Missouri woman uses Mary Kay business to share the love of Jesus

CONCORDIA, Mo. – Sometimes all it takes to set a spiritual encounter in motion is a free lipstick sample, at least that’s what Beth Lange of Concordia, Missouri, has found.

Lange has served in various ministry capacities through the decades. She has worked as a director for Christian education, led women’s Bible studies, and served in youth ministry. But most of her spiritual conversations have had an unexpected catalyst: Mary Kay, the popular beauty brand.

“I have watched more women come to the Lord in my Mary Kay business than I ever did when I was on a church staff,” Lange shared.

Lange first became involved with the company when a friend invited her to attend a Mary Kay party. She was a young mother at the time and relished the idea of a night out. After the event, the consultant encouraged Lange to start selling Mary Kay, a prospect Lange said she initially found laughable.

“I would never sell anything,” Lange recalled. “In youth group, when we had to sell candy, I would eat it all and then my mom would have to write a check for it. This doesn’t make any sense!”

But eventually, Lange decided to give it a try. Her family had recently gone down to one income, so they could use the extra funds. She had also been praying for a ministry to women, and she thought Mary Kay might be a useful tool for building relationships.

Years prior, Lange and her husband studied Experiencing God. She said the material changed their lives. They learned to watch for where God was at work and then join him. From the beginning, Lange applied that principle to her Mary Kay business.

One day when Lange was at the grocery store buying an ingredient to make lasagna, she handed a lipstick sample to another shopper. The two struck up a conversation, and the other shopper, Mandy, agreed to let Lange give her a “Mary Kay facial.” Lange discovered that Mandy had recently been laid off and was in an unhealthy relationship. She didn’t know Jesus.

“[After] that one interaction, we booked a Mary Kay appointment,” Lange said.

Mandy ended up starting her own Mary Kay business, and Lange became her mentor. As the women’s friendship grew, Mandy started asking Lange spiritual questions. Lange gave her a copy of the Gospel of John. Mandy ultimately accepted Christ, as did her mother, who was in hospice care at the time.

“My husband did her mom’s funeral and got to share Christ with all of these people, many of whom did not know the Lord,” Lange said. “Mandy isn’t doing a lot with her Mary Kay business today, but she said the greatest gift out of my Mary Kay starter kit was her relationship with Jesus. And this is not a unique story.”

As Lange became more involved in Mary Kay leadership, she developed friendships with many other women who were using their Mary Kay businesses to share their faith. In 2005, Lange’s friend and mentor Dawn Sweeney started a Bible study for Mary Kay directors, which Lange joined. They chose to use Experiencing God as their first curriculum.

“It was local in the Detroit area, and there were maybe 25 of us,”  Lange recalled.

Lange participated in that Bible study group until she moved away years later and could no longer attend the in-person meetings. When the Bible study moved to Zoom in 2020, Lange excitedly rejoined the group. For their first online Bible study, the women once again used Experiencing God. Though they have cycled through various studies since then, Lange said they return to Experiencing God often.

“We have about 150 [sales directors] that are going through the Bible study with us,” Lange said. “We do Experiencing God every two to three years, because it’s foundational. [I’ve been through it] seven or eight times.”

Though the Bible study was limited to sales directors for many years, a friend of Lange’s recently suggested starting a second group that would be open to all Mary Kay consultants.

“We [thought] we might have 10 people,” Lange said. “But we put the word out, and we had 500 people register! Many have never been in a Bible study before.”

Both studies have recently wrapped up, but Lange and her friends are already looking to the future.

“Our hope is that we can launch the sequel to Experiencing God with both the directors and the consultants in the fall.”

For Lange, Mary Kay has become much more than a way to earn some extra cash. Through her involvement with the company, she has gained both friendship and a mission field.

“[When I joined Mary Kay], I was immediately surrounded by all these amazing mentors, these Christian women who love the Lord and also recognize that this vehicle called Mary Kay was an opportunity to build relationships with people, and that [starts] with helping them find a lipstick.”