Someone You Should Know: Sam Haney

In our Someone You Should Know series, Chris Tornquist interviews 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 Sam Haney.

• Automated Transcription

• Dan Jarms 0:00
  Today on faith matters, we are continuing our someone you should know series Chris turnquist is going to be talking to Sam Haney.
  
  Dan Jarms 0:14
  I'm Dan Jarms. And 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.
  
  Chris Tornquist 0:42
  Today, real privilege to have Sam Haney with me, Sam, welcome.
  
  Sam Haney 0:46
  Thank you. Thanks for having me.
  
  Chris Tornquist 0:54
  It's a pleasure to have you here. Well, boy, I, there's a lot to talk about. And I said to myself, you know, the hardest part is trying to find time when you aren't doing something else even to sit down for a few months, because I know you're running here and there and all over the place. So I appreciate you taking a few minutes to do it. Well, let's start with some basic stuff. Tell me where you grew up. What was your family who was in your family? What was home blank life, just just some biographical?
  
  Sam Haney 1:20
  So I grew up in Enumclaw, Washington, just a small farming town on the western side of the state. And I grew up and I did grow up in the church. And you know, we we started out in a Presbyterian Church. And a little bit later on, we ended up moving to a church called Mount Rainier Christian Center. And I can't remember exactly the denomination on that one. It's kind of a little bit more like a, like a Foursquare church, kind of that sort of thing. So there's some encouragement for speaking in tongues and all kinds of things like that. And we were really involved with church and I, you know, those are some of my earliest memories. But
  
  Chris Tornquist 2:09
  yeah, that was all, all from childhood. That's where you were? Yeah. All throughout high school. Where'd you graduate from high school,
  
  Sam Haney 2:15
  em claw high school. I went there for the first three years. And then my senior year actually moved to the Tri Cities with my sister and I wrapped up my senior year at South Ridge High School. Okay, very good.
  
  Chris Tornquist 2:27
  After that, if you've taken any classes beyond that,
  
  Sam Haney 2:32
  yeah, I went to Whitworth University and graduated and 17. And good for you. What was your area of study? International Business?
  
  Chris Tornquist 2:41
  Wow. And what were you hoping or still hope to use that education for?
  
  Sam Haney 2:46
  So that was potentially to actually do international business between the US and in China, and that was strictly an option. I had grown up working in my family's business, and my dad had encouraged me to, to use that time to see if I was good at anything else, or see if maybe I just that I was sure that I wanted to go into into the family business. And so I said, Okay, if I wasn't going to do this, I'm going to stay international business. And so I, I stayed it. And by the end of my senior year, I had learned a lot of really practical business stuff that I get to use now. However, I knew that I wasn't going to
  
  Chris Tornquist 3:42
  know I wasn't doing a family, sisters, brothers. I have
  
  Sam Haney 3:46
  two older sisters, a younger stepsister and the younger brother,
  
  Chris Tornquist 3:50
  are they in this area? You see them?
  
  Sam Haney 3:53
  I do see them fairly frequently. But they all live on the western side of the state now, mom and dad so mom lives in the home pod dad. It goes back and forth between Southern California and Lake Tapps area Bonney Lake. Yeah. Because
  
  Chris Tornquist 4:10
  of business. No,
  
  Sam Haney 4:12
  he he's pretty much retired. He just snowbirds it. Yeah, he gets a little cold. And he's like, Alright, I'm out.
  
  Chris Tornquist 4:20
  Tell me about when you moved to Spokane and what brought you here? Basically, my
  
  Sam Haney 4:24
  my parents had split and at that time, there's just a lot of chaos, turmoil in the family. I ended up through a bunch of different circumstances, moving with my sister to the Tri Cities and just no church for years. Kind of got plugged back in. I started going to young life and attending that and so when I was looking at college, I was looking for something that would do international business and university that was plugged into young life and Whitworth. Is very heavily tied into young life. There's a lot of people in the theology department that's very closely tied to it. So that brought me here. And then I've stuck around since.
  
  Chris Tornquist 5:11
  How did you find faith Bible Church?
  
  Sam Haney 5:14
  The long story short of that is that I was doing research online, trying to find out if I could potentially go and take seminary classes through the master seminary. And I was looking at online options, pricing, things like that. And I saw that there's actually an option for you did take online classes or on site classes here in Spokane, and was like, Oh, my gosh, that's so cool. And so I looked up where it was, it turns out, it was a church. And so I kind of was doing a little bit of research and on Yeah, one Sunday when I wasn't when my best friend and his wife were skipping Sunday at their church, I was like, Alright, I'm gonna go check out that church. And, yeah, I been here ever since. So you've taken some classes here at the seminary? Not yet. I'm gonna wrap up ECBC training first. Once that's all done, it costs a lot of money. So I had to save a little bit. But the plan is to take seminary classes. Yeah.
  
