Allright here I am chillin in the cafe. It is Thursday around noon, and this is the second official day being open. Yesterday was crazy chaotic: the credit card machine wasn't working (and still isn't), I hadn't gotten any petty cash for the register, I hadn't labeled the different buttons on the cash register (which made it confusing when I was ringing people up), and I didn't have any milk at first (which is a problem when you're selling drinks). But it was fun, and it went well. We sold around 20 drinks during the day, most of them being either from people in Crux or from a group of pastors that came and used our conference room for a meeting. Everyone seems to really like the drinks, which is great. We just need to get the word out more.
I pretty much stayed at the cafe from 730am til 1030 pm yesterday, because I closed up around 6 and then did a bunch of closing/cleaning duties. I have a feeling there are going to be many long days at the cafe in the next month or so. Sam and I got the chance to pray the past couple days before the cafe opened, and we're going to contine to do that so that we start each day off on the right foot. As far as marketing goes, we made some quarter sheet fliers and Sam and Christy went over to Pasadena City College to set up a booth and pass them out. A bunch of people signed up to play music at the cafe, so we're going to try to start doing those next Friday. I think that will be the best way to grow the cafe and get the word out, because whoever is playing will want to bring their friends and then they'll get exposed to the cafe and hopefully it'll just spread from there. Some of the kids in the community have been really helpful in passing out fliers and they seem to be very excited about it, which is encouraging. Both Sam and Christy are taking classes right now (Christy at USC, Sam at PCC), so things are busy for them, but we're doing what we can to grow this ministry through God's help. It's pretty slow right now, but that's just the way it's going to be for a bit until the word gets out. The people who have come really like it, so I think it's just a matter of time. I need to not be discouraged by the slow start.
Thalia, Leo's younger sister, is moving into our house this weekend. She is very ambitious in her desire to clean up the house, make it nicer, and even cook, which is exciting for me!
I had a great time back in Spokane/Omak this past week, it was good to see y'all. I'm excited to get back here though and see what God has in store for the community. I greatly appreciate your prayers and phone calls.
I will try to put some new pics up later this week...
Til next time
Doug
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
We're Famous
Hey here's a link to the Free Methodist Southern Cal Conference website. As of right now (Tuesday) we're the story on the front page. Check it out...
http://fmcsc.org/
http://fmcsc.org/
Monday, August 20, 2007
Openhouse completed
Hey friends,
It is now Monday and I am writing this after enjoying a nice long day off yesterday. Sam, Christy, Dion and I went out to Laguna Beach for the majority of our Sunday. It was a great day off after a long week of work. I definitely got a good amount of sun, but that's what SoCal is all about, right? Getting skin cancer. Yeah. The water was a great temperature, and though the beach was quite crowded, we had a blast body surfing and enjoying the rays. It was enjoyable getting away from the church for a day, getting a break. And I'm actually taking most of today off as well because we worked all day Saturday getting ready for the open house.
Let's back up a few days. This past week has been spent getting ready for the "soft opening" of Corridors Cafe. We had an open house Saturday night from 7-9 and it went terriffic. We had a lot of things to do this past week, but God didn't put more on our plates than what we could handle. We ended up having just the right amount of time to get everything done that needed to be done by Saturday. We got our stage delivered and installed Monday, we figured out food costs and how much our drinks should cost, we decorated the backdrop of the stage, we installed a sound system, we hung and installed a projector, and many other things that I cannot recall at the moment. Oh and Marlene was an incredible help as she painted the awful yellow trim in the cafe. Now it is an aesthetically pleasing chocolate brown. The cafe is looking better and better each day. The stage really fills out the room.
Now on to the open house. We had passed out a bunch of fliers to the local businesses and our neighbors the week prior. The night was supposed to be a thank you to those who had helped out in the construction project over the past couple years, as well as a way to show the community what our vision is for the church building. The night went great. This guy named Erik Larson came and played music with his buddy for the evening, and they were perfect for the occassion. They were pretty chill, just acoustics and vocals, but they sounded great. I made a bunch of different drinks (with the help of my friends Leo and Rebecah) and we passed them out in sample cups. We also had little appetizer foods available. A few of the student leaders from Crux lead tours in the church to show people what goes on in a typical week and how we have revamped the building for different ministries. There was also a group there called Heavenly Treasures who are a non-profit group that sells different kinds of fair trade items. I think we are getting our coffee from them actually. In addition to that, we had several pieces of art by people in the community that were on display on the stage. Everything went great. People really seemed to just be having fun there. It wasn't like people were just obligated to be there, but they wanted to be there to hang out and have fun. It was neat because it felt like God was giving us a taste of what we envisioned the facility to be like. God really blessed us that night. We were tremendously encouraged because we saw a picture of what it looks like to facilitate a community that allows people to belong before they have to believe in Jesus. Our superintendent, Steve Fitch, seemed to be really excited about the direction of the ministry. Overall, it was just an amazing night where God really blessed us and blessed the community. There were about 80-90 people around at any one time, with the max being about 120 people in the church at one time. It was a good turn out!
