Coffee Shop Journal

This is a guest post from my friend, John Scott, a youth pastor in north Florida. I felt like this story about the weekend he and his wife spent with a group of musicians was a perfect example of living a tangible faith in the community. I first met John at Q, and have enjoyed getting to know him online through his blog ever since.

This weekend, I found myself surrounded by an entourage of guys that I’ll never forget. And for a few near-concussed moments of my life, I was the unofficial bouncer for 2 metal bands from Massachussetts.

The near concussion came at the hands of Hurricane Bertha. Her waves she sent to the NE Florida Atlantic Coast were over 10 feet tall at points…and they had no mercy on me. While boogie boarding last Friday, she sent me nosediving 5.5 feet underwater into the sand, jarring my neck and opening a wide scrape on my forehead. I jumped out of the water once I realized I wasn’t badly injured… leaving a trail of blood in the water..

So about those 9 guys from Worcester, MA…..

Rachel was making her second visit to Starbucks last Thursday….The $2 coupons from Starbucks are yet another marvel. If you purchase Starbucks before lunch, there’s a $2 coupon for the same day only that entices you to return in the afternoon. So, there she was, making her second (I hope) stop for caffeination, and she noticed 9 tatted up young guys in their late teens/early 20’s. After some questions, she found out that they were 2 bands from MA that were on day 12 of their 21 day EastCoast road trip. Funds were getting tighter, and they had spent the night before in their van, with some guys even sleeping on the WalMart parking lot (not a typo…they slept on the pavement). Her mother hen-ness took over, and she offered that they could sleep at our house if they needed a place. Sure enough, later that night, after they played a show a couple hours down the road, they called asking if the offer was still good.

They showed up at 3a.m. Friday morning. We fed the guys, put them up on couches, beds, and air matresses. The next day, they slept til 1 p.m. to awaken to the smell of french toast, eggs, and sausage. 3 p.m. rolled around, everyone was cleaning up and stirring, and at that moment, realizing their next show wasn’t til Saturday night, we told them it was laundry time and they could spend a second night. Rachel tackled the laundry task and gave me the mission of showing the guys around our city.

That led us to head out to take on Bertha…which was awesome. The guys loved the waves and hangin at the beach. After my incident, we headed down A1A to see the St. Augustine Lighthouse, which Kyle from one of the bands had seen on his favorite episode of Ghost Hunters. From there, we hit George Street in Historic St. Augustine. That was the point where I had that ‘Entourage’ moment. Cue the ‘Entourage’ music. And yeah, I think I was a little woozy from the knock on the head, cause I think I was way cooler than normal.

The rest of the wknd was just plain awesome. We took some sweet pics (below) and really had some good conversations. None of the guys really talked about church much, which in many ways was a relief. They knew Rachel and I were 13th year church youth workers and they had a few questions about what we do.

If I learned anything of value to other leaders, it’s this….. if the church is to reclaim this generation of 20 somethings, it will be through missional projects that show our love for those less fortunate than us. These 9 guys weren’t that impressed with numbers, groups, even quality of our stuff that we’ve worked so hard to perfect….. it was the missions-both local and beyond -that peaked their interest.

So keep being missional I guess. Be instant in season and out. Take that extra trip to balance your caffeination equation. Offer that helping hand when the spirit leads. These rare moments put you- God’s finest- right where He wants you. And ultimately, where He wants Himself.