The Narrative is Slanted

Lauren Plute and her family spent seven years in Central Asia and now work with a ministry called “Say Hello.” The ministry aims to equip and encourage Christian women globally to build genuine, respectful, and Christ-centered friendships with Muslims.

Lauren emphasizes the importance of seeing Muslims as individuals made in God's image and not letting fear or prejudice hinder relationships. She encourages Christians to be honest with themselves and God about their feelings towards Muslims and to ask for His help in loving them as He does.

Transcript

The Narrative is Slanted
Guest:  Lauren Plute - "Say Hello"
S3, E15

Announcer (00:00):

Welcome to the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast.

Ric Shields (00:12):

Thank you for joining us. I'm Ric Shields and serve as both your host and the director of the DoorWays Ministry Network. I'm speaking today with my friend Lauren Plute. I first met her in 2010, I think, when she and her family were preparing to move to Central Asia. They lived there for seven years before moving back to the USA.

(00:30):

Welcome Lauren. Hey, I'm glad we're able to connect today.

Lauren Plute (00:33):

Hey, thank you for having me. This is exciting.

Ric Shields (00:37):

I like it when people think this is exciting because it is.

Lauren Plute (00:39):

Yeah, it's fun. <Laugh>,

Ric Shields (00:41):

My introduction to you seems just a little bit vague, not because I don't know you, but because really, it's your story to tell. So please take a minute and tell us what you do and why we're talking today.

Lauren Plute (00:53):

I'd love to. So really if I was just to boil it down right now, I work with a ministry called Say Hello. And what we do at Say Hello if we're just going to wrap it up really quickly is we equip and encourage Christian women around the world to build genuine, respectful and Christ pointing friendships with the Muslims that God brings their way.

(01:14):

And so, we at Say Hello, we love Muslim people, we love Christian women and we love help bridging the connection between those two because we believe God loves Muslims and we want Muslims to hear the truth about Jesus everywhere around the world. And so, everything that Say Hello does is about multiplication. We want to multiply God's heart and God's love for Muslims into the global church around the world so that Muslims around the world can hear the truth about Jesus and come to know him. We want to be very intentional in what we do. And so, when we talk about, we want there to be genuine friendships, not just, you know, projects out there, but we want to help Christians build genuine friendships with Muslims. We want to help them build respectful friendships with Muslims. Right. and obviously at the end of the day, obviously Christ pointing in all three of those components are really important to what we do.

Ric Shields (02:10):

Where you are today didn't just happen in a moment. Can you give us a little context about what brought you to where you are today?

Lauren Plute (02:18):

When we were dating, we knew that, you know, missions was a direction that we felt, both felt called in. And really when the time came, we were at a conference and there was a quote that was spoken at this conference that really stuck out to us. And the quote said this, it said, there are people in the world that have a higher probability of winning their local lottery than they do of ever hearing the truth about Jesus. Even one time it was, yeah, it was that quote, the reality of that quote, we all know that like winning the lottery is next to impossible.

Ric Shields (02:50):

Impossible. Yeah.

Lauren Plute (02:51):

Exactly. So, it's kind of like the reality of like, people will be born, live their lives and die, and their chances of hearing the truth, Jesus is that small. And so, it wasn't like a dramatic moment when we heard that quote. It wasn't like the sky opened up and God said, now's the time. But what I can say is that was a spark that God put in our heart.

(03:11):

And as we just continued to pray and seek the Lord over the next weeks and months, really, we realized that God was calling us to be a part of changing that. And that that quote specifically was in regard to Muslim people. And so, for us, you know, we, we were praying, we're like, okay Lord, we know that you're calling us to Muslim people, but where do you want us to go? Right. We got our missions application, we're filling it all out, and there's a question and it says you know, where do you feel called?

(03:39):

So, we're like, okay, God, where do we feel called? Like, you know, I'm a good church girl. I remember when missionaries would talk about how they were called to China or they were called to Africa. So, we were just waiting and we were like, God, where have you called us? And as we just prayed, we really felt the Lord say, you know what? I've called you to a purpose more than I've called you to a place and that purpose is to reach unreached Muslim people.

(04:02):

And so that calling led us to Central Asia where we were there for seven years and did church planting. It was amazing and it was wonderful. And we were seeing God you know, bring Muslims to faith in Christ and then seeing them turn around and sharing their faith with Muslims again. But it, there was a time probably back in 2018 where you know, when you feel like sometimes like things are going really well and you're like, okay, God, we got this. And then all of a sudden God like flips everything on its head and keeps you, wants to keep you trusting. Do you know what I'm talking about <laugh>?

