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Interview: College Student
138 Plays1 year ago
In this podcast episode, hosts Rebecca and Bud interview a guest named Hailey, a college student who creatively engages with people to share the Gospel. The episode starts with introductions, and Hailey explains her unique method of using henna tattoos on her college campus to tell Bible stories. She primarily uses the stories of the woman at the well (John 4) and Jesus healing the paralyzed man (Mark 2).
Hailey describes the process of setting up a tent on campus with a "free henna" sign, inviting students to get temporary henna tattoos and telling them a Bible story connected to the design. She shares various responses she receives, including casual acceptance, some rejecting the message, and a few instances of people accepting Christ on the spot. The hosts discuss the tension between felt needs and Gospel proclamation, especially in reaching out to international students and young professionals who might be secular.
The conversation shifts to Hailey's recent experiences working with refugees in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She describes visiting Afghan and Arab homes, engaging in conversations, and building connections. The hosts highlight the importance of relationship-building and the need to bridge cultural gaps.
The episode also touches on Haley's involvement in a skincare and cosmetics business, where she integrates her faith into her interactions with clients. She encourages listeners to find creative and unconventional ways to share the Gospel based on their passions and interests. The hosts emphasize the significance of research, cultural understanding, and contextualization in effective outreach.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Let's Talk Diaspora' and Guest Haley
00:00:03
Speaker
Well, welcome to Let's Talk Diaspora. We're on season two in the uncomfortable middle. Yeah, thanks, Rebecca. Welcome, everyone. I'm excited to have a friend on. Again, I love interviews, and specifically today we're going to be interviewing someone who I just recently heard has just amazing testimony, how they've creatively been able to engage with people and share the gospel.
00:00:28
Speaker
So Haley is going to be joining us and Haley is a college student who has used just her experiences and gifting in a very creative way to share the gospel.
Haley's Background and Family
00:00:39
Speaker
And so when I learned about this, she's in town with me this week, doing some ministry and working with some partners. And just yesterday, she shared this with me and I said, oh, Haley, you have to come on the podcast and share this with our listeners. So welcome, Haley.
00:00:53
Speaker
Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Hailey, I'm so glad
Creative Gospel Sharing with Henna
00:00:57
Speaker
you're with us. Can you tell us a little about yourself? Yes. I'm a college student, as Bud said. I am studying music education, so I want to be a choir teacher one day, I guess, depending on what the Lord says. That's the plan right now.
00:01:15
Speaker
I have a brother and my parents, and my brother's married with three kids, so I'm a proud aunt of three little babies. Well, two of them aren't really babies anymore, but they're a little, one's eight, one's six, and one's nine months, so those are my little pride and joys. Yeah, that's pretty much about me.
00:01:34
Speaker
Hayley, Bud was telling me something very interesting about your creative way that you're getting out and getting to know people and maybe even sharing a little bit of Jesus through that. Can you tell me some about that? Yeah, so one of the ways at school on campus that me and some friends use through our campus ministry is
00:01:58
Speaker
using henna, so temporary tattoo on your hand to tell Bible stories. So we use two stories primarily. We use the story of the woman at the well in John four and then Jesus healing the paralyzed man in Mark two. I love that. So tell me how you get connected with these women and start being able to share the henna stories.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yeah, we set up a tent and a table or a couple of tables really on our campus and we have a sign that says free henna on it. And so as people are walking by, this is in our quad. So there's people going by all the time, going between classes, going to our student center, things like that. And we just will have a couple girls standing out on the edge of the tent just asking like,
00:02:46
Speaker
as girls walk by. Would you like some free henna? Would you like some free henna? Or people sometimes will just know what we're doing and walk up to our table and come up. And when they come up, we always are like, hey, this sells a Bible story. Is that okay? And get permission before we start doing some henna on
Engaging Young Professionals and International Students
00:03:02
Speaker
them. And then, yeah, that's how we connect with them.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, so when I learned this, I was just super interested. And as we're talking about the uncomfortable middle in this podcast season, we talked about the tension between felt needs and gospel proclamation. But when we're talking about someone who's not a refugee, when someone is like a student, for example, or someone's a young professional,
00:03:27
Speaker
The tension isn't so much do I feed them or do I share the gospel with them? Do I help them learn English or do I share the gospel with them? We've already discussed that, but I think it's just really important to think about how do we engage people who are
00:03:45
Speaker
So international students are going to have a high level of English. They're going to be intelligent. Some of them may be more secular than they are religious. And so you have all of these things happening. How do we engage those people? But I think why it's important to all of our listeners, not just college students, is that really transfers to young adult professionals. And then it transfers as they migrate into like young families.
