God placed a dream in my heart six years ago. Instead of building a church building that takes revenue, what if we created a multiple use venue that was for the community and generated revenue? The idea continued to form in my heart as I discussed this with my wife, Dara. We could then turn all the profit back into the community and into overseas missions. We I started to dream. It was around that time that we met Mark Batterson, a pastor in Washington DC. We started to dream together about the possibility of taking an idea that he started in DC, Ebenezers Coffeehouse, and creating an affiliation model where we could do the same thing in Charlotte.
Fast forward six years. After an incredibly joyful and frustrating journey, near misses on buildings and God-given miracles, we have just put a contract on a building in the heart of Uptown Charlotte. It’s a two story building that we are planning to put a 2,000+ square foot coffeehouse on the street level and a 250+ seat venue on the second level. All profit from this building will go into missions projects at home and across the world.
The journey has been formative in so many ways. Learning how to navigate God given vision, exciting developments, painful disappointments, discouraging moments and incredible generosity from many has shown us that God will take as long as he chooses to make sure that he gets all the credit in the end.
I don’t know what the days ahead include, but I have seen God’s power in the midst of all the ups and downs. We are resolved to stay on the ride, no matter what comes around the next corner.
The journey of seeing a vision come to life is never about a property or the dream itself. It’s about the glory that will be given to God when He brings it to pass and the influence that it will bring to shine the light of Christ to all that become a part of the story.
