After volunteering at OneWay as a high school student, Hayley Huls jumped all in as a summer intern — not once but twice!
It proved to be an amazing experience where Hayley not only discovered gifts in administration but also the joy of living and working in a community with other interns.
A spiritually united team
“All of us were there for just a couple of months to give everything we had,” she said. “That was really special, learning and growing with [the other interns], building those relationships outside of the office but then going into the office and working together toward a common goal.”
To Hayley, OneWay was one of the most biblically saturated environments she had been in, where the staff was like-minded and pressing after one mission with a heart for the lost.
“It brings new meaning to the work that you do and also the relationships that you build with the people you work with. They care about your growth, your development, your life with Christ and your ability to learn and take the skills that you develop here into whatever work you do, be it ministry or other.”
It was the first time Hayley had experienced that type of faith in unity and mission outside of church. She learned what it looked like to serve the Lord in every area of her life. “[I realized] ‘I really do have a heart for missions, and I really do believe that in some capacity I’m going to do something like this for the rest of my life.’”
When Hayley later switched her major from nursing to Christian studies, her internships at OneWay influenced her decision to add an emphasis in global ministry rather than just biblical or general Christian studies.
Professional development and fulfillment
In her first summer on the Africa Team track (which later changed to the Missions Advocacy track), Hayley went to Ghana for three weeks as part of the first-ever Livingstone School of Missions. But the next year, she stayed in the U.S. to serve as ground support for the team traveling overseas and as the coordinator for fundraising efforts.
She discovered that she excelled at coordinating people, managing schedules and handling administrative tasks. She served as the point person that summer on a fundraising project called “Hire-an-Intern” which required her to track donors, projects, schedules and more.
“As much as I love actually being the one working with people, this was the first time that I felt like I’d hit my stride in something and could totally own it.”
Along with another fundraiser that summer, the team raised nearly $6,000 for OneWay Africa.
The challenges that came along that summer stretched Hayley in her confidence to manage projects. “I grew [in] my understanding of what it means to be given the responsibility of a project and my ability to just take charge, run with it.”
Today Hayley is pursuing a master of divinity at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona and working a job with administrative components to it. She is not sure yet if she will go into full-time missions, missionary support, serving on staff at a church or some other ministry capacity, but she sees them all as possibilities and is excited for what the Lord has for her next.
To current and future OneWay interns and residents, Hayley says, “I’d encourage [you] just to take a moment and thank the Lord for the opportunity and be open to what He’ll do. Because it is hard, and it is wonderful and it is edifying.” She adds, “They will get out what they put in.”
Learn more about OneWay’s goal to activate more young adults through kingdom-centered internships and residencies at the link below.