In this very special final episode of T Time: Spiritual Conversations For, With and About Women, host Twanna Henderson closes out five impactful years of ministry by turning the spotlight to the next generation. Twanna sits down with Delaney Dahl, a high school senior from Prior Lake, Minnesota, who leads her school’s faith club and is passionate about evangelism and discipleship. Delaney shares her story of coming to faith, finding purpose through hard seasons like the pandemic, and stepping out boldly to bring the gospel to her peers and beyond — from leading Bible studies to praying for strangers in the hallway. This heartfelt conversation will inspire you to trust God more deeply, live out your faith courageously, and cheer on the younger generation as they rise to lead.

Transcript

Twanna Handerson: Well, welcome to T Time Spiritual Conversations: For, With and About Women. I’m your host, Twanna Henderson, and today is a very special day because we are culminating our T Time series. When we started this podcast, a little over five years ago, and in the middle of a pandemic, we had no idea that five years later and over 60 episodes later that we would have the opportunity to meet and to glean from so many incredible people.

I started this year with the theme of building and rebuilding a culture of evangelism, and as we look to the future, it’s gonna be important that we support and cheer on the next generation. So this final episode is with someone from the next generation and the person of Delaney Dahl. I hope that this episode is a blessing to you and that it encourages you about what the Lord is doing in the next generation.

It’s been a pleasure to connect with you over the past five years. Join me now in this phenomenal dialogue with Delaney Dahl.

Well, welcome to T Time Spiritual Conversations: For, With and About Women. I’m your host, Twanna Henderson, and as always, I want to remind you to like this broadcast and to share it with someone in your life. Well, you know, we have been going through this year, , focusing on the theme of evangelism and today we have a very special guest with us.

Our guest today is Delaney Dahl. Delaney is a current senior in high school in Prior Lake Minnesota and will be graduating very soon. She has been involved in leading her public schools faith club for the past three years, and has unique evangelistic training and experiences through her internships with Campus Faith Clubs.

In the fall of this year, she plans to attend Taylor University, a Christian liberal arts college to study sports management and marketing. Delaney, welcome to T Time.

Delaney Dahl: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me today.

Twanna Handerson: It’s good to have you. You are my first teen guest.

Delaney Dahl: Love to hear it.

Twanna Handerson: So I’m excited about having this conversation with you today and I think it’s gonna be great.

So I wanna go ahead and just dive right on in and I want you to just kind of talk to us about your experience with becoming a Christ follower.

Delaney Dahl: Absolutely. So I grew up in a Christian home and my father was a pastor at a church in the local area, and I was first, like, I experienced it firsthand. My parents really just invested in me and my faith, which was something I really loved.

And so in the church that my dad was a part of, there was a camp that came and with a counselor there, they asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus as my personal savior for the first time.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And that was the first time I really felt the Holy Spirit just work within me and tell me to raise my hand that day.

And so I was able to pray with her and invite the spirit in. And so from there, I’ve just been chasing Jesus. And it has been a journey for sure, but just such a joy. So my dad ended up switching jobs, which, made my family move.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: Which was kind of the hardest period of my life because it was a lot of transition through my teenage years.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah.

Delaney Dahl: And especially during, the COVID virus.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: I, didn’t have a lot of friends because we had just moved and that transition was hard.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: But looking back on that, it’s just really cool to see how the Lord developed my own faith and my reliance on him.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah.

Delaney Dahl: During that time, to be able to have that to go back to with, before I was making friends and before I was able to connect to my community and grow myself, I was able to grow my faith in him first.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah. That’s And so,

Delaney Dahl: yeah, absolutely. So that was just kind of how that developed. And so. Now that I have that foundation, I’m able to just grow other people and just have those opportunities to live out my faith.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah, that’s pretty major. I mean, ’cause think about it when we’re talking about the pandemic.

So we’re talking about five years, you know, ago. So how old were you? Like 12, 13, you know?

Delaney Dahl: Yeah, exactly.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah. So that’s pretty young, you know, when you think about that, I mean, that’s pretty major. And I know I mentioned in your bio about you having trainings through, internships with Campus Faith Clubs.

Tell us about what Campus Faith Clubs is and how it has impacted you.

Delaney Dahl: Yeah, absolutely. So Campus Faith Clubs is a local ministry in the metro area of Minnesota where I live, and they are just a ministry that focuses on evangelism in public high schools and allows people to just get experiences with normalizing the faith in school.

So they have developed my faith a lot with allowing opportunities to just grow in my faith and show me what it looks like to live an evangelistic like life, I guess. So, with campus day clubs, they have a bunch of clubs in the south metro area, like I mentioned, so in middle schools and high schools.

And so at my high school, I joined my faith club my freshman year, which was in 2021 right after COVID happened. That was definitely a God thing on where I was able to see and find community and just other Christian people in a new school and get connected with them there. And so after my freshman year, I was able to become a officer and a leader for faith club.

