A little over four years ago my husband, Jeff, and I left traditional church ministry in California and started a coffee shop ministry in Hickory NC. We served in church ministry for years and at the time were on staff at a growing church of about 550 people. However, we’d felt something was really broken with church as we knew it and more and more people were disillusioned with church. At our own church the focus had changed once the new building was built. Concern turned to keeping up the property and having an impressive, polished, and even an “entertaining” service.

The church was on a hill over looking the beautiful Carquinez Strait where old ships called the Moth Ball Fleet were kept. People pulled off the highway and drove up to our parking lot to take in the amazing view. Before long the church installed an electric gate to keep people out at night so no harm came to the building. The church was a castle on a hill with its own draw bridge. Staff spent all week preparing for Sundays trying to reach lost people but few would ever enter the doors.

Jeff had worked to launch recovery groups and also oversaw small groups. It was in this smaller venue of remarkable, broken people where authentic transformation was happening. Coffee shops were big on the west coast. I began to notice the warmth and authenticity of the coffee shop environment. People loved to hang out with friends there, or work on their computer. It was relaxed and inviting. What if this setting could be used to reach people with Christ’s love? Anybody might walk in for a beverage and we could connect with them. What if we provided a safe place for spiritual conversation to happen, without all the crosses on the walls or ritual and taboos we impose on people?

God planted this idea in my heart and I shared it with Jeff. God kept nipping at our heels. We fasted and prayed and felt God telling us to move on it and that it was to be in Hickory, NC. We shared the vision with those we knew. Some were excited. Many were skeptical. God sold our house in CA in three months, the first miracle. He provided temporary work in North Carolina, the next miracle, by friend in California who had just purchased two storage rental facilities near where we were going and who needed a manager at just the time when we’d be arriving.

By the time we got to Hickory, the economy and housing market was a wreck. We used the proceeds from our house to purchase another home and the remaining funds to locate used furniture and equipment. For a year Jeff and I worked for the storage facilities while we put all the pieces together and found a location. Despite the economic down turn, we still felt we were to go through with the ministry. We still needed money for a salary. None of the area banks would finance us. Because of the economy no one would fund a start up and because we had no experience running a coffee shop. God spoke through the last loan officer who said “You have what you need to open only without a salary.”

How could we run it without salary? Was it possible to find volunteers to work the counter? After more prayer, we felt God telling us to proceed. We opened shop in 2009. God provided a full time job for me to support us, another miracle, and people did volunteer to work the counter, yet another.

Today, Java Journey is a fully operational non-profit coffee shop, a church incognito. The general public stops in for coffee and to enjoy the warm, inviting atmosphere. Our mission statement is to provide a Christian response to the hurting and broken through compassion in action while providing hope and restoration and empowering the restored to serve others. We have home style church in small group format and God provided ministry leaders to lead recovery groups. Many churches, groups and individuals in our area use our space for disciplining and meetings.

We didn’t foresee that many of those we serve would be unemployed or underemployed. Nor did we know coffee sales alone wouldn’t be enough to support us. Jeff still doesn’t have a salary through the ministry, but God just provided him a job. God keeps miraculously building the bridge as we walk on it. with a donation here, or there. It’s been the hardest and the most rewarding thing we have ever done. Since embarking on this endeavor we have seen God move in amazing ways. I’ve come to realize that the reason so many of us fail to see God at work is that we refuse to let go of dependence on our own resources.