is entitled on the Difference between Winners and Losers. And Our text is 2nd Peter chapter 1, verses 5 through 8. Hear now the Word of the Lord. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness and to goodness knowledge. And to knowledge, self control and to self control, perseverance and to perseverance, godliness. And to godliness mutual affection. And to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord. Now consider this well, you know me. I immediately pressed Maxi Maxi Dunham for the second and the third transformational questions. You remember that first one, Am I growing? And again in Mr. Miyagi fashion, Maxie repeated the controlling concern. John David, you will never outgrow the depth of the questions you're willing to consistently ask yourself. Then he added to the doctrine, these are not questions you learn to master. They are questions you must allow to master you. You must let these questions penetrate to your depths. Then he pressed, so are you growing? I replied, well, yes, and at the same time I'm not sure yet. As I reflected deeply on the question, I remembered a report I had given to our board of directors of Seedbed. In it I offered growth statistic after growth statistic of how many people had visited our website and how many people had downloaded different free resources and how many people had purchased a book. And I talked about the incredible margins of growth. I should add, it's easy to show high percentage data points of so called growth in a new company because it had started at zero. The deeper truth underneath all those so called growth measures, also known as vanity metrics, was that our company had plateaued and was not really growing at all. I stopped myself mid sentence in that report to the board and I asked them this transformational question, do you all know who focuses on statistics? Answering my own question, I replied, losers. I followed up with another transformational question, do you know what winners focus on? Again I answered the score. Then I added in a confessional tone, I'm not sure we Know what the score is or even what the scorecard looks like. What's true for organizations is doubly true for a person. When you don't know the score, it's easy to report on statistics. In other words, when you can't prove transformational growth, it's tempting to report on how much you've been going to church. When you aren't sure if you're growing, it's a seductive sleight of hand to try to prove you've been busy. My first real growth metric was to actually develop a growth metric, a real scorecard, and to stop measuring mere activity. I'll say more about that scorecard later. In the meantime, here is some food for thought. For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness. And to goodness, knowledge. And to knowledge. Self control. And to self control. Perseverance. And to perseverance. Godliness. And to godliness. Mutual affection. And to mutual affection. Love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So let me ask you, what do you think are the markers or the metrics of real transformational growth? After all, how can you answer transformational question number one? Am I growing? If you don't know how or in what measure you are attempting to grow. So what might our scorecard look like? Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your son Jesus and Lord Jesus. Something tells us you are yourself the measure of transformational growth. But how on earth might we begin to measure this? Save us from the trap of becoming negative about ourselves and lead us into the solution of becoming super positive about you. We're praying in your name. Amen. And so the journal prompt today, this is, this is a. This is a good one to journal on. What do you think are the markers or the metrics of real transformational growth? Again, you remember the. The kind of. The trap that we fall into when it comes to growth is just reporting on all the stuff you're doing. How much you're reading the Bible, or how much you're praying, or how much you're doing this or that or the other. And that just kind of becomes a set of statistics, doesn't it? The score is a deeper matter. What's actually happening? How is Jesus manifesting himself to you and through you in the qualities of his life? That's the real question. Be good for you to just begin to sketch out. That's why I chose that text today. It's got markers in it. Doesn't it? Well, it's time to sing, so Dad's here with me, and we'll enjoy getting to sing together with you today. Okay? Are we ready to sing today, dad?