And then my junior and senior year, I’ve been the head or co head and co-leader. For that club. So that has just been such a joy to see how I was able to first be a member and how it poured into me, and now I can kind of pour back into it. Now that I’m a senior.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah, that’s, that, that is absolutely amazing.

I mean, you can definitely see how God has used that organization to both impact you and to provide you with influence. Share some of the, the personal opportunities that you’ve had to, to share your faith.

Delaney Dahl: Yeah, absolutely. So. I have been able to, like you said, be able to lead Bible studies at Faith Club.

So what we do is we do worship, is we do devotionals, bible studies, small groups, and so within that faith club environment, I’ve been able to just reach out to people there. But there’s also been so many opportunities outside of Faith Club and even outside of school that I’ve been able to share my faith.

So, one specific example of that is summer faith clubs. We started a program my sophomore year, the smer after it, and we’re able to gather people from teenagers all over the area who are just looking to know who Jesus is more and have that like benefit their life and so they can learn more about that.

And so the past few years I’ve been leading Bible studies there and being able to pour into students one-on-one in a small group settings too, to be able to lead them and show them what it looks like just to live boldly and live freely for Jesus.

Twanna Handerson: So what has that meant to you to be able to do that?

Delaney Dahl: Yeah, it means a lot. I have truly found so much joy in being able to pour into other people and discipleship has been a really part of like a key part of my faith.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And just being able to have people that have poured into my life and just like my parents and mentors and Campus Faith Clubs leaders throughout the years, it’s kind of continued that way of fellowship in a way.

So then I can be poured into by them, and then I can then pour into other people too. And so I’ve also heard the people that I’ve been having bible studies with after school, and in that summer faith club setting, they have also been able to develop their faith enough with the Lord that they can then go disciple other people and new friends and that kind of thing.

So it’s just really, really cool to see how that just pattern follows and how the Lord keeps working through so many people.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah. What have been some of the challenges though, in that I’m sure that, I mean, that sounds wonderful, but I’m sure that there’s had to be challenges. I’m sure there’s had to be resistance too.

Delaney Dahl: Definitely. There’s not always people that are super open to having Bible studies or wanting to learn more about the faith. Even though I’m super passionate about it, it’s not always accepted. And so a challenge can definitely be being bold in your environment, even when it’s not always accepted or you don’t know what the response is gonna be.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah.

Delaney Dahl: And so you almost have to live in a way of knowing that the Lord is gonna prepare their hearts in a way to just be accepting to it or hear it and maybe even just plant a seed.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah.

Delaney Dahl: Before , you know what’s gonna happen with their faith and how you’re gonna impact them. So I think you have to be able to just lead and know that the Lord is going to lead your steps.

And I think a lot of what I do a lot before I go into those like one-on-one conversations or small groups. I usually pray for the Lord to lead and like open those hearts because you never know what they’re dealing with. You never know how close they are to the Lord, and so just be able to have the spirit work in a way that I can impact them more than I even know or will ever know.

It’s just really cool.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah. Yeah. That is really great. What are, what about your faith habits? What are your faith habits and how have they changed as you’ve gone through high school?

Delaney Dahl: Yes. It’s definitely been a journey through high school. Like I was saying, like at the end of my middle school years, I was really struggling with

community and finding people around me that I’d be able to be pour into, but that would also pour back into me.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And so I’ve been able to just find my quiet time with the Lord to be able to be filled up in that way before I go be filled up with other people.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: But I’ve also learned that it looks different in different seasons of life.

I think I’m definitely a perfectionistic person, and so if I don’t read my Bible every single day or don’t go to church every single week, I can feel guilty about that or maybe just struggle with that. And so I’ve been able to learn what it looks like to have grace for myself.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And know that like the main spiritual disciplines that I work on is,

being in the word, praying with the Lord and praying for other people. That fellowship aspect, like I mentioned, and then also witnessing of witnessing what it looks like to live like Jesus on a daily basis. So those like four spiritual disciplines that I learned like through Campus Faith Clubs and that they’ve been developing in me have just really impacted my personal faith and how I

just seek the Lord on a daily basis because if I seek him first, then he’s also gonna be in my life, in the mundane, in the big and the small.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah, that is so true. Everybody needs to kind of get that, you know?

Delaney Dahl: Exactly.

Twanna Handerson: For adults who don’t get that. So that is so important. We just kind of recognize that he’s with us every day, and that we bring

Delaney Dahl: absolutely

Twanna Handerson: into our situation and into our lives and in our, to our decisions and every aspect of who we are.

Delaney Dahl: Mm-hmm.

Twanna Handerson: What about evangelistic outreaches? Have you had any unique opportunities in that area?

