The Power of Transformational Questions

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wake-Up Call

Episode: The Power of Transformational Questions

Host: J.D. Walt (with David Walt and Sam)
Date: March 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

This St. Patrick’s Day episode of The Wake-Up Call centers on the significance and power of transformational questions—particularly in the context of Christian discipleship, reflection, and growth. J.D. Walt invites listeners to consider not only the questions Jesus asked but also the questions we consistently ask ourselves, framing them as crucial for spiritual development. The conversation is grounded in Scripture and personal mentorship, interwoven with communal prayer, reflection, and classic hymn-singing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: St. Patrick's Day & Lent

• Opening Atmosphere:
  • J.D. Walt lightheartedly mentions it’s both St. Patrick’s Day and Taco Tuesday, donning festive apparel (Taco shirt and green Seedbed hat).
  • He briefly references the Breastplate of St. Patrick and the symbolism of the shamrock (the Trinity), then moves quickly to focus for Lent.

2. Scripture Focus: The Greatest Commandment (Mark 12:28-31, 03:01)

• J.D. reads the passage where Jesus is asked about the most important commandment, emphasizing,

  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength … Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”
  (03:13)

3. The Art and Importance of Questions (04:00–07:00)

• The Power of Questions:
  • J.D. reflects on the value of well-asked questions, quoting Socrates:

    “Understanding a question is half the answer.” (05:11) “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

  • Critique of education systems that prioritize answers over the curiosity to ask deeper questions.
• Jesus and Questions:
  • Jesus asked 307 questions in the Gospels, ranging from “Do you want to get well?” to “Who do you say that I am?”
  • He was asked 183 questions but directly answered only three.
  • J.D. underscores, “It took me many years...to learn how to seek the questions.”

4. Mentorship Wisdom: Three Transformational Questions (07:00–09:45)

• Interaction with Mentor Maxi Dunham:
  • Maxi’s insight:

    "John David, you will never outgrow the depth of the questions you are willing to consistently ask yourself.” (08:06)

  • For over 30 years, Maxi has regularly asked himself three specific questions—though the episode teases rather than reveals them.
  • J.D. promises to share these questions in upcoming episodes, building anticipation.

5. Reflection Prompts for Listeners (09:45–10:30)

• Self-Examination Encouraged:
  • J.D. challenges listeners:

    “Are there any questions you have consistently asked yourself over the years? If so, what might those questions be? If not, what might be a question or two you could start asking yourself about your life and your discipleship to Jesus?” (09:48)

• Closing Prayer:
  • A plea for openness to “the art of asking transformational questions by your Spirit.” (10:20)

6. Community Hymn: “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” (10:57–14:00)

• The hosts sing together, highlighting the hymn’s journey from earthly struggles to eternal hope.
• Discussion afterward reflects on:
  • How hymns narrate life's journey from youth to old age and onto heaven.
  • The inclusivity of hymns for all ages:

    “I sang these songs as a kid, and I’m still singing them as an adult. And you’re singing them as an old man.” (14:19)

7. Spiritual Reflection on Aging & Faith (14:00–15:59)

• J.D. and David exchange light-hearted remarks about their stages in life, connecting personal faith journeys to the shared act of singing and reflecting.
  • “But you’re still playing to win. We’re going all the way.” (15:56-15:59)

8. Call to Action: The ‘Field Team’ & Pastoral Connection (16:00-18:39)

• J.D. invites listeners to become part of the “field team”—sharing The Wake-Up Call and encouraging community engagement.
• Specific call-outs to pastors and church leaders to connect.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Reflective Spiritual Practice:

  “You will never outgrow the depth of the questions you are willing to consistently ask yourself.”
  — Maxi Dunham, as relayed by J.D. Walt (08:06)

• On Hymns and Life:

  “I sang these songs as a kid, and I’m still singing them as an adult. And you’re singing them as an old man.”
  — J.D. Walt (14:19)

  “The beautiful thing is there's something in here for everybody … and I love how they don't end with death. They go all the way to heaven.”
  — J.D. Walt (14:39–14:51)

• On Following Jesus’ Pace:

  “We're walking, we're not running. We are developing a generous contemplative, reasonable pace. It's very hard for me, but it's about to become about the questions.”
  — J.D. Walt (10:38)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening & St. Patrick’s Day Commentary: 00:06–02:45
• Scripture Reading (Mark 12:28-31): 03:01–03:26
• On the Power of Questions: 04:00–07:00
• Mentor Maxi Dunham’s Wisdom: 07:00–09:45
• Reflection Prompts & Prayer: 09:45–10:30
• Hymn (My Faith Looks Up to Thee): 10:57–14:00
• Faith, Life Stages, and Hymns: 14:00–15:59
• Field Team Call & Community Engagement: 16:00–18:39

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Tone and Language

The episode is warm, deeply personal, and gently humorous. J.D. Walt’s conversational leadership is infused with mentorly wisdom, humility, and a communal spirit. The approach is invitational, encouraging reflection rather than instruction, and filled with affection for both the daily rhythms of life and enduring spiritual questions.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode uses the energy of St. Patrick’s Day and the theme of Lent to invite listeners into a season of thoughtful, transformative questioning. Drawing from Scripture, the wisdom of mentors, and the tradition of communal hymnody, it plants seeds for deeper self-examination, faith formation, and lifelong spiritual curiosity. If you haven’t considered what questions shape your discipleship, this episode politely dares you to begin.

