Coffee Shop Journal

Sometimes the simplest of phrases catch my ear and stick with me. Today it was a random comment by Tim Stevens, written on his blog. He was referring to Ebenezers, the coffee shop run by Mark Batterson’s church, National Community Church. The coffee shop was built as a place, he said, for the church and the community to hang out. That was it: the church and the community to hang out.

How do you do that?

Assuming that most churches will never build a coffee shop, how do you provide opportunities for the church to hang out with the community? In this instance I’m (for once) not necessarily referring to the individual within the church, but the church as a recognizable community figure. How does the church build its “brand” in the community?

I think the best answers to that question are creative, outward-focused opportunities for the church to build into their surroundings. I’d love to see more creative solutions than are usually proposed for this, solutions like art shows hanging in the church hallways, refreshments being served at community events provided by the church, tutoring services for neighborhood kids. Or maybe something as simple as having church members hang at the local hot spot on Friday nights. For us, that would be outside the movie theater sitting in front of Starbucks.

How do you do it? Where do you go to hang out with the community as a church?

Apparently I’m bored on this road trip! We stopped at a turnpike Starbucks and I got my usual Grande Iced Starbucks Doubleshot, breve, with energy. I needed the caffeine to stay awake and keep us moving between the white lines! David and I are in the car alone, and the two of us can be very quiet. Well phone call and texts after phone call and texts came in, and soon we were making another pit stop. I grabbed a drink that I knew had lots of caffeine, because I was dragging. (Yes, I know it’s an addiction issue. I’m investigating rehab opportunities). We got back in the car, and it was then that noticed my still full doubleshot.

Lesson learned: you won’t feel the energy if you don’t actually pick up the cup and drink. Just buying it is not enough.

Spiritual parallels abound. Make sure you are putting in the effort needed to feel the energy! It won’t seep in by osmosis.

Onward to the next pit stop!

The car is packed with aqua and pink and purple and green girlie things. My credit card is maxed out with Pottery Barn purchases that she doesn’t need but she wanted anyway. My heart couldn’t resist. Her hair is freshly cut, her laundry is done and her sister is trying her best to be nice. She’s going to college.

We’re on the road to Atlanta today, hoping to grab a shopping day tomorrow before we drop her off at school on Saturday. Kylie is a happy, weepy, nervous bundle of contradictions right now, and her momma isn’t far behind. But for now…a road trip calls. And the little girl I raised is getting ready to go out and prove that her heart is HIS heart and her future is calling.

That’s the description my latest book gives to most audiences. The book is called Your Attention Please by Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis. Since that headline almost (but not quite) describes me, I just offer these few thoughts.

 Our epiphany…

When we began thinking about the challenge of capturing people’s attention, we naturally applied our own perspective and experience. “We’re just as busy as anyone else,” we said, “But we haven’t tuned out and stopped paying attention.” In fact, we were consuming more than ever: Digesting three newspapers a day. Avidly reading online newsletters. Carrying a shoulder bag of reading material onto planes and into doctor’s offices. Dreaming about our next vacation, when we could do nothing but sit on a beach and read.

It was that last part, the part about the beach and a book, that made us realize that we’re not like most of the people we need to communicate with. Our idea of heaven is to be someplace where we can read in peace.

Anyone who has spoken to me for more than ten minutes knows that quote could be written by me. So these statistics were startling to me.

• The percentage of adult Americans reading literature has  dropped dramatically — by 19 percent — over the past 20 years.
• Today, less than half of adult Americans read literature (46.7 percent, or 96 million people).
• Literary reading is declining among all age groups.

Whether in ministry, life or your family, you need to realize this: you may not have communicated what you think you have. The sermon was half heard, the note was skimmed, the ingredient list on the board was only partially absorbed.

As avid a reader as I am, I wonder how many piece of information I let fly by without really seeing it? Was there a piece of information I needed?

This is my submission for Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos - Cultural Watercooler.

