Dan Wilt (3:16)

That's right. This is actually the second Pentecost which is a joy immersion in talking about the Holy Spirit. So. My gosh, that's fun.

J.D. (3:27)

So. Well, I want us to. Well, first off, I just want to thank you, Dan, for, for stepping up to the plate. I mean, you know, the wake up call is a heavy lift.

Dan Wilt (3:41)

Yeah.

J.D. (3:43)

And it's helpful to me, you know, to have people step in and lead. I've been going now since, I don't know, New Year's Day. You have. It's April 20th.

Dan Wilt (4:03)

Every time we do this and every time there's this moment of handoff, I'm just shaking my head. Jesus, help. Help John David to keep going because it's a heavy lift. It's a heavy heart lift. It's a practically a very heavy lift to do this. And I'm just so grateful for what, what God's put in you and, and given us to do. Given you to do in the wake up call and just to get to be a part of it and maybe bring a little reprieve in that process to you. Makes me happy. So.

J.D. (4:35)

Well, it's. I consider it. You know, you're not like a substitute teacher. You're like a leveler upper. Okay. And it's almost like we're running a relay race. Okay. It's not like a sub in and just give me a break. It's like, no, I'm gonna hand you the baton and you're gonna run several laps.

Dan Wilt (5:00)

Yeah.

J.D. (5:01)

And yeah, so thanks for that.

Dan Wilt (5:06)

Absolutely.

J.D. (5:08)

And so now let me just. Kind of. The whole purpose of our doing this conversation is to begin to orient.

Dan Wilt (5:15)

Yeah.

J.D. (5:16)

Our, our. So we're nation to what's coming. Tell us what's coming.

Dan Wilt (5:23)

Yeah. Well, I like to begin with. Each time we, we talk about this, we've talked about it in, in a few settings now, but I like to begin with the story of it. I come from a long series of different traditions in, in the church, but the Vineyard movement has been a key part of my story for decades now. Almost four decades. And.

J.D. (5:50)

And now first off, Dan, a lot of people listening, maybe they've heard of the Vineyard movement, but they're like, what is that?

Dan Wilt (5:57)

Yeah, well, the Vineyard church movement is a movement that began with really the, the known Wimber who in his early days became a Christian out of the. The, the record. He was a producer for the Righteous Brothers. And, and he came out of the. The recording industry, played a lot of. Of instruments to. To studio quality, I think 21. And, and he came to faith in a really powerful way. He came to Jesus and, and you know, he had all these addictions, he had all these issues. And he just watched Jesus begin to transform him. And when he was coming out of a particularly dry. I think he used the language of church service. He said to the pastor, well, I'm reading my Bible, like, when do we get to do the stuff? And the question was, what stuff? Well, the stuff that's here that Jesus did. And he just had this early awareness. This is back in what would it have been? The 70s, 80s zone, when all these things in the Vineyard movement emerged and all of that. But he asked that core question, when do we get to do this? And there was just like, what do you mean, do it? Because he saw what we see, what I believe Wesley saw and what leaders throughout church history have seen when they have awakening moments. It's like, oh, we're invited to be apprentices in this. Jesus is in us. We abide in him. And he fully intended not to do it and then have us teach about it. He fully intended to do it and then to have us do it with him.

J.D. (7:47)

Well, yeah, And I thought John Wesley was the founder of the Vineyard movement, because the Vineyard Movement is really. I just look at the Vineyard and I'm like, you know what? That's just really a real Christian. Those are real Christians. They're people who are. They're not spectating. They're like, about it, like, doing the stuff. All the things. All the things of Jesus. That's what we're about. And that's what. That's what a Methodist, in its origin was, was John Wesley called them real Christians because he was sick to death of nominal Christians. People who just kind of checked the boxes and, you know, showed up for church and maybe gave a small offering.

Dan Wilt (8:34)

Yeah.

J.D. (8:34)

But they had a form of religion, he would call it, without the power. And so he's like, he didn't start a new church. He just sort of said. He raised his hand. He said, I've got some holy discontent over here. Am I by myself? Yeah. Other people started gathering and they started seeking God. And next thing, you know, people are calling them names. Methodist. Right. And then it took, you know, years and years later, it got institutionalized and turned into a denomination. And that has its own story. But, you know, the Vineyard started as that kind of movemental energy. Yeah. And then it became planting churches.

