by David Docusen | July 7, 2012 | Uncategorized
We have been incredibly blessed to partner with Charlotte Family Housing in their efforts to end family homelessness in Charlotte. Here’s the latest update on what we have seen accomplished through all of their hard work in the past 10 months:
– Sheltering 65 families who needed a safe place to stay until they are able to obtain housing.
– Housing 173 families by empowering them with the skills to move out of homelessness and return into housing.
– Impacting a total of 603 people (203 adults and 400 children).
– Creating an innovative and effective model which provides a customized path for each family to achieve self-sufficiency.
– Focusing on empowerment: CFH will not do anything for a family that they can do for themselves.
– Establishing a framework that will allow CFH to serve even more families in the future by working on shorter shelter stays and ensuring that each family does not become homeless again.
There is a waiting list of families that want to take the appropriate steps to move from homelessness to self-suffiency. If you are interested in partnering with us to support this amazing organization, email us at [email protected].
by David Docusen | July 6, 2012 | Uncategorized
We are kicking off a week at Center City Church simply called “Acts of Kindness.” The goal is really simple: do something nice for somebody else, out of the ordinary, intentionally at least once every day for seven days (June 9-16). I truly believe that one of the best ways that we can shine the light of Christ in our community is by serving others around us.
The ideas have been pouring in from across our community. Here’s a few to spark your creativity as you simply share the love of Jesus by acts of kindness:
– Baking cookies and delivering to local fire/police stations with a thank you note.
– Paying for the person behind you in line at the local coffee shop.
– Cutting your neighbor’s yard.
– Sending a random handwritten note to a friend.
– Visiting a retirement home and spending time with an elderly couple.
– Writing a Facebook note to an old friend to encourage them.
– Saying thank you to a person that has impacted your life.
– Volunteering at a local non-profit for a day.
There are so many other ideas that can spark when we intentionally take time to love those around us. What ideas do you have? We want to hear your stories throughout the week. If you have an idea or have a great experience, email us at [email protected] to share your story. You don’t have to be a part of our church family to jump into the fun!
Let’s love our community. Let’s be creative. Let’s shine the light of Jesus with our actions.
**Proverbs 11:30 – The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends.
by David Docusen | June 2, 2012 | Uncategorized
The dream of franchising Ebenezers Coffeehouse was birthed five years ago during an unplanned meeting between a couple of strangers chasing the same dream. Here’s the back story…
The desire started for Dara (my wife) and I as we walked through the lobby of our church in 2006. We decided that if we were to ever start our own church, we wanted to build a building that could be used by the community seven days a week. We didn’t want a typical church building, but one that the community felt was theirs and that the church “used” on Sundays. We kicked around several ideas. A warehouse that could double as an events center and a coffeehouse/venue were the top two. We could set either of them up as a non-profit model that poured all profits back into humanitarian projects in communities at home and across the world.
We were kicking around this idea with a guy named Randy at an event in Winston-Salem, NC in October 2007. We had just met that day and we just started dreaming about what church could be and how we could practically engage our community. We mentioned the warehouse idea and the coffeehouse/venue. He said, “You know, there’s a guy in Washington DC that just opened one of those.”
Two months passed from that day and I randomly got an email from Randy. He said, “I remembered that guy’s name. It’s Mark Patterson and the coffeehouse is Ebenezers.” I jumped on Google and put in “Mark Patterson Ebenezers Washington DC.” Turns out there were no Mark Patterson’s that pastor in DC. There was, however, a Mark Batterson. I arrived at the conclusion that everyone can make a simple mistake and this had to be the guy.
I went home that evening and checked out Mark’s website with my wife. I also found their MySpace page (yes, MySpace) for the coffeehouse. I wrote a message to Mark saying that we would love to connect sometime and that we had a similar vision. Right when I was about to hit the send button, I felt a prompting in my spirit to just let go and pray. I looked at Dara and said, “Dara, I feel like we’re supposed to let go and allow God to make the connection. I don’t feel like I’m supposed to send this email. ” She looked back at me very matter of factly and said, “So don’t.” I didn’t. (<— Husband points.)
We prayed together that night. “God, if you want this to happen, you will bring this to pass. Help us to meet Mark naturally and let us build a friendship instead of a business opportunity.”
Dara and I had a choice to make in the midst of all of this dreaming. On one hand, we had an opportunity to move to Raleigh, NC to plant a church. On the other hand, we had an opportunity to move to Charlotte, NC and help another pastor plant a church. During this process, Dara and I were asking God for wisdom.
We were at a railroad crossing, sitting at a stop light in Kannaopolis, NC when we felt like the Lord direct us in this way: “Charlotte will be the place that all of your dreams come to pass.” So we delayed our dream to start our own church and came on the staff of another church planter, Mike Field (Hope Church in North Charlotte).
I was sitting in one of our first planning meetings for Hope Church in January 2008 when the craziest thing happened. We were kicking around ideas of where Hope Church would meet. I floated the idea of a coffeehouse/venue. They loved it. As I was telling them about Ebenezers in Washington DC and a pastor name Mark Batterson, one of our team members looked at me and said, “I know Mark. I’m going to be up there in two weeks.” I looked back at him and said, “Can I come?”
