Someone You Should Know: Henry Yan

In our Someone You Should Know series, we interview Faith members to help us get to know them, see how God is working in their lives, and make new connections within our community. In this episode we get to know Henry Yan.

Meet today's podcast guest: Henry Yan

• Automated Transcription

• Dan Jarms 0:00
  Today on faith matters, we continue our series someone you should know. We have Henry Yan with us.
  
  Dan Jarms 0:12
  I'm Dan jarms
  
  Seth Weber 0:13
  and I'm Seth Weber, and
  
  Dan Jarms 0:13
  you're listening to faith matters, a podcast to help update you on matters of faith, Bible Church, as well as equip you in matters of the Christian faith.
  
  Seth Weber 0:39
  All right, today I have with me, Henry Yan, it's good to have you here, Henry, good to be here.
  
  Seth Weber 0:51
  So why don't you tell us a little bit about where you grew up and your childhood Well,
  
  Henry Yan 0:56
  I was born in Portland, Oregon. I grew up in Grand Oregon, okay, yeah, just straight south from here. My parents worked all the time, so I got free range. Wow, you
  
  Seth Weber 1:07
  just kind of did whatever you wanted. Well, it's a small
  
  Henry Yan 1:09
  town, so the likelihood, likelihood of you getting kidnapped, was pretty, pretty low.
  
  Seth Weber 1:16
  Okay, so what kinds of things did you like to do as a child? I remember,
  
  Henry Yan 1:20
  I love playing basketball with my friends. Then as I got older, rollerblading, nice biking,
  
  Seth Weber 1:28
  outdoor stuff, nice
  
  Henry Yan 1:29
  camping stuff. So I had a group of friends. We'd go camping like in high school. Yep, in little town, there's not a there's not a whole lot to do,
  
  Seth Weber 1:39
  sure. Then after high school, okay,
  
  Henry Yan 1:42
  went to Whitworth. Okay, that was because I went to a Presbyterian Church, and my sister came up here, so I kind of followed along your copycat. Copycat, yeah, yep.
  
  Seth Weber 1:56
  So what did you study at Whitworth? Studied
  
  Henry Yan 1:59
  accounting, and that's kind of where I'll lead into how I came here. Yeah. Is through Whitworth. Yeah, I've met a bunch of guys there that that came to this church, and one guy in particular dragged me here. The guys I became friends with, they were a year at least a year older than I was. Majority of them were two years older than I was, so by my senior year, all them have pretty they already graduated gone. And one of my best friends from Whitworth, he used to go here, and he ended up going on a cruise line to play trumpet for you for a while, and then, so okay, I was left here at in Spokane, really. I didn't really know anyone, and stopped going to church, and he came back and he says, you come to church with me like all right, but that wasn't my first time here, though, sure my first time was here was in 97
  
  Seth Weber 2:53
  Wow. So you said you studied accounting at Whitworth. Did you always know that you wanted to do accounting, or what kind of led you to that?
  
  Henry Yan 3:03
  In high school, I liked math, but then I took some counting classes in high school, and that's how I got into accounting.
  
  Seth Weber 3:10
  Okay, so then after college, are you doing accounting? Like, what kind of, what kind of work are you in now?
  
  Henry Yan 3:16
  Yeah, I do accounting and currently, and, you know, for a little while after college, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Actually, my senior year, halfway through my second semester, I met with my advisor, and I told her that I didn't think accounting was for me. Oh, boy, wow. It's like you were you said, the same thing she did. Yeah. She said, a little too late, isn't it? Yeah, a little too late. But obviously I stayed in accounting. My ideology changed a bit on because, you know, you are in college, you're thinking, Oh, my ideal job, you know, it's gonna be fun, it's gonna make a lot of money, and it's not gonna feel like work. And that changed as I started having family,
  
  Seth Weber 3:59
  yep, that makes sense.
  
  Henry Yan 4:03
  The practicality part, yeah, for sure,
  
  Seth Weber 4:05
  for sure. So why don't you tell us a little bit about how you came to know Jesus in the first place? There
  