Haley's Henna Journey and Reactions
00:04:10
Speaker
We have a large number of unreached diaspora that fit that category, that they're not refugees, that they have come in another way. So I think it's super important to think of creative ways. Hailey, where did you learn to do Hino?
00:04:25
Speaker
through my campus ministry. So one of my good friends was started the ministry on our campus about three or four years ago. So before I came, yeah, so four years ago. And then I got there and then they, my first weekend actually in college, they were like,
00:04:41
Speaker
We're having this Henna training day. And I was like, well, what is that? But I came anyways. And that's what I learned. And then I got involved in the ministry that we do on campus. And I just fell in love with the idea of using something creative and unconventional to reach people with the gospel. What kind of responses have you gotten as you begin to do this on there on campus?
00:05:05
Speaker
We've get a lot of different responses. So most of the time it's people being more casual, like just like, okay, that's cool. Thank you for telling us about that. Um, sometimes we get people that are like, I don't want to even hear this. Like we talk, we ask them, they're like, Oh, we, I just want the hint. I don't want to hear the story. Um, and then sometimes, and we get amazing cases where people come to know Christ at that table.
00:05:29
Speaker
like right then. So last semester I actually had the opportunity to lead a girl to Christ at our table which was like bizarre and crazy because I was like that can never happen. The Lord can't use me to do that. I'm just here to just share but
Cultural Roots of Henna
00:05:43
Speaker
the Lord definitely did and it was amazing. So Hayley, some of our listeners may not know what Henna is. Like who is interested in Henna? Is there like a specific like region of the world because it's not like you know
00:05:58
Speaker
middle school age girls in the United States or like having henna parties with what's kind of some background of henna like who's interested in that? So it originally is more of like a Middle East South Asia like kind of cultural thing that they do like weddings and even like religious holidays are just for fun. I mean different things like that. And so it just kind of
00:06:26
Speaker
It originally came from there, but we just use it now as something that's beautiful. And it's cool that we can get to use something that's a part of another culture to just share Jesus, because Jesus isn't just an American culture, but Jesus is for the whole world kind of a thing. So it's cool that we get to use it for that. So Henna is specifically for ladies. You're not necessarily doing Henna for guys, right?
00:06:54
Speaker
Well, it is originally, but every once in a while we actually do get some guys that come to our table and want some. And we're like, well, we originally, or we normally do is just girls, but we're not going to turn away someone to share the gospel with. So I've done Henna on a couple of guys before. So, but usually it's ladies.
Experiences in Dallas Fort Worth with Refugees
00:07:12
Speaker
Well, and Henna is kind of like a tattoo as well. So it'll last for a number of
00:07:18
Speaker
It can last a number of weeks depending on how long you let the henna dry. So sometimes the guys like it just to create a tattoo type piece if I remember correctly when I've utilized it. I'll share too. Sometimes it's fun to go into a shop. I went into a shop in New York City and there was a lady there from India. She was actually doing henna.
00:07:42
Speaker
as her business. And I shared a story with her and asked her to do that story on me. So it's even fun to be able to let them do something new because they're used to doing the same stories, the same pictures and being able to share in that context in that way. And I'm not good at doing Henna. I shake too much to be able to do really pretty nice Henna. So it was good to be able to kind of talk her through that and let her do it.
00:08:12
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I love Haley. I was in South Asia, so I love Henna and talking about the weddings. They will have Henna all over their bodies everywhere. Feet, hands, um, legs, um, everywhere. And it, it can be really, really beautiful. So, but it told me that you've been there in, um, his neck of the woods in the Dallas Fort Worth area for almost a week. Can you tell us what y'all been doing there?
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah, I was with a friend of Bud's for a few days, and mainly we've been just hanging out with a lot of her refugee friends Afghans and some Arab friends.