Dan Wilt (9:26)

Yeah. And that whole dynamic, you know, emerged from this heart cry in John Wimber, but then in all those who began to grow into the movement and from the movement, this heart cry to see people come into an awakening moment with Jesus, no matter where they came from. And so you see, in those early days especially, it was an evangelist, Evangelistic church planting movement. They were going to places that no one else was going to. And there was this sense that we want to see people delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. We want to see that suffering and brokenness come into wholeness in Jesus. And so that really was the birthplace of what it is now it's a church planting movement globally. And then you said to me, you said, hey, can we just gather around a fire sort of and just tell stories and look at the Scriptures and see what did Jesus invite us to do? And we went to Acts 1, 1, 2, and. Can I just read that?

J.D. (10:38)

Yeah, let's hear it.

Dan Wilt (10:39)

Is that all right?

J.D. (10:41)

It says, O Theopolis.

Dan Wilt (10:43)

Oh, Theophilus. In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was up to heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles that he had chosen. And one translation translates that. All the things that Jesus began to do and teach. And we just talked about what it would mean to normalize instead of this being about spiritual superheroes, all the things that Jesus did, and how we can walk in the power of the Holy Spirit day in and day out, no matter who we are, how normal or average we see our lives being. We could have eyes to see what the Father's doing and partner with him.

J.D. (11:25)

And it's interesting how that little phrase has become a little bit of a cultural catchphrase.

Dan Wilt (11:31)

That's right.

J.D. (11:31)

Everybody says, oh, you know, I just been out buying groceries and getting gas and all the things. Or, you know, we're about to go on vacation and we're trying to do this, that and the other, and all the things. And it, it's almost like it just kind of caricatures just the normal stuff of life. And I'm like, yeah, let's take that phrase and turn it about three clicks up. Because what we really want to be about are doing all the things Jesus not did, but continues to. Because that's the thing. He's the one doing it still.

Dan Wilt (12:19)

That's right.

J.D. (12:20)

This is, this is a critical thing we've got to understand.

Dan Wilt (12:23)

Say it again, J.D.

J.D. (12:25)

he did not hand it off.

Dan Wilt (12:28)

That's right.

J.D. (12:29)

He didn't hand it off. Yeah, he. He's.

Dan Wilt (12:33)

I want to do fireworks. As you're saying this. This is so important.

J.D. (12:37)

Yeah, he. He's like, he's the head of the body. Yeah, we're the body.

Dan Wilt (12:44)

Yeah.

J.D. (12:45)

And he wants to keep doing all the things that he did in Bible times, in every place where his followers are gathered in his name. Yeah, that's what he said. You know, I'm there.

Dan Wilt (13:06)

That's right.

J.D. (13:06)

And that's the whole point of Pentecost.

Dan Wilt (13:09)

Yeah.

J.D. (13:10)

This is how he, as one person can be in all of his followers. He shares his spirit.

Dan Wilt (13:21)

Well, you talk about that with Ascension Day. Right. He went from here to there. So he could go from there to everywhere.

J.D. (13:28)

Yes.

Dan Wilt (13:28)

And it's the Holy Spirit moving in through us. And I think Christians, when we think about this idea of walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, of praying for those who are sick and seeing them healed, of, of receiving insight from the Holy Spirit that's revelatory, that awakens someone. How did you know that? Or you know these kinds of things that, that seem to be very normal Christianity in the scriptures. When people look at that, they think, well, I don't know how God could use me in that. I'm not that amazing. I'm not that. I'm not a professional, professional Christian. I'm not all this. And, and the answer is, you're right. Like you can't do it. I can't do it alone. But if Jesus is living in us and the Spirit is active and we're perceiving what the Father's doing and we're partnering, Jesus is going to do it through us. And I think that does two things. One is it raises the temperature on the church. It says, yeah, we can do these things and we've been invited to do them in the power of the Spirit by the grace of God, his love moving through us and power then moving into the world through that love, which I think is another important distinction. Power's not in the lead. Love is in the lead and it's radiated in power.

J.D. (14:53)

Love is alive.

Dan Wilt (14:55)

That's right. Love is. You've said that love is the ultimate power. And then the other thing I think it really reveals to us, and I think we should get a handle on this is anytime we're using language that we're doing the thing or that certain people are, this is their primary gift. And there's language, a lot of language around their gifting and all that. I think we're going sideways on what we see in the scriptures. We've talked a lot about this. Just Jesus is doing this through us. That's how we do it. In gentleness and humility of heart, because that's who he is. So when we add drama and it becomes about us and personalities and we're like, we're heading off. Yeah, it's about you and I saying yes to Jesus every day. All the things.

J.D. (15:43)

Yeah, yeah. You know, we're in Ephesians right now on the wake up call. And I've just been kind of working through the end of chapter three where it says now to him. That's right. This is like, it closes this section with a real Doxology. Now to him.