We are going to try to do local concerts every Friday and (hopefully) Saturday nights, along with poetry slams and art showings from the community. Who knows how fast or slow God will take us, but we're excited to see what happens! Please continue to be in prayer for the ministry down here. We are having our "hard opening" on Monday, the 27th, because that is when school starts at Pasadena City College. This week is pretty mellow, but there are still a lot of things to do (program register, get signs, and many other things..).
Mitch is back in the hospital as of Saturday. He had a rough day yesterday, as he started getting more chemotherapy treatment and he spiked a fever. Please be in prayer for him. Hopefully he'll be out by his birthday (Sep 18).
For those of you in Spokane, I'll be around this Sunday (due to Big Daddy David Perry's wedding Saturday in Omak). If you're around it'd be fun to see you, I should be at church at Timberview.
Til next time,
Doug
It is now Monday and I am writing this after enjoying a nice long day off yesterday. Sam, Christy, Dion and I went out to Laguna Beach for the majority of our Sunday. It was a great day off after a long week of work. I definitely got a good amount of sun, but that's what SoCal is all about, right? Getting skin cancer. Yeah. The water was a great temperature, and though the beach was quite crowded, we had a blast body surfing and enjoying the rays. It was enjoyable getting away from the church for a day, getting a break. And I'm actually taking most of today off as well because we worked all day Saturday getting ready for the open house.
Let's back up a few days. This past week has been spent getting ready for the "soft opening" of Corridors Cafe. We had an open house Saturday night from 7-9 and it went terriffic. We had a lot of things to do this past week, but God didn't put more on our plates than what we could handle. We ended up having just the right amount of time to get everything done that needed to be done by Saturday. We got our stage delivered and installed Monday, we figured out food costs and how much our drinks should cost, we decorated the backdrop of the stage, we installed a sound system, we hung and installed a projector, and many other things that I cannot recall at the moment. Oh and Marlene was an incredible help as she painted the awful yellow trim in the cafe. Now it is an aesthetically pleasing chocolate brown. The cafe is looking better and better each day. The stage really fills out the room.
Now on to the open house. We had passed out a bunch of fliers to the local businesses and our neighbors the week prior. The night was supposed to be a thank you to those who had helped out in the construction project over the past couple years, as well as a way to show the community what our vision is for the church building. The night went great. This guy named Erik Larson came and played music with his buddy for the evening, and they were perfect for the occassion. They were pretty chill, just acoustics and vocals, but they sounded great. I made a bunch of different drinks (with the help of my friends Leo and Rebecah) and we passed them out in sample cups. We also had little appetizer foods available. A few of the student leaders from Crux lead tours in the church to show people what goes on in a typical week and how we have revamped the building for different ministries. There was also a group there called Heavenly Treasures who are a non-profit group that sells different kinds of fair trade items. I think we are getting our coffee from them actually. In addition to that, we had several pieces of art by people in the community that were on display on the stage. Everything went great. People really seemed to just be having fun there. It wasn't like people were just obligated to be there, but they wanted to be there to hang out and have fun. It was neat because it felt like God was giving us a taste of what we envisioned the facility to be like. God really blessed us that night. We were tremendously encouraged because we saw a picture of what it looks like to facilitate a community that allows people to belong before they have to believe in Jesus. Our superintendent, Steve Fitch, seemed to be really excited about the direction of the ministry. Overall, it was just an amazing night where God really blessed us and blessed the community. There were about 80-90 people around at any one time, with the max being about 120 people in the church at one time. It was a good turn out!
We are going to try to do local concerts every Friday and (hopefully) Saturday nights, along with poetry slams and art showings from the community. Who knows how fast or slow God will take us, but we're excited to see what happens! Please continue to be in prayer for the ministry down here. We are having our "hard opening" on Monday, the 27th, because that is when school starts at Pasadena City College. This week is pretty mellow, but there are still a lot of things to do (program register, get signs, and many other things..).
Mitch is back in the hospital as of Saturday. He had a rough day yesterday, as he started getting more chemotherapy treatment and he spiked a fever. Please be in prayer for him. Hopefully he'll be out by his birthday (Sep 18).
For those of you in Spokane, I'll be around this Sunday (due to Big Daddy David Perry's wedding Saturday in Omak). If you're around it'd be fun to see you, I should be at church at Timberview.
Til next time,
Doug
Sunday, August 12, 2007
The Countdown Is On
Hello friends, here are some news and notes from the past week
*We have only one week until we officially open up the cafe. We are having our grand opening this Saturday the 18th, and there's a bunch of stuff to do still. I'm excited for the week to come, although it will be quite busy. Today (Sunday) I have just been taking it easy because I know the rest of the week is going to be nuts. That is one thing I am excited to be disciplined about: keeping a day off (a Sabbath) for every week.
*Jennifer Thomas was down here from Wednesday until this morning and it was wonderful having her down here. She was very helpful in aiding my understanding of the cash register (which I should probably start programming pretty soon) and also made us some delicious food.
*My good friend Christine came down for a friend's wedding on Friday and it was great to catch up with her. She fine-tuned my coffee drink making skills and now I am absolutely ready for barista-ing.