00:08:57
Speaker
And we had like a little party, just a get together with a Bible study with some of her friends. And we went into some homes and just got to love on and spend time with some of her friends as well. Just really casual, but just getting to see what it's like to just love on and like refugees that are here in America. What are some of the things that God's shown you through that time being there about refugees here in North America?
00:09:27
Speaker
I think the biggest thing is just how small the world really is and how we're all just people, even though we're in different cultures or we have different cultures. We're all just people that need love and need the love of Jesus, really. And if we can share that, that's a beautiful thing.
Lessons from Engaging with Refugees
00:09:51
Speaker
And just how much we need each other as people has been a really cool thing. Even these are all things I know, but just a reminder of like, uh, just how Jesus loves and like how it doesn't have to look like just throw in the gospel at someone. But I'm right off the bat, at least like not sharing right off the bat, but just getting the love on them and, uh, serve them, um, first. So that's been a really cool thing to experience. Have you been invited into homes while you've been there in the Dallas Fort Worth area?
00:10:23
Speaker
I have. I have been invited into a couple of homes. So tell us a little bit about what that looks like going into someone's home from a different culture and background. Did you do anything? Did you drink anything? What did you talk about?
00:10:40
Speaker
Yeah, so I went with two of Bud's friends to this home. One, and we went to an Afghan home, so we came to the door, knocked, and they knew we were coming. So they let us in, and when we came in, we take off our shoes at the door, which in American culture is not really that common. So you take off your shoes, you leave them at the door, and you come in, and they have, I don't really know what it's called, but like cushions on the ground, that's like,
00:11:07
Speaker
And so we sat on the ground, which also is not very common in American culture, sitting on the ground. And the lady that we were meeting with or the two ladies didn't speak a whole lot of English. So we had one of the ladies that was with us, she spoke the language and so she was able to help us out with like translating a little bit. We just kind of and then she had two kids to the lady that we were visiting, which is really sweet, the little girls.
00:11:35
Speaker
They were so cute, but they brought us tea and nuts and candies and things like that just to snack on and eat. It was really, really good. I love tea nowadays because you drink a lot of tea when you visit them.
00:11:55
Speaker
And we just kind of talked about casual things, just what is going on in their life and just with their family and nothing super spiritual on that visit specifically, but we just got to love on them and just hear about what's going on. One of the ladies had just had a medical procedure, so we got to check it on her and just see how she was doing and those kind of things.
Henna at Refugee Gatherings
00:12:20
Speaker
sure you were a great blessing to her as well, because I know what a blessing it is for them to be able to love on you. So I'm sure that was a huge blessing for them as well, for you going into their home and taking the time to go into their home.
00:12:37
Speaker
Yeah, it was pretty awesome. And we were there for quite a while. Usually the visits aren't like 10 minutes. They're usually like an hour or longer. So it was, it was a lot of fun. I'm surprised you weren't fed a meal and made to wait for a meal. Right. Are there any other things that you did or have been doing there in the Dallas Fort Worth area that you want to share about?
00:13:02
Speaker
At one of the parties that I mentioned before, we did the Bible study and it was cool that it wasn't a story that I had done for Henna at campus, but we did the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of God was telling him to sacrifice his son and then he provided. So we told that story and then I designed a Henna design that goes with that story. So I got to do the Henna on the girls that were there
00:13:32
Speaker
and connect the pieces. So the henna, each symbol of the story, so Abraham, the ram, all the different parts of the story have a picture that go with the story. And so they had a visual representation on their hand of the story they learned at Bible study, basically, which was pretty cool. And all the girls, they were close to my age, and so they were super excited about it. They just wanted to keep getting more henna, and I'm like,
00:14:00
Speaker
Okay, I could do more if you want. But it was a lot of fun. That was just a really cool thing of like getting to use something that I'm passionate about and something that I know that they already love and like getting to connect Jesus in that and like they have a Bible story on their hand like so that was pretty cool.
Using Business Platforms for Gospel Sharing
00:14:19
Speaker
One thing I want to ask about, this is one thing you share with me, Haley, and as we think about this uncomfortable middle in the tension, I think one of the tensions that many people have that want to share with unreached people groups in the diaspora is in the marketplace. I think the enemy has told us this line, we've bought it, that you can't share the gospel in a business setting.