Dan Wilt (16:05)

Yeah.

J.D. (16:06)

Not now to you. It says now to him who is able to do.

Dan Wilt (16:10)

Yeah.

J.D. (16:11)

Above and beyond all we can ask.

Dan Wilt (16:14)

That's right.

J.D. (16:15)

Or even imagine.

Dan Wilt (16:17)

Yeah.

J.D. (16:18)

And then he gives this phrase according to his power.

Dan Wilt (16:25)

Power. Yeah.

J.D. (16:26)

That is at work where? Within us.

Dan Wilt (16:34)

Yeah.

J.D. (16:34)

And this is the calculus of the kingdom. That's right. According to his. It's now to him. It's according to his power. And his power is. Is not at work out in the ether. It's not out in the air. It's not in the atmosphere. It's in you and me and us together.

Dan Wilt (16:54)

Yeah.

J.D. (16:56)

And then he says, according to his powers to work within us. And then he. Then he keeps going. He's like, to him.

Dan Wilt (17:04)

That's right.

J.D. (17:04)

To him. Again, not to y'. All.

Dan Wilt (17:08)

Yep.

J.D. (17:08)

Y' all go for it now. You got. You got this.

Dan Wilt (17:11)

Yeah.

J.D. (17:12)

We'll see you in heaven. You got this. No, to him be glory.

Dan Wilt (17:17)

Yeah.

J.D. (17:18)

But this is interesting. Where Glory in heaven. In the church. Yeah, in the church. He's like, I'm. That's. That's where. That's the glory fire. That. That's the glory bonfire that we want to be sitting around the church.

Dan Wilt (17:36)

Yep.

J.D. (17:38)

Fireworks. Glory in the church and in Christ Jesus now and throughout all generations.

Dan Wilt (17:44)

Yeah.

J.D. (17:45)

Oh, man, that's an incredible text.

Dan Wilt (17:47)

Oh, it is. My goodness. And I think about, you know, we're going to be looking at in the series a lot of stories, and honestly, a lot of them are going to be personal stories, and that's really intentional because I want to get behind what's going on in us, what was going on in me, as God does something powerful, miraculous, or unusual? What's actually happening? What's the thought process? How do we hear God's voice? How do we follow an impression? Why does a picture flash in our mind? What is going on here? And how do we stay as we talk about attuned to Jesus all through the day, every day, at the grocery store, at the. At the garage, with our neighbors? How do we do that and be the thing rather than just talking about the thing? And I think that's where we get a little jammed up in evangelism. JD Is we keep thinking this is about us saying the thing. And absolutely, proclamation matters. But when Paul gets to it, he goes, honestly, guys, I didn't just bring a gospel of words to you. I came with a demonstration of the spirit's power.

J.D. (19:00)

Yeah.

Dan Wilt (19:01)

And we go, wow. Way to go, Paul. Go team. And yes, it is. Go team. Because God will do things through the rest of the church. He's not doing through you and I personally. That's why we're part of a whole church, glorious church, where God is raising the dead, God is casting out demons, God is doing all these things to his people. But that doesn't mean it all happens through us. But some of it does. And as we go on this journey, you know, Paul says if it's not

J.D. (19:28)

happening through people, it's not happening.

Dan Wilt (19:30)

That's right. Exactly.

J.D. (19:32)

Is it not? It's not just happening out there in the air.

Dan Wilt (19:34)

That's right.

J.D. (19:35)

Thing I keep saying. I mean. And what I love, Dan, is the way that this book has got a lot of wisdom layers to it. So every day what your text is a text about Jesus?

Dan Wilt (19:48)

Yeah.

J.D. (19:48)

You're. You're actually drawing into all the things Jesus began to do and teach.

Dan Wilt (19:56)

Yeah.

J.D. (19:56)

Because if you want to see what the Spirit filled life looks like, if you want to see everyday ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, where do you look? You start with Jesus. He's the example of it. You see all the spiritual gifts activated in him. You see all the fruit of the spirit activated him in him. And so, you know, it's interesting little story. I was in Little Rock a few days ago, and I was driving around Little Rock and I came up to this little place where I was a stoplight, I was trying to turn left, and there was a man in the median. And of course he had a sign. And the sign said, you know, I'm homeless. Will you help me? And I thought, you know what? You need a better sign. You need a better sign than that. Not that your sign needs to say something different. You actually need a sign from Jesus. And so I'm pulling up in the line and I'm just thinking, lord, what's. What's the sign you got for him? And so I'm. I reached for, you know, a good amount of money. I didn't just flip him a dollar. Yeah. And I gave him some money and I had one of these little Jesus. You seen these little Jesus figurines that are all over the place? Yeah, I kind of love them. I kind of love them. I gave him one of those. And I said, I said, tell me how's it going? And he just started telling me a sad story. And I said, listen, Jesus has got you. I just felt Jesus speaking through me.