(04:37):

Well, so things were going well, I remember reading Acts coming across the story and it's actually Acts nine, I believe it's the story. You know, we all know it. Saul DePaul, right? Saul's on the road to Damascus and you know, Jesus appears and he goes blind, right? And then Saul goes into the city. Well, I imagine that story kind of like a movie. And so, we see Saul going into Damascus and then like, it like fades to black, right? And then I imagine if it was a movie, if we were going to fade up from that black, the very next character in scripture that we'd be looking at is a guy named Ananias.

(05:15):

Ananias isn't a superhero of the Bible, right? He's not somebody we know a lot about. We just know that he's an everyday Jesus follower and he's in Damascus, it's his city. And God speaks to Ananias and says, Ananias, there's a man named Saul. He's come into your city. I want you to go find him and lay hands on him and pray for him. because I want to use him for my glory.

Ric Shields (05:36):

Yeah. This guy who's been killing Jews and Exactly, you know, arresting them and taking them away with him and yeah. Go talk to that guy.

Lauren Plute (05:46):

Exactly. So, what was Yeah, and his response was?

Ric Shields (05:49):

Are you, he's saying, God, you've got to be kidding me. Something like that. Exactly. <laugh>.

Lauren Plute (05:53):

Exactly. I think Ananias' response was really natural by the way, a lot of us would respond, right? Because we're like, he's coming to hunt down guys like me. And as I just, you know, I'm like praying through this story and I'm reading it and, and I love the way that God responds to Ananias very human reaction. He doesn't promise Ananias like false safety. Right? He doesn't say, Ananias, I promise I'll keep you safe. Yeah. He also doesn't hit Ananias on the back of the head. And he doesn't go stop being a doofus, you know, he doesn't do that either. He does what I think he has to do with me a lot and probably a lot of us is, and he just simply repeats himself and he says, Ananias, there's a man named Saul who's coming to your city. I want you to go walk down straight street. I want you to go lay hands on him and pray for him. because I want to use him for my glory.

(06:41):

And you know, the second time Ananias, what does he do? He obeys, he, he does it. And I love that the Bible story lays out the street, right? Because I imagine Ananias walking down straight street and his heart might have been pounding, right? That would be the normal reaction if you were going to try to find somebody who was potentially you thought was coming to hurt you. But he obeys and he goes and he finds Saul and he lays hands on him and he prays for him. And he, he calls him brother. Yeah, because his brother Saul. Saul, right. He calls him brother. And then we know that the scales fall from Saul's eyes and it's all becomes who Paul and then

Ric Shields (07:19):

Paul, he actually, he becomes Paul. Yeah.

Lauren Plute (07:21):

Right. And Paul becomes the greatest missionary of all time. So here we are, we're in central Asia, we're seeing God essentially do this with Muslims who are coming into our area. And we're seeing him change their heart and seeing them share with other Muslims. And Ryan and I, we both just felt the Lord just say, there are Ananias all over the world and I'm bringing Sauls to them. I'm bringing Muslims into context where there are believers and I want to raise up Anani to reach the souls that are coming their way.

(07:54):

And so, kind of, I, that's sort of a long answer to the journey of how we got to Say Hello was we just really felt like God was calling us to be a part of something. Again, I mentioned earlier multiplication where we could inspire and encourage Christians, not just in the United States. We do that here, but we do it in Latin America and we do it in Europe and we do it in Africa, and we do it in Asia Pacific because Muslims are moving into every major city in the world. And Christians often respond with that same kind of like fear or maybe even prejudice sometimes of, of the unknown. And so, we believe that God could be doing this so that more and more Muslims can know him. So, we're all about helping Christians realize that.

Ric Shields (08:40):

So, you're encouraging us to share our story and to share the Jesus story with people who are Muslims, not Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> not somewhere else, but in our very own community as, as you say, in our own backyard. And now Yeah. But I just want to ask you, are you sure about that? Isn't that kind of dangerous or at least, isn't it, you know, politically incorrect or something?

Lauren Plute (09:02):

Sure. Okay. Well, here's the first thing I'm going to say. I, you know, I've worked with Muslims now for almost 20 years, and in my 20 years, one of the biggest things that I realized is the vast majority of Muslims around the world are more like me and more like us than we realized, right? Like, they're moms, they're dads, they're, they're sons and daughters. They're people who want to make a better life for their children. They don't want to get sick, they have to pay taxes. They're people like we are.

(09:40):

And you know, we have, you know, different countries have media narratives. Truly one of the things that I could get on a soapbox for a long time about is that media, no matter what outlet you're listening to, I don't care. Their bottom line is money. And really what makes, yeah. And what makes money is fear and sensationalism. And so, it doesn't matter left, right, center upside down, whatever, whatever media outlet you're listening to or you know, you let influence you, their bottom line is money. And so, I think that we've all been fed a narrative. And it's funny because it happens in the Muslim world too, for Christians. We, it's like media has fed this narrative to us that oh, they're all crazy. Oh, they're all bad. When really at the end of the day, we're all people.