00:14:43
Speaker
And so you were telling me how you had used a business platform to gather ladies in and share. Tell us a little bit about that, but then specifically talk about how you handled the tension of like doing business and sharing the gospel. Yeah, so I for two years was selling skincare and cosmetics. And with that, we do like in-home parties like
00:15:12
Speaker
like skincare party. So I teach women how to use the skincare that I'm trying to sell them basically. And so I have a little speech that I put together, but I wasn't originally starting the business to try to make a bunch of money. I wanted to start the business because it was a great unconventional way to get women into my home or to their friend's home to share Jesus with them. And so in the middle of my speech, it's like there's a portion where it's like,
00:15:39
Speaker
I tell them why I started my business and I use it to tell them like, one, I want to make women feel beautiful and use great products. But then I go into, I also want to share Jesus with you and like my faith and like what I believe about Jesus. And I just share a little snippet of like the gospel in that presentation to see like just to get a little taste in their mouth of like what I'm talking about. And then at the end of the party, after we've had a lot of fun and doing all the things and like gain their trust and just they got to know me, I got to know them.
00:16:09
Speaker
We do one-on-one consultations.
00:16:12
Speaker
Uh, and I'll sit down with the girls and start with like, how is your, what do you think of the party? What do you think of the products? And then I'll tell them like, well, I mentioned a little bit about my faith and what do you, do you, are you a believer? Are you, do you follow Jesus? Are you in another religion? Like, what does that look like for you? Um, and usually people are pretty open. They're, they want to talk about those things. I've had a couple instances where people like shut me down. Like, I don't really want to talk about that. And I'm just like, okay, cool. Like, and then I just keep talking about the products. Uh,
00:16:41
Speaker
But most of the time I have people will just sit down and just open up to me and just like yeah, I've been a believer for this long or no, I'm like I've had a friend of mine say like I pray to my ancestors and things like that and I got to share the gospel with her and she's like, yeah, I never heard anything like this before like
00:17:02
Speaker
never in like I would have never like I might have had the opportunity but I don't see her like a whole whole lot just like in passing and classes on campus and may not have ever had that opportunity to share with her that was like so direct I guess and she was super like glad I told her she didn't come to follow Jesus that day but definitely planting a seed and so it's definitely a challenge like when people do reject it they're like I don't really want to hear about that or but it's just like
00:17:29
Speaker
I know that I have two other girls waiting and then I might have a conversation with and that's okay. Or I may not have good conversations than any of them, but the Lord ordains like the conversation and like what that's going to be like. And they already heard a little bit of the gospel in my presentation. So if they don't want to continue talking, that's okay too.
Encouragement for Everyday Gospel Sharing
00:17:49
Speaker
I think it's great too that you're sharing your story and nobody can argue with your story. You know, it's not something
00:17:56
Speaker
I mean, it's yours and I love that you're able to do that and you connected it in such a beautiful way, which I think is a great encouragement to all of us as we, you know, whatever business or work or things that the Lord has us doing, I'm really praying through and finding those ways of connection and being able to connect in that way and connect Christ and being able to share Christ. So thank you for that example.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is something that the church in the West needs to grow in, is just understanding how they can leverage where they already live, work, and play for the glory of God. And so just a couple ideas, and then I wanna shift the conversation and ask Haley, you had another question, but just two ideas to think about that I, last night I was training a guy who is an engineer, a civil engineer, and he's like, I can't share at work.
00:18:50
Speaker
And I've almost gotten the point where I don't even try to fight that battle. And I say, this is all you need to do is you need to raise your flag that you're a follower of Jesus and invite people to your home.
00:18:59
Speaker
Because a lot of these international students, international workers who have like an H-1B visa who are professionals, they never even get invited into the home of an American, let alone a Christian American who's going to share the gospel with them. And so just thinking through that is super important of like, hey, just raise your flag early and often. I'm a follower of Jesus, not in an obnoxious way.
00:19:22
Speaker
not in a religious way, but like, hey, I love Jesus. I love to talk about Jesus. He answers my prayers. Can I pray for you? And I think that's totally okay in the workplace.