  Henry Yan 4:12
  was, there was a guy who I kind of met, started meeting with at Whitworth in my freshman year. Okay? He brought me to faith. And one things that he told me was revelations, 316, I believe, is your either hot nor cold, you're lukewarm, right? And so that kind of that stuck in my head because majority of my life growing up, I did go to church, but it was for moral, the morality my parents, my mom, wanted us, you know, she took us to church, and then family friend took us to church, and I think it was a lot of this just for the moral aspect of it, or the from or social purposes. And then so I remember him saying, you if this is, you know, there's a bull's eye, right? And if you hit just right outside of it, did you hit the bull's eye? No? Right? And so that kind of stuck through my head for a few years. And it wasn't until my senior year, didn't have any friends. They all kind of left Spokane area and and then my friend came back from the cruise ships until it dragged me to the faith. And then he even also invited me to live with him and the guys, okay, and a bunch of other guys. And so at that point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but then eventually I did, because it's like, I just don't want to live by myself. And my expectation from moving in was preachy. You know, they're going to preach to me the gospel. And like, Okay, I'm going to hear a lot about Jesus this and, you know, how am I? I'm missing a sinner. And but when I moved in, it wasn't anything like it wasn't anything like that. They just showed me. They, instead of preaching to me, they just showed me Christ through their different strengths. Well, one of the guys I remember him, he would just always stay up with me, if just to talk right? And another guy who would would always, I just remember he had a stained glass window for his bedroom door, and you could see the light, you know, coming through that stained glass and and, you know, before he even gets a, you know, before he comes out of his bedroom, he's, he's in there praying or reading at the word. But again, I talked to him later in life, and he's like, yeah, some of those times I was just, I fell back asleep, but, but,
  
  Seth Weber 6:24
  you know, the best of us and the worst of us, yeah, right?
  
  Henry Yan 6:27
  But, yeah, through those, like, different another guys, you just always, he was just always happy, right this, you know, they could talk about that joy in your life, you know, like, regardless of what's going on, what's happening in life, he had that joy, and you can see it in the way he act and the way he in way he expressed himself. You can see that joy in him. And so, sir, another guy's servant, always a servant, right? Serving others. You can just even the simplest things, like doing dishes or just cleaning out things up after people. So through that, I kind of saw Christ through their actions, because I knew the gospel, growing since I grew up in the church, I knew the gospel, yeah, and I think they knew that. I knew it too. It was just kind of okay. Well, why aren't you living that out? And it was over, yeah? Just remember, over that course of 2001 I became a weaver. Wow,
  
  Seth Weber 7:23
  that's a cool testimony to hear, like a group of guys working together, like showing you different aspects of Christ's character and, like, that's, that's a huge encouragement, I would think, for for college students, like work together, like show people Christ through, how you how you cooperate,
  
  Henry Yan 7:39
  yeah, I'm not sure if they meant to do that way, right? Sure they were actively but just they're the lifestyle. I mean, they're not perfect guys, and they would admit that in their imperfections, right? They were able to still show Christ through or throw X show aspects, because we're not going to be perfect in every area. So it was cool to see the different aspects of Christ lived out in each of them.
  
  Seth Weber 8:00
  Wow, that's really cool to hear. So through that process, you ended up at Faith, Bible Church. Tell me how you've been involved here at the church and ministries since that time.
  
  Henry Yan 8:10
  When I came here, I was still in college ministry, so I wasn't, I wasn't necessarily serving in a ministry. I was just in, I was part of the college ministry, yeah, and learning and growing. And I needed a lot of growing, because I was pretty immature at that time. Yeah. So was in college ministry for a little while, and then I got I met up with Patrick McConnell, and he started discipling me, and then he pulled me into King's kids and then Junior High ministry. So
  
  Seth Weber 8:36
  for those of you who haven't been around for a long time, Patrick McConnell used to be, he was
  
  Henry Yan 8:41
  in the back then the men of God program. It's kind of like inspiring man, kind of like
  
  Seth Weber 8:44
  aspiring men. And then King's kids was a children's ministry program, right? That
  
  Henry Yan 8:48
  would be like discovery, okay, so during that, sometime during that time, he Valley Bible Church wanted him to be their youth pastor, okay? And so the elder sent him over there, and a group of us went with him. He was one of them, okay, because he was discipled me just kind of something new, something exciting, yeah. Wanted to serve, continue to serve with them, yeah. So it was that valley Bible for a few years. That's where I met my wife. Okay? Then we got married there and so about 2010 ish, we came back to Faith Bible Church. So
  
  Seth Weber 9:29
  you said you met your wife at Valley Bible Church. Tell me about your family, your wife and children. So,
  
  Henry Yan 9:37
  Manny, my wife, we've been married for 16 years. Nice. Yeah, 16 years, okay. And we have three kids here. And so the our oldest Parker, then Elizabeth, and then Lily, then we had our son in 2020 20, and he lived. About 35 minutes. And then my wife miscarried again after that 2021 sometime. So yep, got some
  
  Seth Weber 10:13
  more kids that you'll get to see one day. Yep. So tell us what God has been teaching you lately. Henry,
  
