The Christian Imagination

I recently back to the county where I grew up to spend some time with family and attend a high school reunion. It’s been awhile since I’ve been back, and it was a good time to get some perspective.

Way back when, I had thought about the need for a place to gather, to network, to be with people, in the city near where I lived. While there are likely some, there still aren’t many, and that became all the more real when I was there.

It’s then that I’m very thankful that I do have a place to go in Fort Collins, Colorado. There are a number of parks and coffee houses, and then, my coffee house, Everyday Joe’s, which truly is a gathering place where I can go and see many of the same faces each week, and perhaps meet some new ones.

In a culture where it’s so easy to stay in touch, it’s sometimes difficult to actually be touched, and have people connect with our souls. We can so easily be isolated in our offices or living rooms, watching TV, playing video games, or whatever the distraction of the day is. To be fair, technology has the potential to connect or isolate, depending on how we use it.

Is the church a place people gather? Or perhaps it really is the gathering itself (my preferred view). And when people walk into that gathering, do they feel isolated…or do they find connection? I believe a church is a people, not a place, but that doesn’t mean the place isn’t important. We need places, with people, to go and be. And when we find one, let’s appreciate it, because they aren’t always easy to find.

As part of my involvement in the coffee house community that we call Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, I mix sound for about 2 concerts a month, and have done so for 3 years or so.

I love live music, and this gives me a good incentive to not only hear their music, to but serve the musicians and get to know them a little better. It also gets me outside myself, as I have to be attentive to bringing out the best sound possible for any given song, to help the musicians enjoy themselves, and to keep the audience in mind as well. It’s rather surreal, really.

And while the sound is very important, so is the human element. Caring about people, and caring about the sound, and encouraging the musicians, and learning to empathize better with all that they have been through lately (driving, touring, lack of sleep, etc). We have all sorts of musicians from all sorts of places playing all sorts of styles come through our doors and grace our stage. Some share our faith in Christ, others don’t, but every weekend, we have an opportunity to love on them, and listen to them, and hear them, and it’s wonderful. The really cool part is how we’ve been able to build an extended family with some musicians and our coffee house community.

It just occured to me today that my life as a part-time volunteer sound tech is very relevant to this blog, yet I haven’t talked much about it, so this is a start. We hear a lot of great independent and soon-to-be-more-famous musicians, and there are some great ones to know. I may share some concert experiences, and who knows, maybe eventually I’ll have an occasional interview.

And if you are a musician and would like to play at our coffee house in Fort Collins, Colorado, let us know.

Everyday Joe’s Coffee House is a nonprofit coffee house in downtown Fort Collins, Colorado. This is the outreach ministry of Timberline Oldtown Church, which meets in the coffee house on Sunday mornings. It’s the coffee house and church of which I am a part.

What does it mean to do ‘outreach’ and ‘ministry’? They are two words that have gained a fairly negative reputation among non-Christians…and even among some Christians. While noble in intent, they sometimes end up being nothing more than one-way communication from Christian to non-Christian, where no real communication takes place, and no relationship is built. When we talk and fail to listen, it can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.

What does it mean to be a coffee house, run by Christians? Everyday Joe’s Coffee House is a place people come to. Conversation takes place. Walls come down. God works in our midst. He works in people’s hearts here, but not because of programs, but more because we provide a space where we get out of the way, a space where people can be themselves, a space where we can listen and gain understanding with one another. We have concerts on Friday and Saturday, but the concerts may or may not be performed by Christians. We have art on the walls, sometimes by Christians, sometimes not. We have little to none religious imagery. Is this our philosophy of ministry? No, it comes from our heart of who we are.

It’s a crossroads that not everyone is comfortable with. For some who favor an overt Christian message, we’re not Christian enough. For some who know we’re affiliated with a church, the fact that we’re Christians is enough for them to distrust us. But for others, there’s dialogue…and community. We learn from each other and get closer to each other as fellow humans.

We strive for quality too, because people are important. Sometimes in Christian circles we are cheap, really cheap, all while telling people how much we love them. We have our financial limitations, but even so, we have a quality espresso machine, use high end coffee, make homemade chai, and train our mostly volunteer staff how to pull quality shots. It’s good coffee. If you’re ever in Northern Colorado, please stop by.

For more information visit our website at www.everydayjoes.org.

Our executive director maintained a blog for a few years that has a number of details about Everyday Joe’s.

Our event coordinator just started a new blog to go along with our e-newsletter called Appendix E-J. The latest post, written by me, is here.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Everyday Joe’s Coffee House, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, has released a 19 song CD compilation in MP3 format:

“One part of the vision of Everyday Joe’s is to give back to the community as much as possible…whether that be monetarily, through in-kind donations, not charging for the use of the building, and now, through a free CD compilation for you.

Love, Everyday Joe’s- vol. 1: No More Gloom is now up for download by clicking here. This is an idea that had been brewing in our minds for some time and to see it come to fruition is fantastic. All the music on the album was donated by musicians who have played here. This will only be available for a limited time (until about Jan. 1) so don’t dilly dally. Get downloading!

Songs were donated by: Aboyandhiskite, Winderous Igloos, Eric Peters, Josh Dillard, Luke Flowers, Trace Bundy, Eva Holbrook, Kate Hurley, The Blackthorn Project, Tim Coons, Listener Project, The Apprentice, Jeremy Lister, Jonah Werner, Andrew Osenga, Katie Herzig, Aaron Strumpel, and Sleeping At Last.”