Bridging Gaps Through Cultural Interests
00:19:31
Speaker
That's just you being you. The other thing is I said, live, work, and play. I think everybody understands where they live and where they work, but play. In my city, I think maybe I've mentioned this already, is a cricket pitch. And so now I'm trying to gather some Bangladeshis, a believer and some non-believers to go watch cricket.
00:19:50
Speaker
because South Asians love cricket, and it's like, yeah, I'll buy your ticket. If you'll come, you buy me some refreshments, and during that time, we're going to be able to have spiritual conversations in that. I think the important part, too, to think about is in cultures that are honor-shame-based, you want to be limited in what you communicate to a large group because it will become
00:20:14
Speaker
Kind of an argument like, cause there's pride involved, but you say enough, like you said, I just mentioned a little bit. And then once you have a one-on-one conversation, you can get into much more depth. So let me wrap that up. And then Haley, what I want to also ask is, can you give a little bit of background and like how you began getting involved in, in missions?
Haley's Missions Journey
00:20:34
Speaker
Like what brought you to the point that you called me and said, bud, can, can I spend a week in Dallas hanging out with, uh, you know, hanging out with people and just serving, serving Jesus?
00:20:46
Speaker
Yeah, so I grew up kind of in church and everyone in my hometown went to church pretty much. So I just didn't really know anything about going and sharing the gospel growing up. I always heard like, yeah, you need to share the gospel. Well, I'm like, okay, well, everyone's a believer, even though everyone wasn't a believer, but that was my brain thinking that. And then I went to college and I joined the Christian org that I'm in and got involved and
00:21:13
Speaker
I they just like it was really heavy of like we need to be on our campus when you share the gospel like there's lost people and I saw the lost this right in front of my eyes like
00:21:24
Speaker
how broken and lost that our campus was. And so I was like, oh, shoot, like the Lord broke my heart, started to break my heart for those people. And spring break of my freshman year, we went on a trip to work with internationals. It was like a learning trip and also like
00:21:44
Speaker
sharing trips. So we did a lot of door knocking trying to discover what people groups are where in the community that we were in those kind of things and trying to have conversation we we brought little gifts to try to like be more welcoming and just like we're welcoming you to America kind of a thing because a lot of these people we were visiting were like new to America. And so that was like the first time growing up in a small town.
Growing Love for Reaching Internationals
00:22:09
Speaker
I didn't see a lot of the nations that I really saw like the nations in front of my face.
00:22:14
Speaker
And I was like, wow, like this is broken. And so that like the Lord started to use that to change my heart to see people like see all peoples and just like how the need for Jesus.
00:22:27
Speaker
is like all over the world. But the world is also right here in our backyard. So did that and then I just started getting involved on campus. Went on another trip that was a little different, giving free van rides to college students over spring break. Got to trying to share with them in the vans. Saw a lot of craziest things happen. The Lord sobering people up like just by the Holy Spirit was like the craziest thing.
00:22:55
Speaker
just getting to see and share with people and so that just continued just my love for sharing with people and just like wanting the gospel to be proclaimed and then I went on a trip here at Christmas. I came here with Bud and with a team and we just got to serve just here with him and
00:23:17
Speaker
getting to just work with internationals, refugees. And that was just a solidifier of like, dang, I need to keep doing this. I need to keep coming back. Like I need to keep trying. I mean, I reach the internationals on my campus, the students that are on my campus that are not from here.
Creative Methods of Sharing the Gospel
00:23:38
Speaker
I reach like reaching people like wherever I am, but also like in a place that's super concentrated with internationals, I wanna be involved in that.
00:23:46
Speaker
It was a long progression of the Lord using a lot of different events to grow my heart for the nations and grow my heart just for the lost in general around me.
00:24:00
Speaker
I heard a couple things that I think maybe I just want to pull out maybe as a best practice if you're listening and you're like, I want to have that. I heard you say seeing them made a big difference. Your first trip that you mentioned that you were door knocking and surveying, what city was that in? That was in Houston, Texas.
00:24:26
Speaker
A really eye opener. I didn't realize how many internationals were in Houston, Texas. Okay, so Houston and then college students, it was seeing and being exposed is what I heard. And then God worked in you and through you during that exposure. Was that an accurate like summary? Yeah, for sure.