  Henry Yan 10:24
  well, I'm learning that I'm still a sinner, even after all these years, really. Yeah, lately I've realized, you know, like being a dad. Well, there's certain I feel like I'm neglecting some my dad duty. Have been neglecting some of my dad duties the way I'm raising my kids, and not like it'll be, I mean, it's more of just the time with my kids, right? Because we, Mandy and I serve in college ministry. We've been pretty involved in college ministry for many years, and I've just as of late as my kids are getting older, I realized, oh, I need to be spending more time with them, and I need to be directly into their lives, and not that haven't been but more what's the word? More intentional? Yeah, more intentional or or having more deliberate time with them. Like, okay, this is, these are the things that we I want to do with my kids, rather than just spending time with them, having direction. Yeah, maybe that'd be the word I'd use direct, some direction with my kids and and then we got into ministry thinking, Oh, they'll see us working in ministry, and they'll they'll know that ministry is important, the being involved in the church, being involved in ministry, they'll see us through that. But I think it's at a point where they need our attention. How do we balance that out? And, yeah, I guess that's my, one of my biggest challenges right now, with with kids. And obviously, you know, we can know, you know, my wife and I, you know, we always work, continually working on our marriage. And there's always in different phases of life, there's different obstacles and different challenges that occur. So yeah, trying to learn to try to be more loving towards her and whatever the situation is.
  
  Seth Weber 12:12
  Yeah, that's good. We can, we can definitely be working on that all of us, all of us, men, can be growing in that for sure. So on that note, how, how can the church be praying for you right now? You and your family
  
  Henry Yan 12:23
  well, for don't know where kids are spiritually. So I mean, my son, he believes that, you know, believes in the Word, and so there's some fruit in that. And so just pray for more commerce. I had a few conversations with him, and but pray for more conversations, and not just for my son, but for my daughters as well, that they would hear truth and thankful for the church that they we do to teach the truth and teach God's word, and so they're hearing some of that, but yeah, again, praying for that they would hear from us and that we would encourage them and no Questions to ask them and how they can be led to Christ, I guess, and pray for our marriage that we would continue to grow as as one, also, and at this time also, yeah, pray for, you know, just our ministry. What? What does ministry look like going forward? We always Mandy and I always felt like ministry is always a you know, if you're part of church, you're going to be a part of ministry. So what does ministry look like at this point in time and over life, with our kids being at the age they are?
  
  Seth Weber 13:34
  Yeah, those are good things to wrestle through. All right, we'll be praying for you. Are you ready for the speed round?
  
  Henry Yan 13:39
  All right, let's give it a go in decisive so we'll see
  
  Seth Weber 13:50
  cats or dogs.
  
  Henry Yan 13:51
  Let's say dogs,
  
  Seth Weber 13:52
  pineapple on pizza.
  
  Henry Yan 13:53
  Yes. Do you have any pets? Do kids count? They should? No, no, my daughter's allergic to a lot of things.
  
  Seth Weber 14:03
  You're a smart man. Favorite movie or TV show, Lord of the Rings, Bannon brothers, some my favorite, favorite band.
  
  Henry Yan 14:10
  I don't really don't listen to music a
  
  Seth Weber 14:12
  whole lot. Favorite podcast,
  
  Henry Yan 14:13
  I don't think I have one.
  
  Seth Weber 14:15
  What do you listen to when you're in the car, Henry? I guess I just listened to you a little bit of the news. Best surprise gift you've ever gotten
  
  Henry Yan 14:23
  before I was married, my wife, girlfriend back then, she surprised me with an experience that I used to like to do back in college. I used to like pottery on a wheel, okay, and so her neighbor had a studio. Oh, cool. And so she surprised me and took me over there, and I gotta do some pottery.
  
  Seth Weber 14:43
  Nice. That's fun. Yeah, it's very thoughtful gift. If you didn't have to sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
  
  Henry Yan 14:51
  Now, my son, I like to play board games. Okay, so we probably play boards and board games. Would your son be sleeping? Though? No, he's a night owl. I. He can stay up longer than I can. Nice,
  
  Seth Weber 15:03
  cool, all right. Last question, favorite place to eat out in Spokane, one of my
  
  Henry Yan 15:08
  favorites, is pie Wolf's lodge out by Kellogg, or wherever that
  
  Seth Weber 15:14
  is, okay? Yeah,
  
  Henry Yan 15:16
  I know nowhere, okay, but that one, not the one in town, right? Yeah,
  
  Seth Weber 15:20
  I've heard that there's, there's a stark difference. There is, okay, well, Henry Ann, he's one of these people that you need to know at Faith, Bible Church. So thanks for joining us, Henry.
  
  Henry Yan 15:31
  You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Seth Weber

Seth is the Communications Director at Faith Bible Church and loves anything to do with design, video, audio and tech. He and his wife Kaitlyn have four children.

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