Personal Stories Part 6

Rochelle and I singing at three trees coffeehouse pictured above:

As we sat around our living room, we discussed what to name the coffeehouse: the Vibe? The Cove? One of our friends suggested, “three trees”. We all smiled. I had in mind the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree that Christ died on and the tree of life that we will eat from in heaven. He had in mind the three trees on Golgotha. Another thought of the Trinity.

When we told local churches our vision for a place that anyone could come, but if folks wanted to know about Christ we were there to tell them, they started donating towards it years before it came to fruition. A five year business plan is not easy to write up, nor is it easy to negotiate a space downtown and bring drawings to the city on renovations. We learned about state and Federal guidelines, non-profit business, budgeting, management, and coffee. I had taken a job at Katz Coffee in Lynden to learn how to make a latte and a mocha. This fellow came from California named Dann and he knew his stuff. He managed Katz. As we finished renovations with the help of contractors and volunteers, I asked him to manage Three Trees Coffeehouse. He agreed. None of these things could we have done without God- I wasn’t administrative nor did I know coffee, but God provided.

 Dann and his wife Abby pictured w/Mitchell

The first night on December 9, 2005, we could hardly get the sound system to work. Our espresso machine wasn’t ready. We couldn’t get the coffeemaker to work. We had to put out quarter slices of muffins from the Grace Cafe and I was still in my paint clothes when people walked through the door. But by God’s grace our first band played on the stage and the sound system worked. We got coffee out about ¾ of the way through the band playing. And I had my first cup with friends as we sat on the floor together, since others were sitting on the couch. Again God was faithful.

A woman came in that night who kept all her belongings in a shopping cart. She spoke a lot without making sense to us, had a lot of makeup, not enough clothes on, her hair frizzed up and she approached the coffeebar with a big smile, asking if we were the “love family”. Not knowing what that was my wife hugged her over the counter and said “yes, we are”. For two years we struggled to know how to love her. She’d been kicked out of every non-profit in town; they told us not to help her because, why did we think we could help her if they couldn’t? We had to ask her to leave often from her disruptions and yelling because she put her clothes in our dumpster and then the dump truck would take it away on Friday morning. We tried to explain to her that wasn’t our fault, but she wouldn’t have it. Two years later we asked her if we could pray for her in the name of Jesus; she agreed and it was like something came out of her. She breathed out, calmed down and from that point on the change began. She got off heroin, started taking medication that actually helped her stay in her right mind. She got housing with our help and the Opportunity Council. She looked to Jesus as her one and only instead of one of the gods and goddesses of her pantheon. And she started to call us the “Jesus family”. Now she is like family to us and a very important part of our church.

That is one of hundreds of stories I could tell, but God was beginning to transform many more lives in Jesus’ Name though three trees coffeehouse. There was an open mic on Tuesday nights- we met so thousands of folks through that. There was discussion night where we heard every perspective imagineable and shared our Christian perspectives as well. There were Bible Studies, art groups, and other open mics that started there as well. And Fridays and Saturdays were full of great music nights. We sought to foster real community and there were many folks who did inquire into our faith, many who did become disciples of Jesus. Hundreds of friends were gained there. But then we told folks that had come to Christ that they needed a church. We started a worship service on Sundays where small groups from local churches could bring food and serve it and get to know our people.

But soon it became obvious that folks weren’t plugging in to these churches. They considered the coffeehouse their church. And who could argue with them? We had coffee and bagels daily in fellowship, lots of prayer up in the office, now a worship service on Sundays. So we told supporting churches that we would start a church plant. The Lord had started it already. Folks that had come to know Christ or had reconnected to Him there need to be cared for and nurtured in that faith. So the Jesus Gathering became a church plant. What a mishmash of people it was! We asked what people were thankful for and heard lots of wonderful things, then someone said, “I’m thankful for marijauna!” We knew we were in for it, but what a blast! Next time I’ll write more about the coffeehouse and its’ ending…