Ric Shields (10:29):

Few years ago we took a youth group with us to Dearborn Heights, Michigan a mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, large Muslim community there. And we were with the youth group and we're playing games in the park. We invited kids to come and join us and we'd gone to a special market where they had halal meat Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> that, you know, Muslims could eat. And, and so we bought hamburgers there and we're grilling these hamburgers and we invite the kids to have a hamburger with us. And one of the kids says, I can't do that. And we said, why? Because my dad said, you're Christians and you get a service rotten meat.

(11:05):

And so, you're right, the narrative that's being told about all of us on both sides, is pretty slanted. Now in our case, we pulled out the receipt and said, dude, we bought this at this market just a few minutes ago and we brought it here to grill it. If this is rotten meat, you're buying meat from the wrong place then yeah. And he's like, oh, okay. I can have a hamburger.

(11:26):

So yeah, the narrative's pretty interesting and yeah, it's not just slanted one way, it's slanted both ways.

Lauren Plute (11:33):

Yeah. And it's truly, you know, I'm not going to pretend like there's not crazy people out there in the world. Sure, there is there a small percentage of Muslim people who have a lot of evil intent? Sure. But truly I believe that if you were to look in any major religion, you look at the crazy spinoffs on one way or another, there's crazy people everywhere. Oh yeah. And so, I'm not going to pretend and say, oh, I promise like every person you're ever going to come in contact with is they have the best in mind. Of course that's not true. But what I will say is I do think that the vast majority of Muslims that people come in contact with, with are probably more like you than you realize. And they're probably just everyday people.

(12:18):

And so, yeah, I mean, and truly at the end of the day, Satan knows that the farther he can keep Christians from Muslims or really any group of people, truly, he knows that if we can keep us separated from each other, if we can keep us hating each other, if we can keep us afraid of one another, then if he can keep us apart, then that makes it harder for the Muslim to hear about Christ.

(12:42):

It makes him harder for the Muslim to hear the story of Jesus. because Satan knows that if we start walking in a genuine friendship with a Muslim, if Jesus is living inside of us, guess who's going to come out? Our Muslim friend is going to see Jesus inside of us if we're walking with them in relationship, but if we are just on opposite sides of the city, angry with each other. So, I think fear is Satan's biggest tool that he uses to keep us apart. And that might be the traditional kind of 9/11 type of fear that we've all traditionally had of, oh, are they going to hurt me?

(13:17):

But really, like you had kind of mentioned the politically incorrect, there's really probably a, a newer fear that's more of the fear of offending and like, oh, I'm afraid I'm going to say the wrong thing. Or what if I, what if I push them away? What if I don't say something? Right. You know, really at the end of the day, they're both fear. And I believe that Jesus wants to, the Holy Spirit wants to help us move from fear to love and just like Ananias had to do, right? I mean, Ananias wasn't promised safety necessarily, but I think part of following Jesus is being willing to walk in their direction and go say, hello,

Ric Shields (13:52):

You're listening to the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast. My name is Ric Shields and I'm joined on this episode with Lauren Plute, a woman who is helping us to understand about how to share our story and the story of Jesus with Muslims in our community.

(14:05):

So, Lauren, we've spoken about why this is so important. Would you take some time to help us know how to do it? How do we move forward? What do we need to know?

Lauren Plute (14:13):

Really, I think the most important place to start is to start with being honest with yourself. Start with being honest with God about why you haven't necessarily done this in the past. Like ask yourself questions. Ask God to search your heart and say, God, am I afraid of Muslims? Do I have maybe some prejudice against them? Do I maybe even hate them? You know, I know that these are really strong words, but just to start asking yourself and asking the Holy Spirit to search your heart. And what I love, and I promise I have seen over and over again is I believe that when people come to that point with their honesty with God, I think God is a gentleman. You know, he doesn't, he doesn't shame us in those moments with the Holy Spirit. Just, I think he loves to run to us in those moments.

(15:06):

And he loves to transform our heart when we're honest and we say, God, okay, I hear you. I want to love them, but this is really hard. Will you help me? He loves to help us in those moments.

(15:19):

And so, I think that that is really step one. And then kind of after acknowledging those, just asking God, like, help me love them the way that you do. Help me see Muslims as people who are made in your image, as people you love, who you desire to have a relationship with because it's really important.