Dan Wilt (21:49)

Yeah.

J.D. (21:49)

I just felt the spirit welling up. And I said, jesus is helping you and he wants to turn the page on your life. Yeah. And I said, he says, get up, take up your mat and walk. I'm like, did I just say that you're going for it?

Dan Wilt (22:13)

Yeah.

J.D. (22:14)

And I'm like, I did. That's what I said to him. And to me it felt ex. I mean, no, he was not like crippled and lame physically, but his entire existence had been beaten down to just standing out there in the middle of the highway with a sign saying, I am homeless. Yeah. And Jesus is wanting to say, no, no, no, I belong to Jesus.

Dan Wilt (22:44)

Yeah, yeah.

J.D. (22:46)

And anyhow, I mean. Right. That's a small story, but it's. I think it fits the motif here.

Dan Wilt (22:52)

It fits it absolutely. And I think what you're touching there too is there are many different ways that God wants to use us in Holy Spirit empowered ministry. And there are going to be miracles and signs and wonders and I. Those and moments where God does something that's very unusual, that's outside of our power. But there's going to be many more moments, I believe, where there's that surge like you're describing something of faith. Here's the gift of faith for this moment. Here's a charism, a moment that God is meeting obedience. And a friend of mine used to say, people sit around saying, God anoint me to go out in ministry and then I go out and minister. He said, that's not the way I see it happening in the scriptures. I see us moving in obedience. And at that moment of. Wimber was famous for this. Faith is spelled R I S K. Love it. It's a moment of risk. God meets us in that moment and it's not about us and our powerful anointing. It's about obedience and the spirit of God in us and moving in that moment with that person and that convergence, man. That's when the Father's doing something and we're partnering with him. And then discernment, all sorts of bells and whistles go off. Say this to that man like you did. Pray for them. Ask if you could pray for him now. May I pray for you? I call the kingdom question.

J.D. (24:21)

You do that a lot in the book.

Dan Wilt (24:23)

Yeah.

J.D. (24:25)

How may I pray for you? And then every day in the series you've kind of added, you know, we have our basic kind of wake up call flow every day. Yeah. And then you've added a feature to the end of it. You know, there's journal prompts.

Dan Wilt (24:44)

Yeah.

J.D. (24:44)

But then you have. Tell us about the closing feature that you have.

Dan Wilt (24:48)

Yeah. So it's an activation every single day. And I'm in for the series. I'm Already talking to the Lord. And I'd encourage all of us to begin to talk to the Lord. Let this be a season, this pentecost of you activating my heart to move toward people in love and to have expectation of your kingdom breaking in in these moments. So put this activation in. Because the Christian life is less like learning a book, though. We need to learn the book. Right? Absorb it. That's what we do in the wake up call. But it's taking that. It's applied knowledge. So it's like, you know, I have a friend who learned how to do figure skating. I love to refer to him in this. He couldn't just read a book and then figure skate. He had to learn how to do it physically, embody it, make it happen.

J.D. (25:41)

Condition, practice, fall 15,000 times.

Dan Wilt (25:44)

That's right. And that's how we learn. We try, we grow, we fall, we learn a little more. We go back a bit, we learn a little more, we start to learn. Wow. I'm actually. I'm sensing God's spirit the way I have many times before, and I've seen him move. I'm leaning in this time. That kind of incremental growth is what this is meant to catalyze. Yeah.

J.D. (26:08)

Yes. This is. This is what you might call, like Holy Spirit competence.

Dan Wilt (26:16)

Yeah.

J.D. (26:16)

Moving in the spirit. And. Yeah, this is the very thing that I've been trying for years to coax out of people. And this is why we started the Holy Spirit stories.

Dan Wilt (26:30)

That's right.

J.D. (26:31)

That we. And after this series, we're bringing him back. Yeah, we're bringing back Holy Spirit stories every week. And because what people in their minds, they think this is just too grand, it's too big, it's too spectacular. And I'm like, no, it's actually very ordinary.

Dan Wilt (26:57)

It is.

J.D. (26:59)

And you. And this is. I would ask people, I'm like, tell me a Holy Spirit story. And I got nothing. I mean, it was crickets. But then I thought, well, I'm just gonna have to go get one. And I went out and I had the famous dirty Kroger story where I was a complete failure.