  Chris Tornquist 6:26
  And money wise, when you gotta put things aside you in you own a business? And then is interesting to when you've got all business expenses sometimes to put that money aside? I bet.
  
  Sam Haney 6:38
  Yeah, it's the the business is really seasonal. It's it's car washing. And so it's all based around the weather. And, you know, God has been stored narrowly gracious and provide much more than I could possibly need. But it's something where there's definitely a time for the harvest and a time where there's not much of a harvest. And so you have to say,
  
  Chris Tornquist 7:04
  well, it's a it's a struggle, is it not? Yeah, but do you enjoy it? Yeah,
  
  Sam Haney 7:09
  I love it. I so the way I think about it is kind of like Paul with tent making, you always use tent making, there were times where financially, he, he never wanted to be a burden on the church. And so he would, he would turn to tent making to be able to provide the funds so that he could just continue to go about the business of just honoring Christ. And that's that was his goal. His goal was that the gospel would be spreading that way with his body, he would, you would honor Christ. And so for me, I, you know, God has given me gifts, and he has a specific plan for how specific works that he wants me to do. And car washing is is something that it, it's providing the means, so that I can really be here at the church, and I can just work for him. That's awesome.
  
  Chris Tornquist 8:02
  That's awesome. Now is, if we were to run down all the things you're involved in, we'd probably be here for another hour and a half of as I see you doing all sorts of things in involvement with that one. But just as a list, what are the things that you're involved in? Maybe start with the one that's most precious to you? And we'll talk about some of the other things that the Lord has gotten you into as well. What's number one thing that excites you?
  
  Sam Haney 8:27
  Yeah, um, well, the number one thing that excites me actually isn't even official mystery that I do. I just, I usually make a lot of meals and just go bring them to random people, and we'll just fellowship together. And so the cool thing with the car Washington is that it gives me a lot of freedom to be able to go home and to make these meals and then I can just go and I can bring them to people sometimes just drop it off. Other times, I can spend some time with them. But that's, I do a lot of that. And then,
  
  Chris Tornquist 8:59
  okay, so I have to ask, obviously, you're a cook or is are these TV dinners?
  
  Sam Haney 9:06
  They're, they're usually all Yeah, usually I'll kick them there. There have been a few times where, you know, I've committed to bringing food and then the way the day shakes out, it's like, Okay, I'm gonna pick up some Thai food for you or something like that. Yeah, but yeah, just just going in and doing that's really sweet. And, you know, going down the list, official ministry, I I'm a youth group leader, that's my main ministry, going through AC DC training, so I'll be a counselor as well here at the church. And I also help out as a leader and teacher in a place to be but the the main masteries are going to be youth group and the AC DC counseling.
  
  Chris Tornquist 9:53
  So so I have to ask, Are there times every day that you can actually sleep or is it Do you find some time to carve that out as well?
  
  Sam Haney 10:02
  I do find time to sleep. I say that the last couple of days have not but ya know, I God, I don't know. God just has a funny way of working things out. It's it's, he provides everything that I need for life and godliness. Wow.
  
  Chris Tornquist 10:19
  Wow, what a wonderful testimony. Youth Group, I think I know that you're involved even with doing some one on one or small group things with some of the high school guys. Am I seeing that correctly? Tell me about that. Yeah.
  
  Sam Haney 10:32
  So that's, I mean, that's encouraged for youth group leaders in general. But even before I was in the youth group ministry, I was already spending a ton of time with the youth group guys like that was just, I think that's part of the reason why, you know, talking to my mentors, and some of the other very godly men around around FPC. I, it was pretty obvious, like God's gifted you in that area, like you're already very active in that area, you're using your gifts and so just this is naturally at so. Yeah, I mean with Sam Parker, Tucker, Pearson UI theory, jossan, MCAC grin and weave I theory and I do quite a bit of rock climbing and yeah, they're just they're really sweet guys. And I meet with a with a few other people that are outside the youth ministry as well. But those are those are kind of my main guys. So what
  
  Chris Tornquist 11:32
  do you do with those young men? What's your goal? What's your topics you deal with? What's What's your plan? What's your overall strategy with those? Well,
  
  Sam Haney 11:41
  the goal should always be to point them towards glorifying God. And so just as we go through wife, there's so many different situations that come up, it might be I'm getting my driver's license, now all of a sudden, I get this whole new freedom going around and so I'm just as they come in, I am not a very wise person out and have a whole lot of wisdom on my own. However, God has this perfect wisdom that you know, it's not it's not cultural, it goes generation to generation it's always true. And so if I can point them towards the wisdom that God has, and point them towards how you know what's pleasing to God to glorify God with situations like I have a driver's license now and suddenly I'm Dr. Crack yeah stuff. Yeah. Like what does that look like? And so yeah, sometimes I you know, I might be meeting with Elijah Resnick and just talking about life with him and and some of the things that maybe he's been wrestling with God about and sometimes I got a passage to the Bible sometimes I gotta search a little bit but it's it's always trying to go to God with with all that it's, it's all for His glory. Were
  
  Chris Tornquist 13:01
  the teenage years in your own life really important. As far as spiritual maturity, spiritual decisions, a decision for Christ was that sort of reflection, maybe why you're interested in these guys.
  