Swimming is where it’s at this Olympic year. I can’t resist Michael Phelps’ quest for the history books. One little lesson was brought home to me watching the past few days of Olympic glory. Apparently when you are swimming, how you finish is as important as how you run the race. At least two races that I know of were won — or lost — based on the swimmer’s hand position as they tapped the wall for the finish. The swimmer who kept their form and extended their hand to touch the wall won over the swimmer who flexed their hand at the last moment.

In life, too, we are often judged on how we finish. Blow the last seconds and you may not stand on the podium receiving your medal. I want to finish well. I want to follow through on my words and promises. I want to represent Him with my hand extended, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead.

I’m going to finish well.

We’ve turned a corner here in the Saunders household yesterday. The beauty of non-stop ministry situations is that they usually begin to see the light of truth clear away the darkness, and I feel as if I’m seeing that process play out in both the physical and the spiritual realms. When God restores broken things it feels like jumping into a clear, clean pool on the hottest day of summer. Everything is washed and refreshed.

Since I’ve had a few minutes to catch up on all my blogosphere friends, I thought I’d post links to the posts that I really enjoyed and helped me through the last two weeks. I haven’t had time to comment on them, but all of them either touched me, inspired me or humored me!

Ed Bahler wrote an interesting post this week that I’ve thought a lot about.

• A Rabbi and a  Christian: on how some of the issues the church faces are also facing Jewish faith communities.

Pete Wilson wrote about making sure, as you lead, that you are leading people to the right place. While you are there look at the link he gives to an Olympics cheer site.

All-time favorite blog post title of the week goes to the Church Bartender gang for this post: Let’s Get Naked.  Come on people, you know me…you can trust my recommendation. David Helbig and Jeremy should especially go check this one out.

I love everything Jeff Shinabarger posts, but I enjoyed dipping back into the culture/arts side of life with this post on Beautiful Losers.

When Anne Jackson talks, I listen over at Flowerdust, her blog. But writing on the Deadly Viper Character Assassins blog this week she had a great viewpoint on the John Edwards Affair. Grace…what a great word.

Joni wrote about Loneliness in the church and reminded me of one of my core values: hospitality. It was a great reminder of why we do what we do.

My friend Lisa Duvall just started a blog, Life according to Weezie. Go check her out and encourage her with a comment!

I’d give you more, but a nasty, nasty storm just blew threw and knocked out all our power. One girl is hollering in the shower and another keeps pushing the TV Remote. I guess I have to go! Enjoy, all.

I am a sucker for all things coffee. The smells, the sights, the places, the stories: coffee intrigues me. There is just so much history there, all swirling in my cup. I came across this website the other day in my neverending crawl through the internet. Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur are artists who use the coffee itself as their medium. Go check out their website and make sure you see both their gallery of work and their live film of the creative process. So much fun!

Just Coffee Art has lots of creative ideas to get your coffee-loving juices flowing.

I guess it’s no secret that life in my household has been rather more stressful than usual lately. Well today I decided that I needed to remember the basic rule of airline travel: put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others. In other words, if we don’t protect our own emotional health, we’re no good to anyone else. So in the spirit of good fun, I pulled together a few things that preserve MY emotional health!!!

1. Disappear into fiction.

Don’t you love a good book that wraps up neatly in the end? And the problems in fiction tend to be so much BIGGER than anything I have to deal with (though — honestly — maybe not this week!). Today I curled up on the couch for an hour or so and read this book. It’s gripping. I’d love to see it as a movie. Is the writing the best? Not so much, but it’s fun!

2. Take a nap.

My first nap today started at 11:00 AM. I never underestimate the power of just a few minutes of “turning off my brain”!

3. Clean something, anything.

The physical energy I expend in cleaning, and controlling, my environment always returns me to a sense of well-being.

 4. Food and Drink and Exercise.

I know…dangerous territory here, but comfort food and comfort smells really help! I’ve already told you how happy I was to smell coffee on the airplane last week. Drinking it during the day reminds me of all that I love most. And ice cream? Well… that leads directly to the last point, exercise. You all know the studies on exercise and mood. Enough said.