(15:39):

I want to be very clear, I do not agree with Islam, right? Islam is something that I disagree with. I as a Christian and you know, every, I believe people, you know, anybody who follows any kind of religion is going to have what they believe to be right and wrong. And as a Christian, for me, I believe that Islam is not the right way. So, but to me, what I have to do is I have to see, you know, earlier we talked about Saul, right? And Saul when he was blind, I view Islam as the scales that are on the Muslim's eyes. Does that make sense? I can disagree and dislike the scales that I would see on a Muslim.

(16:20):

So, I'm not trying to say, oh, we all believe the same thing and let's just be lovey dovey. Are you understanding the difference of what I'm saying there? Oh, yeah, yeah,

Ric Shields (16:29):

Yeah. Here's another surprise. Muslims see Christians the same way. They agree that Islam is the proper way and that Christians are deceived. So, it's not like, you know, this, this should be a surprise to anybody.

Lauren Plute (16:42):

Yeah. And I've even had this, this very exact conversation with my Muslim friends and I'll say, hey, you know what? You're as a Muslim, I believe that you have a right to believe whatever it is that you choose to believe. I'm not coming in to force anybody to believe anything. It's not my job. And that doesn't do anything right. It's got to be something that the Holy Spirit does.

(17:02):

So, I'll tell a Muslim person, they're like, well, do you want me to be a Christian? I'll be like, well, sure I do. Just like you would want me to be Muslim, right? So, I think that we have to come to a point where we can choose to respect people even though we don't agree with them, right? We can love them even though we don't agree with them. And I think that's an important part of this process because when we walk in friendship with someone, we're never going to strong arm anyone into faith, right? Like that's, that is one of the biggest things in all of this. The weight of their salvation does not rest on your shoulders. The weight of their salvation rests on Christ. It rests on the Holy Spirit. Our job is to love them and point them to truth, whether it be in the Bible or praying. That's our job. It's the Holy Spirit's job to change their heart.

(17:45):

And so, you know, if we bring our, if we bring our insecurities to the Lord and say, Lord, this is hard for me. God help me love them the way you do, then I think then we just go, okay, God, will you give me the boldness to go up and say hello? Because like that's our ministry is called Say Hello. Because so often that's one of the hardest parts, right?

(18:04):

We've had so many people come to us and say, oh, I was so scared. I thought this was going to be so hard. But really, once I went up and said hello, and I started talking, I realized, wow, we actually have a lot in common and it's actually a lot easier than I thought. Does that, are you understanding what I'm saying? So, I feel like the first steps are heart steps and understanding steps. And then really then it's like, God, help me.

(18:28):

You know, you don't have to have a Bible theology degree to walk in friendship with a mom. You don't, you don't have to be a pastor to share who Jesus is to you. And I think that's another reason that another tool that Satan uses to try to keep us apart from one another, to say, oh, well, you don't know enough yet.

Ric Shields (18:45):

I'm so grateful you've joined us, Lauren, thank you for having a heart to help others understand some simple steps that we can use to share about Jesus with Muslims. So would you be so kind to pray for those who are listening, whether it's for opportunities or for open hearts and minds, we need to partner with Jesus as we reach out to others. So please take a moment and pray for us.

Lauren Plute (19:09):

Yeah, I would absolutely love to. God, I thank you just for Ric, I thank you for this podcast. I thank you for so many ministries like this that are just passionate, getting the word out about your great commission and the ways that we can engage missionally with you.

(19:26):

Father, I pray for every individual who is listening to this podcast right now. Lord, ask that your Holy Spirit will meet them there. And Lord, I ask that you would help show us, God, the areas of our heart that maybe are fearful of Muslims. God, show us the areas of our heart that maybe are even a little bit prejudiced, maybe that there's some hate there.

(19:51):

God, we pray that you would search us and know our heart. Show us the things inside of ourselves that you desire for us to surrender. And Lord, I, I've watched you do it over and over again, but Lord, I ask that your love would just come and fill that space where maybe that fear once existed, God, that love would push it out.

(20:13):

And you would help us as Christians. You would help the global Christian Church come to love Muslims and God, really, anybody that's difficult, that seems difficult to love, will you help us to love them the way that you do? God, will you give us a vision to see how they too can go from being Sauls to Pauls? And Holy Spirit, will you continue to lead us on this journey? Give us boldness to go say hello and share your story with anyone you bring our way. We love you. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Ric Shields (20:50):

I hope you found this podcast to be helpful. If there's someone you think may also enjoy your benefit from this episode, please consider passing the link along to share with them.

(21:00):

If you'd like someone to pray for you, drop me a note at info@DoorWays dot cc. I'll pray for you. And if you'd like, I will share your note with others who will pray and believe for God to work on your behalf.

(21:13):

Until next time, may the Lord bless you as you'll follow after him. Thanks for listening.