Coffee -- yes, by design

At the conclusion of e3 - The School of Congregational Development last weekend, a bunch of us stayed and participated in a servant evangelism project. Sara and I had purchased a whole bunch of coupons for a free cup of coffee at Coffee By Design, a local coffee shop, and we made up some coupons that say this:

YES! It really is free!

We hope this small gift brightens your day. It's a simple way of saying that God loves you.

Then on the back, we included information about New Light, as well as our New Light blog address.

After sharing lunch together and a brief orientation, we gathered in a circle and spent a few moments in prayer. My prayer was that God would go before us -- that these coupons and cards would end up in the hands of the people who needed them most. Then we split into two teams, and each team went to one of the neighborhoods where Coffee By Design shops are located.

It was a miserable, rainy day. The remains of Hurricane Noel were working their way through Portland. I mean, it was raining and raining and raining, and the wind was so strong an umbrella was pretty much useless. But off we went to stand on the sidewalks of Congress Street and India Street to hand out coffee coupons.

Man, it was a fun time! I didn't expect to have so much fun! Almost universally, people were psyched to receive these coupons. A few turned them down... not surprising, since the concept of free is hard to imagine. A few turned them down immediately, then thought about it for half a second and came back for them. A few said, "Thanks, but I don't drink coffee." Most everyone else was glad to receive the gift. Some even wanted to know why we were doing this. We probably passed out 200 of those coupons in about an hour, and I had a blast.

There was no "If you died tonight, do you know where you'd be?" (doesn't that approach make your stomach turn?), and we didn't pray the Jesus prayer with anyone on the sidewalks of Portland. But I know for sure that we made lots of people's day. It was pretty miserable for us standing out there, but what a perfect day for passing out coffee! I don't know how many people have checked out our New Light blog as a result... A few people said they were going to, and a couple were really excited to hear about the new church. I hope we created a little buzz, though, and maybe that little card ended up in someone's pocket, or in someone's car, or on someone's dresser, and who knows? Some day when that person is most in need of a word of hope, when everything else seems to be failing, it'll show up and be an instrument of God's grace.

This is how God works, isn't it? Sometimes because of us, sometimes in spite of us, through the little things like free cups of coffee on a rainy day.

I'm thankful for this experience, and thankful for those who stayed after e3 was all over with when they were probably tired and ready to go home. And I'm looking forward to another servant evangelism project sometime soon...