Coffee Shop Journal

Tonight David and I shared a Johnny Rocket’s booth and indulged in chocolate milk shakes, onion rings and a killer game of dot-to-dots on my iPhone (yes….it’s a fun app). We had a great time hanging out and watching the kids come and go from this local hot spot. The movies are located nearby, and the high school football game had gotten out minutes before we sat down. Johnny Rocket’s was a hopping spot in our community tonight.

I thought about how hard we work to get kids into our church buildings, and yet how easily they flock to these community third places. One of the things I love about our church is that our student ministries pastor, Shaun Blakeney, understands how to show up in the places that matter. He was at the football game with some of his staff tonight making the connections that count. And there we were hanging out in a booth while our kids and their friends munched on burgers and fries. We adults are still trying to get the “church in the marketplace” concept, but our kids get it. They instinctively go where the action is. It isn’t the first lesson I’ve learned from middle schoolers and high schoolers, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.

In my mind, the evening was accompanied by the 10th Avenue North song, “Love is Here…Love is Now.”

The shake wasn’t bad, either.