Just the Beginning

Oh me, oh my, where to begin? As I sit here in a coffee shop, preparing to leave tomorrow for the first official Gospel Coffee trip, I am extremely thankful! So I think that’s a good place to begin! “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous word among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.” Psalm 96:3-4

Great is the Lord indeed. We are here today, only by Him. He is the one who lights our path and directs our steps.

But because you are not in my brain and therefore have no clue as to what I am talking about, I would love to tell you the story of Gospel Coffee and how God has led us to where we are.

The story begins with a leap of faith and directed obedience from one of our team members. Here’s the crew so far. Brett, Britnee, Matt, myself (Miki), and sweet Eden. Brett and Britnee are married and Eden is their 15-month-old daughter. Matt and I are siblings. It’s pretty great to be partners in the Kingdom with your family and friends.

Back in January, Brett felt the Lord calling him to step away from His job. This was a struggle. How was he to do it? Wasn’t he supposed to provide for his family? However, amidst the struggle, he chose to have faith in God. He chose to be obedient and to put his trust in God. And I, for one, am thankful he did.

Something God has been teaching me right now is how He has good plans and blessings for us, just like He had for all the biblical characters. But their mistakes are ones that we too, so often make. They saw with their human eyes and they decided what was good or bad for themselves. This is the same thing Eve did in the Garden of Eden. She saw the tree of the knowledge of good and bad and she decided for herself. Thus initiating distance between humanity and God. Our fatal flaw is one of thinking we know best for ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I have countless stories of all the times I thought I knew best and was undoubtedly wrong. Every. Single. Time. However, those are stories for another day. Right now, I am recounting to you the story of how we, a meager crew of 4 adult people and a 15-month-old are about to embark on a five-day journey to another country, traverse a rugged mountain road up to an indigenous village in the Southern portion of Mexico. In likeness to His character, God connected us with two young men named Juan, who speaks both English and Spanish fluently, and Ciro, who speaks the village's native tongue and Spanish. Ciro will translate from the indigenous language of the village when necessary and Juan will translate Spanish into English. What an adventure it will be!

So Brett, walking in obedience, quits his job. Over the next couple of weeks, an idea is birthed in his brain. He starts mulling it over and then shares it with the crew. This crew is Britnee, Matt, and me. The idea is this: a business buying and selling coffee, to provide finances to the ministers and ministries that we have been blessed to meet over the years of doing ministry and traveling.

In December 2022, several of our crew were able to go on a short-term mission trip to the border town of Piedras Negras, Mexico. While there, we worked alongside pastors and members of various house churches in two neighborhoods. We were able to do Vacation Bible School (VBS) type things, such as easy worship songs with hand motions for the kids, some crafts, games, as well as a story from the Bible and a presentation of the Gospel.

This was so special for a multitude of reasons. Connecting with the kids in these neighborhoods left portions of my heart still in Piedras Negras. But another reason I loved it so much is that we got to connect with the pastors of the house churches. To me, this was huge. When we left, it didn’t feel like we had just shared the gospel and led people to Christ and left them with no hope. I saw their relationships with the pastors of their churches. I knew that the kids and adults would be tended to and discipled by their local body. And this was a blessing to me. So often, people (and I have done this) come into a town, preach, and leave. Leaving behind in their wake baby Christians, who without proper care and tending and discipleship are easily choked out and discouraged by the enemy. Now is this to say that telling someone about Jesus is ever a bad thing? Or that those baby Christians have no hope? Definitely not! Jesus, Himself, promises to be with them (Deuteronomy 31:6 and Matthew 28:20). But on this particular trip, I was immensely blessed by these pastors' connection to their community and their care for the children. One of these pastors' names was Ciro (pronounced kind of like zero, but not quite). And he is continuing to play a part in their story, as well as ours.

Well, as it turns out, Ciro is from a small mountain village in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. And His mom grows coffee. What?! Coincidence? I think not. As a follower of Christ, I have come to see things like this not as simple coincidences or chances of fate, but as direction from God or “God-incidences”, as called by my lovely mother. So, we met this pastor who has connections to green coffee beans. Come to find out, his mom and four to five other families are all a part of this little church in their small, mountain village and they all grow coffee. Another wisdom nugget from my parents, this time, from my dearest father is, “When looking for God’s direction, look for the obvious”. This seemed pretty obvious to us. Brett gets this idea to buy green coffee, roast it, and sell it in the US. Then we learn that a minister we met has family members that grow green coffee, and not only his family but several families that are all a part of the church. So here is our first adventure. God is already lining out the next, but one step at a time, right? We are thrilled for this first step!

And because I could keep writing, I will say this is enough for right now. Soon I will tell you more about the Crew. Soon I will share the importance of the word “go”. Soon I will explain the heart attached to Mexico. But for now, this is good. I want to let you in on this wild journey the Lord is directing for us. Personally, when I hear testimony and stories of God actively working in my brothers and sisters in Christ’s lives, I get encouraged and rallied to press on. These are my hopes in sharing this story. For you to be encouraged and rallied in your faith. To look for God-incidences. To give Him praise because praise is due only to Him. And to look for the obvious when trusting in God as He lines out your steps.

Shalom from the Gospel Coffee Crew