Delaney Dahl: Definitely I’ve had multiple, so Campus Faith Clubs works with another ministry in the area called Breakthrough Ministries.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And they’re located in downtown Minneapolis.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And they have

like a very unique location where they’re in a lower income area and where there’s a lot of like homelessness in the area.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And so I’ve been able to volunteer and help with the construction of their building and help them like influence the people around them. But then we’ve also gone out on the streets and just small groups and praying for people who may be struggling in their life or may not have know where their next meal is coming from.

And so just helping them know that the Lord is their sustainer and their provider and knowing that he is above everything else despite our situations.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And so also that opportunity is cool for me to see as a more privileged student who has things, knows where my food is coming from for the next meal.

And so it helps humble myself as well and just know that the Lord, see how good the Lord has been and just blessed me in my life too. And another opportunity is a Campus Faith Clubs event that we do each year. There is a fields of faith in the fall and a flood the field in the spring.

And so what that looks like is in a high school football field, we all gather on the field and there’s worship. It’s basically a huge evangelistic outreach night. And so the Lord put this event on my heart to happen at my school as a freshman. I vividly remember the Lord speaking to me. I was just walking through the hallway.

And the Lord’s like, Hey, I really want this to happen. And as a freshman I didn’t really understand. I wasn’t really as connected as I am right now. And so it’s just been cool to be able to see like how the Lord has worked in my life to be able to build this up. And now looking forward, in a few months from now, we have this happening at our football stadium and just having this event to look forward to, to be able to know that I’m able to speak at it and share my testimony and share how the Lord has

just been working in me. And so to know that that outreach is gonna be a revival in my school, but also just in the surrounding community at the schools that I’m not involved in. To be able to just reach those hearts and reach those people to get them connected with Jesus.

Twanna Handerson: That is absolutely amazing. I think that is absolutely amazing.

Delaney Dahl: Thank you.

Twanna Handerson: I know that, you know, as you prepare to go off to college and study sports management and marketing, how do you see all of that playing into how you continue to, to walk out your faith and, and be an ambassador for Christ?

Delaney Dahl: Absolutely. So Taylor is a Christian college, like you mentioned, and so I had like, I definitely wanted ministry or the Lord to be part of what I go into.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And so having that Christian education for what I go into was really important to me. And so I’m excited to be able to be surrounded by a community again to just develop my faith and develop what it looks like to be a young adult on fire for Jesus, and even in the sports marketing realm.

Like I don’t really know what I’m gonna do with that yet, but the Lord does and that’s okay. So just trusting in his plan to know that he is going to develop me like he has through my high school years and just looking at his past faithfulness there to be able to know, to look into my future and know that he’s also gonna provide there and develop me, and develop me with the people that are already there.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: To just speak into me and be able to help me figure out what’s next for me and what the great Lord has in store.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah, I, see that and I, I’m excited for you. And

Delaney Dahl: thank you. Yes.

Twanna Handerson: Unfold all of that. , how would you encourage others who are struggling to be bold in their faith to start living for Jesus more externally?

Delaney Dahl: Absolutely. That’s a great question. So I feel like we have to start with our own personal faith in order to go out and be bold about it, because if we’re not connecting with the Lord on a personal basis, we’re not gonna know how he’s talking with us or how he’s leading us, or where he’s leading us and what he has in store.

And so we have to be able to have that foundation of those disciplines of like I was talking about earlier, with the word and the prayer and the fellowship, witnessing all those things. And there’s gonna be somes that are more natural. In different seasons of life. So maybe you’re reading your Bible more than you’re praying, or maybe you’re praying more often than you’re going out and witnessing the people, and so you don’t have to be perfect at all those at the same time.

But I think just figuring out what the Lord is wanting you to work on in this season of life and how he wants to be speaking to you and bringing conviction into your life and how you’re gonna move forward in your faith and just continue, that is how you can be bold. And so another key aspect of what I had to learn over my high school years I’ve to be able to be more bold, is just not caring what other people think of you as a teenager, that’s super hard and you’re constantly surrounded by people that are looking at you, or maybe they’re not looking at you as much as you think, but.

I think it’s just important to know that the Lord has created me and his image for such a divine purpose, and that is also so true of whoever’s listening right now. And so I just wanna encourage you to know that the Lord has such great plans in store for you and you’re creating as image and so you don’t have to worry about what someone may say on the other side of a conversation or what might be scary of like bringing up your faith like he is in that with you and he’s able to go before you and even if you ask someone to pray for or like if you’re going to pray for someone

and they say like, no, not right now. Something I’ve learned is a no is not a rejection.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: But only a redirection.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: To someone new, another place that you can plant a seed or just bring the Lord into, because you never know how that interaction could impact them later on. And so I think learning that rejection is not always a bad thing, but it’s just how the Lord works

to just open and close different doors has just been a key aspect of learning. That it’s okay to be bold even if there is rejection there. And so also going into like evangelism and being bold in your faith, you also have to have a personal relationship with the Lord where you can listen to him, because I think that’s something I’ve been working on recently too, is being able to

pray to the Lord and ask him for things and know he’s going to respond. I think I do know he’s gonna respond well, he obviously will, but being able to listen to what he’s actually gonna say instead of deciding what he’s gonna say before he answers in a way. And so listening to how he is at work in your life and how he is at work in other lives and people around you