5. An arsenal of secret weapons.

I don’t mean guns and knives to eliminate your stresses, of course. I mean those things that always work just for you. For me? A short ride in the car with David, the smell of Barnes and Noble when I walk in, watch a stupid TV show (Project Runway anyone?), sit by the pool with friends, put on my iPod, throw something — anything — away, find a new friend from Facebook, or head to the mall for a cup of coffee.

How about you? What are the ways you destress?

The Tangible Kingdom, by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, has probably affected me more than any book I’ve read recently. It strengthened my resolve not to just think about the work God has for me to do here, in His community, but also to DO the work. Words are useful, and my stock in trade so to speak, but they are limited in their use. So reading the Tangible Kingdom I began to wonder what kind of adventures would await one who stepped out into the wide, wide world. This week I learned a few lessons about life out here, and I thought I would try to return to my first love and put them into words.

• There is nothing more important to do than the thing God puts in front of you that only you can accomplish. It just won’t look like you thought it would. This thing that you must do will almost certainly test every preconceived notion you had of yourself. Competing opportunities will immediately look far more attractive. But only you will be able to do this thing. That’s how you know that God is in it.
• Don’t expect a storybook ending. There is a storybook ending, of course — God’s story, and not yours.
• Don’t expect to feel sufficient. Funny thing about jumping into the fray: it’s a battlefield and there are casualties, including you. We can’t do it. We can’t begin to even comprehend it. But there are wounded sitting next to us in coffee shops, churches, or even our small groups who are counting on us to do it anyway.
• So do it anyway.

Maybe that’s the biggest and hardest lesson I’ve learned this week. Nothing is tied up in a pretty bow, nothing turns out beautiful in the end, it’s messy and grimy and covered with unimaginable filth. But we have to do it anyway. I had no idea so many, many people were waiting for me to agree to walk through the kingdom with my eyes open, connecting with the people around me. I had no idea. I’ve never been more heartbroken.

But somehow through the grime and sludge of life out there, I’ve never been happier. Jump in with me.

I don’t often blog about our weekend services at Christ Fellowship, not only because I’ve been traveling so much but also because Dave Helbig, Kerry Mackey and now James Duvall are in a better position to represent our church. Last night, however, Pastor Tom Mullins reminded me of his best friend John Maxwell, who is a teaching pastor here as well. His sermon focused on Olympic Gold, and what makes up a champion’s identity. The questions Tom asked put heart back into me and picked me up from the battlefield. So I decided to share them, briefly, with you.

What defines you? Are there experiences — good or bad — that define you? People? A Job?

Champions are NOT defined by…

• Fears: “Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly” — William Shakespeare
• Failure: “Failure is not falling down: it is remaining there when you have fallen.” — Unknown
• Former Successes: “You can never ride on the wave that went out yesterday.” — John Wanamaker

Rather, our identity in Christ is what focuses us on the life God wants us to live. Philippians 3:14 reminds us that we should forget what is behind and strain towards what is ahead. For me, that was the moment when God stepped into that sermon and spoke to me. Humans have a tendency to get stuck in the mud of our failures, but we’re supposed to forget the past and instead STRAIN toward the future that God has for us. We can be set free from the weight of both our failures and our successes, which can equally weigh us down. This changes everything. Pastor told us that before he left on his recent trip overseas, John Maxwell sat down with Billy Graham for an hour or so, one on one. Always learning from the past, John asked Dr. Graham about the great crusades and move of God he’d been a part of. Dr. Graham — at his age of 90 ish — said, “John, I don’t want to think about the past. I want to talk about the future.” Wow.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for thoe who are in Christ Jesus. — Romans 8:1

I leave you with the three points Pastor threw in at the end of his message.

1. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Nothing.
2. Nothing can overpower your life — you are God’s.
3. Nothing can prevent God’s plan from unfolding.

You can find Pastor’s message on our website here, or look Christ Fellowship up in iTunes.