Dan Wilt (27:18)

Yeah.

J.D. (27:20)

The Lord was telling me things, and I'm like, I'm not doing that. But I went back home and I wrote the fail story down and the floodgates opened and all these little stories because people think it's something it's not. And so this book, I would consider all the things as like the deep dive sort of not master class, but like novice class.

Dan Wilt (27:45)

Yeah. This is 101.

J.D. (27:47)

Let's just come on in here and walk through these days with, you know, again, I always say on the wake up call, it's not a Bible study. It's hardly a devotion. It's a meeting with Jesus in the word of God. Jesus is our teacher. Me, Dan, we're the doorholders. We're kind of setting the table. We're bringing some things put on the table. But this is Jesus, the Lord of the church, leading the meeting.

Dan Wilt (28:18)

That's right. And you know, just to say one more thing there that you're touching and speaking to. I thought about this as I was working through the series and praying about this. What would be the best result 45 days later? What would be the best result? Well, it would be that, of course, that we'd get in the Word, we'd have a meeting with Jesus every day and we'd be renewed, we'd been encouraged, the spirit would move in our hearts, et cetera. There's another layer that I felt like the Lord was saying, you know, the CS Lewis, further up, further in just another step is that every person listening and taking part in this meeting with Jesus in the wake up call. This is our dream for all the Wake up Calls series. But in this one in particular, the dream is that you would take one little increment of a step forward in faith to say, Jesus, I'm now reorienting to the fact that you're not only in me and with me, you intend to move through me all day today and this week and the next week and the next week. And it's an opportunity, as you know, athletes say, to put in the reps, to practice, to fail during Kroger straight right, to succeed a little bit and go, wow, I took a real risk. And I tell stories of risk. Some of them were like prayers dribbling off my chin. But it was the Lord did something. And that. That's success.

J.D. (29:56)

On the other side of you telling that story, guess who else is telling a story? That other person.

Dan Wilt (30:04)

Exactly. Yeah.

J.D. (30:05)

They're telling a story of how. And guess what they're going to say. This guy, man, he had a terrible haircut.

Dan Wilt (30:12)

Yep, yep.

J.D. (30:13)

And he, he was just talking about now, he was so like kind of redneck country. They're talking about me. And he came up to me and, you know, I can just see that. That guy that, that I. He said. He said something to me I had never heard before.

Dan Wilt (30:31)

Yeah.

J.D. (30:31)

He gave me a lot of money.

Dan Wilt (30:33)

Yep.

J.D. (30:34)

But you know what? He said some words to me that shook me. Yeah.

Dan Wilt (30:41)

And it came. They Felt the presence of God in the moment. And this is the. This is the stuff, jd. This changes family lines.

J.D. (30:50)

Well, the whole.

Dan Wilt (30:50)

The whole thing changes personal and family histories. And then we think, well, why wouldn't we do this? Why would we just lean into our fear? And, gosh, I really don't want to,

J.D. (31:01)

because life is hard. Are you going to risk not changing that person's life?

Dan Wilt (31:04)

That's right. It's like, why? If the father's doing it right there in front of us and he says, would you partner with me? Because I want to do it through you.

J.D. (31:13)

You know how you spell fear, Dan? D, O, N, T, R, I, S, K. That's it.

Dan Wilt (31:20)

That's right.

J.D. (31:21)

That's how you spell fear.

Dan Wilt (31:23)

Yeah.

J.D. (31:23)

Don't risk.

Dan Wilt (31:24)

That's right.

J.D. (31:25)

And I appreciate what you're saying, because it's. It's almost like this. Okay. Yeah. You've heard of the couch to 5K program? You ever heard of that?

Dan Wilt (31:39)

I did. Now this.

J.D. (31:41)

Well, so it's a thing. It's a thing. And all these people, they're, like, so out of shape, and they're, like, overweight, and they're struggling with their health and.

Dan Wilt (31:50)

Yeah.

J.D. (31:50)

And they're like, man, I wish I could run a 5K. And guess what? Guess how often they start running the 5k. Never. But somebody came up with the idea. I'm gonna write a little exercise program called couch to 5K. And the first day is get off the couch, walk out in the yard and do some stretches.

Dan Wilt (32:13)

Yeah.

J.D. (32:14)

That's all you got to do. Today. You're not going to run at all. You're not even going to walk. Second day, you're going to walk to the end of the street and back. Third day, you're going to walk around the block. Before you know it, the couch to 5K over, you know, 40 days or so, you're like, you're. You've entered the race.