Transcript

[Sam]

Foreign.

[J.D. Walt]

Sower Nation. It is Tuesday, March 17th in the year of our Lord 2026. Yes, it is St. Patrick's Day. And it's also Taco Tuesday. I've worn one of my favorite taco shirts from my friend here gave it to me and Gillette, Jamie and Laura Turner says if you can't read it because you're on the podcast, apparently I like Taco Tuesday. Facts. Now, it being St. Patrick's Day, I'm putting on right now my green seed bed hat just so that we can salute that. The Shamrock Day. The the symbol of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the three leaf clover. And I always think about the Breastplate of St. Patrick. I love that we don't have time to get to it today. We got major ground to cover. We're going to begin in 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, today's entry, I kind of maybe in retrospect got confused. Yesterday I said today we're going to talk more about the flux capacitor. And I realized I'd actually talked about that earlier. Not the flux capacitor per se, but the notion of our inmost being and what that's all about. And I'm trying to figure out even where I had that discussion. But it was powerful wherever it was, and maybe you remember it and can figure it out. But I talked about the internal sort of organ, if you will. Anyhow, we got to move on.

[David Walt]

We're.

[J.D. Walt]

We're already in a new week. We're in Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day. We're finally going to break into the the title of the book, the Three Transformational Questions of Lent today is entitled the Power of Transformational Questions. Thanks, JD for finally getting to the point. You buried the lead. Our text mark chapter 12, verses 2831. Hear now the word of the Lord. One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one, answered Jesus, is this. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all Your strength. The second is this love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than than these the word of the Lord. Now consider this. There's nothing quite so powerful as a well asked question. The ancient philosopher Socrates is credited with the saying, understanding a question is half the answer. Interestingly, he is also credited with saying, the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. I'm into that. His celebrated Socratic method and approach to learning built around questions continues to the present day as a treasured approach to education. Unfortunately, most of us have been trained in an educational system and model which prizes knowing the right answers. We are taught from an early age to seek the answers. It took me many years beyond my formal education to learn how to seek the questions. It turns out Jesus was quite fond of questions. A quick search of the Bible reveals Jesus asked some 307 questions. They range from questions like do you want to get well? To what do you want me to do for you? To the question of all questions that we've covered. But what about you? Who do you say that I am? Now, Jesus was asked 183 questions by others. Questions like why don't your disciples fast? And what is the greatest commandment from today's text? Interestingly, of all those questions, he directly answered only three of them. I will always remember an early conversation with my chief mentor, Maxi Dunham, who has walked with me for more than 30 years as of this writing. He actually wrote the foreword to our book, Jesus Asking. And I'm, I'm trying to get by there to record him reading it so I can share it with you. Especially those of you, well, all of you. I want you to hear it in his voice. But he is a treasure of a man and his wife Jerry as well. Anyway, as we sat across the table over coffee that day 30 some years ago, he said, John David, you will never outgrow the depth of the questions you are willing to to consistently ask yourself. When it comes to God and faith and the Bible, everyone has a plethora of questions and most people like to take a crack at opining an answer to those of others. Fewer people ask themselves challenging questions and even fewer do so consistently. Maxi then told me there were three questions he had consistently asked himself over the course of many years. Of course you know what my next question to him was? Would you teach me those three questions? And now I sense you are asking the same of me. And so over the next few days, maybe weeks, I will share with you the three transformational questions I learned from my Mentor and have asked myself for many years now. In the meantime, I have a couple of questions for you. Are there any questions you have consistently asked yourself over the years? If so, what might those questions be? If not, what might be a question or two, you could start asking yourself about your life and your discipleship to Jesus. Now, let's pray. Father, how we thank you for your son Jesus and Lord Jesus. We confess. At least I can confess I am more about the answers than the questions. Would you train us in the art of asking transformational questions by your spirit? We are open and ready, even curious. What will you ask us? Praying in Jesus name Amen in our journal prompts today. Any questions? How about that? You want to take a guess at what the three questions might be? It'll be fun. It'd be worth journaling that out today. And as we get to those questions, you can look back and see what you journaled. So I'm really glad we're getting now down to these questions. And like I said, it's going to take us to the very end to com to get to the last one. So just keep, keep patient. We're, you know, we're not in a hurry. Remember, we're walking with Jesus. He goes about two miles an hour. We're walking, we're not running. We are developing a generous contemplative, reasonable pace. It's very hard for me, but it's about to become about the questions. So. But now it's time to sing today. Well, everyone, are we ready to sing today? We. We got a good song. Q. Here, dad, call the hymn and the number.