I think that can just bring so much joy to see how he’s actually impacting you and impacting so many people around you. So I think if I could share a personal story of this too, there was a time where we had an assignment through Campus Faith Clubs, through an internship I was a part of, and we were gonna go pray for people in our school.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: I think this was my sophomore year and I hadn’t really done this before. I hadn’t gone out and prayed over a stranger I didn’t know, which was super scary. It’s definitely hard to do at the beginning when you don’t have a lot of experience and so I was definitely had a lot of anxiety around it and I could see, I was in the hallway before the school started, before class.

There was someone across the hall. And Lord was like, Hey, go pray for them. And I think that’s in that place if you don’t develop your faith, you have to be able to hear of like who the Lord wants to highlight to you.

Twanna Handerson: Mm-hmm.

Delaney Dahl: And so that person was definitely highlighted to me and I went over to them and is like, Hey, is there something I could pray for you for?

Super random question to them. They’re not expecting it. It’s a random like Monday morning, but that’s okay. And they were like, Hey, like, I don’t think so. I was like, Hey, is it okay if I pray for you anyway? And they were like, oh, sure, absolutely. So then I just said like a small short, general prayer. And was just able to bring the Lord in that conversation, and I haven’t really talked to that person since then.

I’ve seen them in the hallways and everything. I still kind of pray for them on my own to see if that seed will be watered. And after it was planted. But just the joy that I wanna share. The thing I wanna share is the joy that I felt after that happened. Yes, that seed was planted, but a seed was also planted in my faith because I was able to feel what it looks like to be obedient to the Lord and just actually see where he’s leading you and like answering like those.

How he’s leading. And so being able to pray to him, but then also obeying for what he answers with is two separate things. Because we can be listening and we can be hearers of the word, but we also be doers of the word like it says in James. And so being a doer of the word requires boldness and requires a lot of obedience, but it’s so worth it because then I just walked through the hall on my way to first hour class and I’m like, oh my goodness, Lord, thank you so much for leading me to that.

And I was just, songs came up within me like I was just full of joy, full of happiness. And I think that is just what happens when we experience what the Lord’s plans are that he has for us because we are able to just see how he is at work in our lives.

Twanna Handerson: Yeah, I I think that is so true. And that can be kind of scary even for anybody.

I mean, you know

Delaney Dahl: Exactly

Twanna Handerson: when you’re praying for people that you don’t know because you never know how they’re gonna react. But when we are, like you said, when we’re obedient to God, he just, you know, strengthens us to be able to do it and to just trust him in the midst of it. Delaney, there are listeners of this podcast who have been fearful of sharing their faith.

Some feel like they are ill-equipped. I think that you’ve really encouraged them. Can you just take a moment as we prepare to close, and this has been really, really good, but to just pray for our listeners that, that they will trust the Lord when put in situations to share their faith and that he will give them boldness.

Delaney Dahl: Oh, for sure. Absolutely. I would love to. Thank you. Lord, I just want to pray over all the listeners right now that may be in a place that want to grow their faith, wanna grow their boldness in you, and just what it looks like to have a strengthened faith. I pray that you would just work through them. I pray that you would just provide peace where there may be anxiety.

I pray that you would just help your voice be more evident in their life and just how you’re working in them. I just pray that you remind them of your past faithfulness of where you have provided for them in the past and just how good you have been to them in their lives, even when it’s hard to see.

And so I just pray that that would fuel us into how we can then pour into other people and pour into what it looks like to be doers of the word instead of simply hearers because that’s how you’re gonna transform others’ lives around us after you’ve already transformed us. So, Lord, I just thank you for the person on the other side of this that is listening to this.

I just pray that you would bless them. I pray that you would be with them and just pray that you would go before them and what you have in store for them, and help them know that you have plans for plans to prosper and just a great future for them. In Jesus name, amen.

Twanna Handerson: Amen. Amen. Delaney, thank you so much for joining us today.

This has been really great. I mean, you’re just a remarkable young woman and so I’m just excited about what the Lord is going to continue to do in your life. I’ll have to have you back again.

Delaney Dahl: Absolutely. I would love to. It was such a joy to be on here today. Thank you so much.

Twanna Handerson: Absolutely. Well, to all of our listeners, thank you for joining us.

I’m Twanna Henderson, and until the next time. Be blessed of the Lord.