Dan Wilt (32:31)

That's it.

J.D. (32:32)

And you're doing it.

Dan Wilt (32:34)

Yeah.

J.D. (32:34)

And that's what you're saying about all the things. It's these activations, these stories.

Dan Wilt (32:41)

Yeah.

J.D. (32:41)

They're meant to take a person from fear to faith, from just playing it safe to risk. Because on the other side of that is fruit and change and life change for people. Yep.

Dan Wilt (33:03)

That's right. And seeing God do things that you or I could not do in our own strength is very magnetic. Like, you want to do it again and again, because there's a lot we do in the church that is within our own framework. It's like, well, if I Just put out more effort, more compassion, more of this, more of that. But it's still within our capacity. What happens when God says, I want to do something, but I want it to be a bit beyond you? You want to join me? Now? I remember something that John Wimber felt like Jesus said to him at one point at the crux of his ministry. It was going so well in his early days and things were happening, but he just felt empty. And he just heard Jesus say, I've seen your ministry, now let me show you mine. And it was like the Jenga. I always love the Jenga block metaphor, right? Just pull it. And the whole thing came down. He went, jesus, let me see your ministry and let me participate with you in what you're already doing. This isn't about stirring something up. It's about aligning our hearts with Jesus every day and then just being willing. He's not looking for the able, he's looking for the willing. Saying Jesus, yes, today. I begin today with a yes, let's play. Let's show me what you're about. And it really is in the most holy way addictive to see God do something. And then you say, why would you know? We often ask, why not? Or excuse me, why would I do that? Why would I do that thing? I got to have a good reason. I think this is meant to flip the tables. Why not? Why not say that thing to the waitress? You're going to do it with compassion and gentleness and humility and good, like you're going to do it. Why not? Why wouldn't you? And then see those eyes light up and the Lord say, I see you, this person.

J.D. (35:11)

Well, that's so good. I think people are already. Their appetite is whetted for this work now. Dan. What? I want to take the rest of our time here a few more minutes and I want for people to get to know you. The person who's going to be the door holder for this series on the wake up call, like, tell us about, how did you wake up and start taking these risks? And like, when did that happen? When you were like eight?

Dan Wilt (35:46)

Yeah, that's a great question. You know, you know, you and I are dear friends. I think everyone probably knows that. But I can use a gallon of words for a spoonful of thought. So I always have to watch that. But in my story, you know, I was raised in a Christian oriented home. It would have been a more nominal, you know, experience. I wasn't learning the scriptures everywhere. It was just what happened at church. And I in High school had a youth group praying for me and a group called Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which many know, fca. And I came powerfully to Faith in high school and gave my life to Jesus. And then I went.

J.D. (36:30)

Were you like going to be an NFL quarterback or something?

Dan Wilt (36:33)

No, I was, I was more the theater kid. I was more the arts kid and the drum line and all that.

J.D. (36:39)

Okay. So.

Dan Wilt (36:41)

And so I was just surrounded by a number of people who saw me and started talking to Jesus about me. And years later I found out this youth group had been praying for me, which is just overwhelming to me. Go youth groups. But as I came to Jesus in high school, I then moved to Penn State University and I began to go to school there. And I just saw the spiritual, you know, what would the word be? Mishmash is what comes to mind. Just, I mean, Hare Krishnas are there. And my religion professor was an atheist and told us that he was an atheist as he's going to teach our course and, you know, all these different things.

J.D. (37:21)

Religion professor, my religion.

Dan Wilt (37:23)