  Sam Haney 13:12
  I was not a Christian through that I thought I was. And if you talk to anybody from my childhood churches, they would have Alico, ya know, he was doing the altar calls, like he was waking up early, and during the two hour prayer meetings during were in camps, like with all the leaders, that kind of stuff, and so they would have said, that I never submitted to Christ, I never changed anything about my wife, it was always God serving me. And there is no relationship, there is no relationship whatsoever. Um, I became a Christian, you know, two and a half, not quite three years ago. And for one reason or another, God has allotted me the measure of faith that he has. And I just have a heart for these guys. Like, I don't know how else to describe it. They're just well, you
  
  Chris Tornquist 14:04
  remember, remember the issues you had struggles during that time? And now look back that maybe you thought you were a believer as a teenager and realize now that you really weren't. And now I can see your heart for these guys to say, hey, guys serious are you really got this connection? We've seen some baptisms with these guys who have made public professions now that I've come to Christ, and that's just got to be so thrilling for you to do that.
  
  Sam Haney 14:27
  I get to call them brothers in Christ. And, you know, I really liked Dan sermon specifically today where he's talking about how every member of the body, you know, if one's hurting, we're all hurting. We're all suffering together. We're bearing each other's burden. If if one of us is rejoicing one of us gets baptized. It's I mean, it is awesome. It's I like it's truly the exact definition of awesome and like Sam Parker, I seen his heart and God's God's worked on his heart so much. And he's gone through tough situations, UI theory, same deal, Levi theory, the they all have these challenges and, and God is just leading them through it. And I'm just really thankful for for every single one of them. Well, I've
  
  Chris Tornquist 15:19
  got a as you know, I've got an arrangement already to talk to Sam Parker and talk to him about his story, recently baptized, and I want people to hear what's the Lord has been doing in his life. So I'm looking forward to that very, very much. What's the Lord doing in your life right now? What are you learning? As you look back over the past six months, year, whatever timeframe you say, Look what he's teaching me, what would that be? I
  
  Sam Haney 15:45
  would say the big lesson for the last six months has been contentment. And in there's different levels of contentment, I think a lot of people think of contentment, they're like, oh, you know, God's given you food on the table, and he's given you a place to stay those things. Those are great. Like it being content with what orders provide us is definitely part of that. But there's contentment with Christ. And that's a whole different level. And so last six months or so, there has been that battle of is Christ sufficient? And and are you like, not just thinking that or knowing that, but is that really the, you know, is that something that you truly understand that you trust? Do you trust Christ in that way that he is actually sufficient for life and godliness? And so that's, that's been, I think, a big pattern. And I can say that, yeah, the studies that I've been doing have been very fruitful. I'm very thankful for it
  
  Chris Tornquist 16:48
  sounds like you're coming to grips with what true contentment really means. And not just the food on the table and a roof over your head. And that yeah, that gives some security about living every day. But true peace at night, too, in the morning, that's a whole different issue isn't it is how can we pray for you, what would be things that you would one or two things that you would say I really need the body of Christ to lift me up with this?
  
  Sam Haney 17:14
  A lot of I think what I've been doing recently is just trying to, with my own family, point them towards God, and this has been pattern since I became a Christian, my, my dad, and my, my brother, my grandparents, you know, they they're nominally Christian, and I love them dearly. And I, I have the dad I, I have, I have the brother that I have, I have the family that I have, they've all been given to me by, by God for a reason. And so I want to do my part to point them towards who Christ is and and why he's so important. And I could use a lot for with that. But at the end of the day, just that God would continue to give me clarity as to as well and continue to strengthen me and give me grace to be able to, to just keep working. Absolutely.
  
  Chris Tornquist 18:12
  Well, I know the family of FBC well enough to know that with that request, they will be doing it. Oh, it's good. Well, thank you very much, Sam for taking the time to visit with us and a pleasure to speak with you. And Sam Haney is one of the folks here at Faith Bible Church that you someone that you should know. Thanks so much. We'll see you next time.

Chris Tornquist

Chris is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL (M.Div.) and has served as a pastor in churches in the Midwest. Chris and his wife Marty have been married for nearly 40 years. Chris currently teaches the Fundamentals of the Faith class and serves in the Prayer Ministry here at Faith Bible Church.

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