00:24:53
Speaker
And I love to have the Holy Spirit worked in and through you to make connections, different ways to continue to connect with the people. That's another thing that I heard as you were sharing Haley through makeup, through skincare, through Henna, through sharing your story and you know, how God had led you to be with them through van rides, knocking on doors.
00:25:21
Speaker
having char tea. Yeah, there's so many different ways that the Lord is just like, show me like sharing the gospel isn't one size fits all. Like there's so many different ways to like love on people and share the gospel and ways that you would never expect that are super unconventional, but just as helpful for the kingdom.
00:25:42
Speaker
And I think a big part of that is listening and listening to the people that you're, you know, out and talking to, but also listening to the spirit as the spirit leads such important keys.
00:25:54
Speaker
Many of our listeners, you know that I am a huge advocate for missions research. And really how missions research plays into this is you can't really be creative and connect with the culture if you don't know about the culture.
Significance of Missions Research
00:26:09
Speaker
So like if you didn't know South Asians loved Henna, you're never going to think, Oh, I should try Henna. And so
00:26:16
Speaker
many, many times we talk about the value of research, but research, what it can help you do is help you find those cultural bridges, those religious bridges, those redemptive analogies that connect to the culture, because we know that the gospel is unchanging. The good news is the good news, but people are coming from different angles, and the gospel is multifaceted, and we just want to shine the part that best reflects their culture, not that
00:26:42
Speaker
one way is better than the other, but we're just trying to find what is the way that best connects with this person's worldview, and what are their objections to the gospel, and can we just try to bridge that early and often? So I think research is a big part
00:26:59
Speaker
of holding this tension as well. In another episode, we're going to talk about contextualization. That's a little bit what I'm beginning to talk about, so I won't talk anymore there. So just as a closing question, Haley, what encouragement advice would you share to our listeners who are looking for creative ways to start engaging? Or maybe it's not even creative. Maybe just what would you encourage someone to do to get started or continue to grow in this?
Finding Personal Passions for Gospel Sharing
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah, I would just say find something that you love and it could be as like,
00:27:33
Speaker
random as possible but if it's something you love there's going to be other people that love that thing too and or something that you just like I could never do and to use the show the gospel just think of it in a different light and just experiment try to find people other believers that are in like the same things you do and just talk about like how can we use this to glorify the kingdom so I actually
00:27:59
Speaker
met a guy that uses video games, like he streams and uses video games. And so that's like, so not me, like I wouldn't use that, but like he does. And so there's so so many people out there that need to be reached. And so just try to find something that you love, you don't have to find something that somebody else loves and try to just fit yourself in there, but something that's a joy to you.
00:28:22
Speaker
Great, great encouragement. And then I will add, if you are listening and you're like, hey, I want to get involved with some sort of trip experience, Rebecca would be a great person for you to contact to learn about some opportunities
00:28:38
Speaker
through organizations like Global Gates or International Commission, Global Frontier Missions. These are all organizations that we are familiar with that offer basically a short-term mission trip inside the United States among unreached people
Conclusion and Embracing the 'Uncomfortable Middle'
00:28:54
Speaker
groups. So Rebecca would be a great person to contact and we'll put her information in the show notes.
00:28:58
Speaker
And I do look forward to hearing from you, but I hope you'll take time today and hit the like and subscribe to let's talk diaspora podcast. Thank you, Haley, for being with us today. And let's embrace this uncomfortable middle together and try to find where God is calling each of us to be about sharing Christ with the nations.
Call to Prayer for Outreach Efforts
00:29:22
Speaker
Haradi Jews are some of the most unreached people in the world. But God is moving in this community and we sense that the time is ripe to increase our efforts to reach them with the good news. The key to this outreach is prayer. We invite you to journey with us into the world of the Haradium.
00:29:38
Speaker
and to meet Haradi men and women as well as the believers who serve them and to join us in the critical work of prayerful intercession.
Resources for Outreach Engagement
00:29:45
Speaker
Start learning and praying with us today with a free digital download or you can request a free copy at upgnorthamerica.com forward slash resources.