He said he was a pastor and he was ashamed to admit that, but. And that's how we started the course. I thought, oh, this is going to be great. So I went through all these dynamics and I saw that with words were one thing, but a demonstration of the Spirit's power. I saw moments where people who were full of love, which is so crucial to doing any ministry in Jesus name, full of love, were praying for the sick and praying for people to be delivered and praying for transformation. And they were being it themselves. And I saw it in a few different streams of the church that were there. And I went, lord, I want to do that. I want to participate in that. That's the real stuff. That's what I signed up for. And then I began to have encounters with Jesus. In my dorm room. I had an encounter with the Lord that was like a three hour, I call it like a love cloud in my dorm room that I came out a different guy and my roommate, everybody saw it. I had experienced the love of God in a way that like, moved me, has moved me for the rest of my life. And it sustains me at many times, still feeds my heart. But along the way I just began to say to the Lord, let me be a vessel of that to someone else. Let me be a vessel of an experience with you that's, you know, this unrepeatable moment where you intervened in their story and changed it. So I, it was, you know, I became. I joined youth with a mission in my early Days, I was part of an academy of performing arts and was involved in music and worship. And then I began to attend a Vineyard church. And in this Vineyard church in our city, it was a blue collar city, and we had, I think we were 5 or 600 at the time coming in. And it was everyone from people who were homeless to people who were, you know, heads of, you know, things in hospitals and other things. We had this huge diverse demographic ethnically as well. And I just watched God move because we were meeting with Jesus week after week. And I watched bodies be healed and depression lift from people and real transformations. And then simultaneously, just straight up, I watched people pass away that we'd prayed for for years. And I watched suffering. And I went, lord, this is a now and not yet kingdom. This isn't a formula we follow. We're partnering with you, and we need to have a theology of the cross as well as a theology of the resurrection, like, and miracles. We need to carry both with confidence and not fall off either side of the horse here. We need to stay, you know, in this, what the Vineyard called the radical middle of just believing God for amazing things and at the same time being some of the most loving, compassionate people that anyone's met. And along that journey, I learned as a worship pastor. Then I began to lead ministries that worked with the vulnerable in our community, delivering furniture and praying for people. And we would take food out. And I learned with my children some of those stories are in the book to pray for people as we gave away food and staples. And then I pray begin to pastor. And I just. I wanted to take the risks. JD yeah, like, that was amazing to me because I could easily fall into fear. But it began to become this thing where this is too fun, this is too delightful.

J.D. (41:06)

Yeah, this.

Dan Wilt (41:07)

I feel like I'm getting the heart of God as we go out and. And so that the adventure continued.

J.D. (41:14)

That's good. So tell us. Tell us about your family. Your family man, your dad, your husband.

Dan Wilt (41:20)

Yeah, my wife Anita, who is amazing. Her roots are Armenian, for those that know the Armenian culture. And then I have three amazing kids, and they're all in their 30s now, and they just have great hearts.

J.D. (41:39)

I didn't know you were that old people.

Dan Wilt (41:41)

I am.

J.D. (41:42)

Kids in their 30s.

Dan Wilt (41:44)

Well, are we going to talk ages here? JD is that we're going to do. I'm 61 at the time of this recording.

J.D. (41:50)

I guess you just got a lot earlier start than me. Wow. Three kids anyway. Three kids. One of your kids is a chef?

Dan Wilt (41:57)

Yes, one of my Kids is a professional chef, my son. And so if you're ever in Chattanooga, you'll want to visit a restaurant called Easy Bistro. And if you do this in the next year, at least I'm sure you'll get some of the best food you've ever gotten.

J.D. (42:13)

Easy Bistro, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Dan Wilt (42:17)

That's right.

J.D. (42:18)

Now, Dan, the other thing. And again, I mean, there's all sorts of different people, kinds of people on the wake up call and. Yeah, you know, they. They want to know. Yeah, like you went through a long period of suffering sickness.

Dan Wilt (42:37)

That's right. Yep.

J.D. (42:39)

Give a thumbnail on that.

Dan Wilt (42:42)

Oh, man. So it was really in the 2018 phase that my wife began to deal with strange symptoms where her arms and legs weren't working right. She just lost all energy. And my wife, our joke is she could run a small country. And I am that small country, but very energetic, organized. You know, everyone looks at her as like, wow, she's got capacity. And all of a sudden, everything just started to fail on her. And we began to see that she was dealing with chronic Lyme disease.

J.D. (43:20)

Lyme disease, Yep.

Dan Wilt (43:21)

I began to deal with similar symptoms. We'd had the same experiences with. With tick bites and, and other things. And that compounded into a series, if anyone knows about that world, a series of multiple types of physical issues, neurological issues, and we just weren't getting any help. Finally got some significant help that was focused on it. And we're both now pretty much better, you know, healed.

J.D. (43:48)

Yes.

Dan Wilt (43:49)

But other things began to happen. I had heart issues. I had major surgeries and dealt with a really severe season of emotional and mental health issues, resilience issues, and met the Lord in ways. I know that you know this, my brother, in ways that I still can't put words to. In the dark night of the soul, when you're at the. The end of the end of yourself, the end that God knows you can go to versus the one we think we can. And at the end of the end, there is a revelation on the other side that everything in your life will be contested, even your own life itself. To that moment. It is your wilderness. It is the wild. And Jesus met me in that in a way that I can only describe as humbling, transforming, beginning. To be, to know as I'm known. Maybe that's part of that story as well. And to be just so. I see this in you too, and others who have gone through tremendous suffering, just gratefulness. It's not only the one who's forgiven much that loves much. It's the one who has endured much and many people have endured far more than I have, but it was a real crisis and Jesus met me right in the middle of it because that's what he does.