Two weeks later, we were sitting in front of Mark at his office that is on the floor above Ebenezers Coffeehouse. We were complete strangers. And to make this even funnier, it turns out that the guy that was going to DC forgot to confirm with Mark that he was coming. When we got off the elevator at saw Mark, I would find out later, he had no clue we were coming.
I asked Mark a question that day that took every ounce of courage that God had placed in me. I was so nervous as I said to him, “Mark, I know we don’t know each other, but I came today to ask you if you have ever considered franchising Ebenezers?” Mark looked at me for a few moments, smiled and said, “What would you say if I said that I just attended an exploratory meeting on franchising two days ago?”
We look back on that day as the birth of our shared dream. God placed a huge dream in our hearts that has taken us on a five year ride that has been unforgettable. And it turns out that our decision to delay our dream in leading our own church plant actually accelerated our dream to open a coffeehouse/venue for the community.
I have made countless trips to DC since that day. We have traveled to conferences together so that we could continue building the friendship, dream together and pray over this shared vision. During one of the funniest moments of our friendship, Mark looked at me one day in Orlando, FL and said, “David, did you know that we had over two hundred people inquire to us about the idea of franchising before you came to DC that day a few years ago?” I wanted to punch him. “What?!” I asked, “Why did you never tell me that?” He just started to laugh. “Why did you say yes to us, then?” I was so confused. He looked back and me and said, “We’re kindred spirits. This one is just right.”
I learned another lesson that day in realizing there is nothing new under the sun. Dara and I had an idea to start a coffeehouse/venue instead of a church. Turns out someone had already done that. We had an idea to franchise Ebenezers to multiply the impact through shared vision and shared resources. Two hundred people had already gone down that road.
I also learned a lesson that day in being sensitive to the spirit. Mark has turned out to be a mentor to me in so many ways. But one of the main lessons that I’ve learned from watching his life is how to be a courageous, visionary leader that is led by the Holy Spirit. Mark is not led by his big dreams or his emotions. He is following the source of all of these big dreams.
Since this dream started five years ago, Dara and I were blessed to be sent out by Hope Church to realize a longtime dream of our own as we planted Center City Church in Uptown Charlotte in April 2010. We have an incredible team that has joined us in this shared dream. And we are all following Jesus as he continues to lead us toward seeing this come to pass.
I am leaving DC today to head back to Charlotte. The next step that we are taking is to write the second draft of our affiliation agreement. This agreement will be the guide that we use in the future to see this dream of reproducing Ebenezers Coffeehouse all over the world.
The dream is coming to life that started five years ago during an unplanned meeting between a couple of strangers chasing the same dream. Ebenezers Coffeehouse is coming to Uptown Charlotte. All in God’s timing, all for God’s glory.
by David Docusen | June 2, 2012 | Uncategorized
It’s hard to describe the emotions that race through my head as I am typing this blog entry while sitting at Ebenezers Coffeehouse in Washington DC. God put a dream in our hearts six years ago to partner with Mark Batterson and his team at National Community Church to open the first franchise of Ebenezers – a non-profit coffeehouse and multiple-use venue. All profits go toward local and global humanitarian projects.
I had a great meeting with Mark today regarding the next steps of our dream to see this come to life in Charlotte. We are working out the final details of an affiliation agreement that will bind us together in vision, heart and purpose. This will also serve as the model for Ebenezers franchises in the years to come.
As an update, the next steps are to finalize the affiliation agreement and continue our search for the perfect property in the Uptown Charlotte community. This will come to pass in God’s timing. I’m encouraged by all of the practical steps that are continuing to unfold.
As Mark always says, we will continue to “work like it depends on us and pray like it depends on God.” The journey continues. What a ride.
by David Docusen | May 30, 2012 | Uncategorized
This is a copy of an email I sent today to everyone that we have in our email database at Center City Church. If you did not receive this email (and you would like to receive stuff like this in the future) shoot me your email address: [email protected].
For those that didn’t get it…here you go:
Center City family…
I have had you on my heart lately. Not a strange admission considering I’m a pastor, but something is different. Something is deeper. I am sensing a new season upon us as a church family.
I am excited about what I see coming. God is taking what he has done since our church started two years ago and He is preparing us to fully engage the community around us. This is where you come in: I want to hear your ideas.
When you look around our community, what do you see? Where can we best serve our neighbors and show them the practical love of Jesus? Who can you invite to Center City that is exploring matters of faith?
My prayer is that we will be a church family that intentionally turns our attention outward in response to the inward work of Jesus in our lives. Our vision is simple: Center City Church exists to honor God and make disciples at home and across the world. It starts with our relationship with Jesus and then goes outward. Let’s do this together.
If it’s been a while since we’ve seen you, I would love to extend an invitation for you to join us again this week. We are a part of the beginning of something much bigger than ourselves. And you play a major part in this story.
Have a great week & I hope to see you on Sunday!
David Docusen
Lead Pastor
Center City Church