[David Walt]

The hymn is My Face Looks up To Thee, page 351. It's an old song. Once we start, you'll know it and you can sing with us.

[J.D. Walt]

Okay, so we're singing number 351. My faith looks up to thee. I'll see if I can pitch this here.

[Sam]

My faith looks up to Thee. Thou lamb of Calvary, savior divine now hear me while I pray Take all my guilt away. O let me from this day be holy Thine. May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart My zeal inspire as Thou hast died for me. O may my love to Thee your warm and changeless be a living fire, third verse. While life's dark maze I tread the and griefs around me Spread be Thou my d bid Darkness turn to day Wipe sorrow's tears away. O bear me ever.

[David Walt]

Say.

[Sam]

Thy last verse. When in life transit dream when this coastal and stream shall o' Er me roll, Blessed savior Then in love, fear and distrust Remove oh, bear me safe

[David Walt]

above the rat on the wrong verse

[J.D. Walt]

I'm sure you've noticed, dad, how most of the hymns, they start out on earth and they wind up in heaven. Amen. They do. They. And they take you through life's journey. It's when dark. When life's dark maze I tread and griefs around me spread. That's a part of life and.

[David Walt]

Right. And these songs really are for the older people.

[Sam]

Come on. Come on.

[J.D. Walt]

They're for all people.

[Sam]

They are.

[David Walt]

But some of them point to death.

[J.D. Walt]

Well, they. They. Here's my point. They. They go all the way. I sang these songs as a kid, and I'm still singing them as an adult. And you're singing them as an old man.

[David Walt]

Yeah.

[J.D. Walt]

Now, the beautiful thing is there's something in here for everybody.

[David Walt]

It is. Yeah.

[J.D. Walt]

And it's. It's the whole journey of life. And I love how they don't end with death. They go all the way to heaven.

[David Walt]

Right?

[J.D. Walt]

Yeah. And that's. That's our faith. And there's a lot of people who are listening to this who've got young kids, and they're just, like, in the full thick of it. This is a hymn for them. My faith looks up to thee Faith is a hymn for your kids to sing. I hear some of you kids singing in the backseat of the van today. But it's also a hymn for those people who are approaching the gates.

[David Walt]

Advanced.

[J.D. Walt]

Advanced. I'm in the fourth quarter now. I've made that clear. I've said, when you cross over, I'm 59. But that meant I just entered 60. So I'm like. I mean. And a lady at church, Carolyn, came out the other day. She said, well, if you're in the fourth quarter, I guess that puts me in overtime. She's in her 80s, so you're 85. That puts you in double overtime.

[David Walt]

I'm 85.

[J.D. Walt]

But you're still playing to win. Okay.

[David Walt]

Praise the Lord.

[J.D. Walt]

We're going all the way. Now. Couple things here before we let you go. Today. It's Tuesday. Y' all have noticed my shirt by now. Apparently it says. What's it say, dad?

[David Walt]

Apparently, I like Taco Tuesday.

[J.D. Walt]

Yes, apparently I like Taco Tuesday. Obviously. Now, Tuesday, Every Tuesday, I like to make a call out and say, we need more people on the field team. Okay? The field team. Hands, I don't consider you a hired hand. I consider you a friend.

[Sam]

But.

[J.D. Walt]

But we need field hands, and that's people who Love the wake up call to the point of, like, wanting to share it with others. I got my. My good friend Jeff, you know, dad Jeff Estes. He sends me. He'll just send me people's email addresses and say sign them up. It's not the best way, but I love it and I'll do it. Field team, we, we're trying to put things in your hands that you can put in the hands of a pot subscriber and say, here's how you do this, here's how you get. Get on board. Well, Jeff is a super field hand. I need to get him some cards. But if you will look in the email today or in the links of the show notes of any of the podcast or YouTube platforms and click it, let us know. I'll be in touch. I'll help you. I want to help you sew the wake up call. That's call number one that I make on Tuesdays. Call number two is pastors. If you're in church leadership, if you're leading a flock of people, I just like to know who you are, where you are, what you're doing. I'd like to be in touch is what I'm saying. Get us connected. There's a link for you. Click on it. Take you two, two, three minutes. Just answer the questions and we'll go from there. Be patient. I'm slow, but it'll happen. All right, it is Tuesday, so good things are in store for today, not the least of which is tacos. The most important thing is you getting your seeds, getting ready to greet people with love in your heart, with Jesus in your spirit, in your soul, in your being. He's looking to sow. And dad, you ready for it?

[David Walt]

I'm ready.

[J.D. Walt]

So for The Awakening. I'm J.D. walt.

[David Walt]

And I'm David Walt.

[J.D. Walt]

And we'll see you. Where we gonna see him?

[David Walt]

On the field.

[J.D. Walt]

On the field. Here we go.

[Sam]

Sam.