J.D. (45:19)

Yeah. Thanks for sharing. Because, you know, people, People want to know who's leading them.

Dan Wilt (45:24)

Yeah. Yeah.

J.D. (45:25)

And we're not famous people on the wake up call. We're, I mean, nothing's wrong with famous people, I guess, but we're. That's just not us. And we're certainly not trying to project some sort of super.

Dan Wilt (45:41)

Yeah.

J.D. (45:42)

Personalities here. We're. We're trying to. We're ordinary people.

Dan Wilt (45:47)

That's right.

J.D. (45:47)

Been through difficult things just like everybody else.

Dan Wilt (45:50)

Yeah.

J.D. (45:51)

And so thanks for sharing that. I want it for people just for us just to have a sense of it. Well, Dan, thank you for the labor here and the labor. It's been a labor of preparation as of this meeting, but we're actually going to get started on the series on May 25th.

Dan Wilt (46:15)

That's right. Monday.

J.D. (46:16)

Monday.

Dan Wilt (46:17)

Monday.

J.D. (46:18)

It's the day after the day of Pentecost.

Dan Wilt (46:20)

That's right.

J.D. (46:21)

And that's going to go for. Is it six, six weeks.

Dan Wilt (46:25)

Yep. 45 days. Yep.

J.D. (46:28)

And we, we have these, we have. I'm so happy about these. And people are happy about these journal. Workbook.

Dan Wilt (46:35)

Yeah.

J.D. (46:35)

Deals that we're doing now. Yeah. And every week there's a group session, there's a group video, there's the QR code. Just like in unpuzzled. You can just click it and put it up on the screen for your group. And, and J.D.

Dan Wilt (46:51)

if I could just interject. I've had people say to me, they're looking at doing this with their whole congregation. Like to go through a 45 day experience like people do with our wake up call.

J.D. (47:02)

Yes.

Dan Wilt (47:03)

Like this. With these journals in hand. Like this. This is awakening stuff going on.

J.D. (47:09)

Immersive. It's an immersive journey.

Dan Wilt (47:12)

That's right.

J.D. (47:12)

And preachers can preach alongside it.

Dan Wilt (47:15)

Yep.

J.D. (47:16)

And yeah. I just want to commend it to, to the church, to anybody out there. We have a special offer on it right now. I love how CBED does this. It's called Buy one. So one boso or buy. So what's the code? Do you know it?

Dan Wilt (47:36)

I think It's B U Y1.

J.D. (47:40)

Number one.

Dan Wilt (47:41)

Sow number one.

J.D. (47:43)

All caps. All caps. One word.

Dan Wilt (47:45)

Yep.

J.D. (47:46)

And what'll happen is you'll pay for one book and guess what? We'll pay for the other one. And we'll send it to you because we want for you to sew this into one of your friends or family members or work associates or maybe a perfect stranger that you don't know at all. This is sowing extravagantly. And you know, what we have, we give you. And so you can go say, what I have, I give you. And so, I mean, that's a deal. It is two for one.

Dan Wilt (48:23)

Yeah.

J.D. (48:25)

Well, any closing words here?

Dan Wilt (48:29)

I just say thanks to everyone who wakes up each day just believing that God is active in the world and that he wants to do something. Anything is possible in the evil in this world. Like, life is hard. Anything is possible in the kingdom of God. And I just feel like this gratefulness that there is a body called the church in the world in every generation who is waking up saying, what are you doing, Father? How could I partner with you? Because someone somewhere is saying that to Jesus and they're near someone that you care about. And you might not be able to connect with them, but someone else is praying for them and may be a part of their lives. And so thanks for saying yes to Jesus again today. And let's do it together through this series.

J.D. (49:25)

And the thing you keep saying throughout the journey, come, Holy Spirit.

Dan Wilt (49:30)

That's right. Come, Holy Spirit.

J.D. (49:31)

Prayer of invitation. All right, well, Dan, let's just even right now. I just want to just say, Jesus, we put this into your hands. You are the sower, the great sower, the great shepherd of the sheep. And we consecrate this work to you, this whole journey. It's in your hands just as fishes and loaves. Yeah. And so now multiply it, let it go out, let it be a blessing and bear much fruit that will last for your glory, for the gain of many, many others, and for our own good.

Dan Wilt (50:13)

Yeah.

J.D. (50:13)

Amen.

Dan Wilt (50:14)

Amen.