*We had a great night at Crux this past Wednesday. There was a good amount of time spent playing wiffle ball and "I've never..." and then Sam spoke a passionate word on the gospel. There were a good amount of new kids there and it was great to hang out with everyone and have them hear the word.
*Pastor Matt and Marlene are coming down to visit (and Matt has to do some bishop business) on Wednesday, which I'm really excited about.
*Earlier today I checked out the new church that is renting from us on Sunday mornings, and I had a great time worshipping with them. It was an interesting experience because I was definitely the only white person in a group of about 60 people. I'm not in Spokane anymore :) We have rentors for Sunday mornings and afternoons, but we are still looking for a good partnership for the evenings. In an earlier post I mentioned we were hoping to partner with a group that wanted to do a daycare during the week, but some logistic issues caused that to not work out, which is fine.
*We ordered a stage for the cafe and that is supposed to come in tomorrow. Then we're going to get some sound equipment and get all set up for the small concerts we're hoping on having at the cafe on a regular basis. I'm stoked for those!
*Right now it is just Leo and me living in our house, but the plan is to have our buddy Chris Anderson move in sometime next month or so. Hopefully we'll be able to do some remodeling before that happens and make the house a little nicer (at least paint anyways).
*I will post some more pics of the cafe later this week to show you the progress we're making on it. I'm excited to help facilitate a community where people can belong before they have to believe in Christ, and to promote healthy relationships.
*Yesterday we had a great fundraiser for Mitch. His work, Outback Steakhouse, paid for a huge bbq and some blow up games yesterday, and we charged five bucks for people to come and eat lunch and have fun. It was tremendously successful and Mitch was very appreciative.
Wow that was a lot of stuff. If any of you are still reading, thanks. I'm doing great and adjusting more and more to life down here. Thanks for your prayers and support!
Til next time,
Doug
*We have only one week until we officially open up the cafe. We are having our grand opening this Saturday the 18th, and there's a bunch of stuff to do still. I'm excited for the week to come, although it will be quite busy. Today (Sunday) I have just been taking it easy because I know the rest of the week is going to be nuts. That is one thing I am excited to be disciplined about: keeping a day off (a Sabbath) for every week.
*Jennifer Thomas was down here from Wednesday until this morning and it was wonderful having her down here. She was very helpful in aiding my understanding of the cash register (which I should probably start programming pretty soon) and also made us some delicious food.
*My good friend Christine came down for a friend's wedding on Friday and it was great to catch up with her. She fine-tuned my coffee drink making skills and now I am absolutely ready for barista-ing.
*We had a great night at Crux this past Wednesday. There was a good amount of time spent playing wiffle ball and "I've never..." and then Sam spoke a passionate word on the gospel. There were a good amount of new kids there and it was great to hang out with everyone and have them hear the word.
*Pastor Matt and Marlene are coming down to visit (and Matt has to do some bishop business) on Wednesday, which I'm really excited about.
*Earlier today I checked out the new church that is renting from us on Sunday mornings, and I had a great time worshipping with them. It was an interesting experience because I was definitely the only white person in a group of about 60 people. I'm not in Spokane anymore :) We have rentors for Sunday mornings and afternoons, but we are still looking for a good partnership for the evenings. In an earlier post I mentioned we were hoping to partner with a group that wanted to do a daycare during the week, but some logistic issues caused that to not work out, which is fine.
*We ordered a stage for the cafe and that is supposed to come in tomorrow. Then we're going to get some sound equipment and get all set up for the small concerts we're hoping on having at the cafe on a regular basis. I'm stoked for those!
*Right now it is just Leo and me living in our house, but the plan is to have our buddy Chris Anderson move in sometime next month or so. Hopefully we'll be able to do some remodeling before that happens and make the house a little nicer (at least paint anyways).
*I will post some more pics of the cafe later this week to show you the progress we're making on it. I'm excited to help facilitate a community where people can belong before they have to believe in Christ, and to promote healthy relationships.
*Yesterday we had a great fundraiser for Mitch. His work, Outback Steakhouse, paid for a huge bbq and some blow up games yesterday, and we charged five bucks for people to come and eat lunch and have fun. It was tremendously successful and Mitch was very appreciative.
Wow that was a lot of stuff. If any of you are still reading, thanks. I'm doing great and adjusting more and more to life down here. Thanks for your prayers and support!
Til next time,
Doug
Monday, August 6, 2007
Hookah
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I went to a hookah bar last night in Hollywood with some friends. It was fun...ok til next time...
-Doug
-Doug
Monkeys and Pine Sol
Hello friends,
It has been 10 days and now I have been rejoined by Sam, Christy, and Dion here in Pasadena. Well I haven't actually seen them yet, but they were supposed to get in last night from Seattle. I was kindof a sloth this past week-I worked on making drinks in the cafe, I tried to figure out some more stuff on the cash register, and did some more odd jobs getting ready for the opening of the cafe. (FYI We are opening up on the 18th of August! That's quite soon...) There are a lot of things to be done still but we're not stressing, we know God knows what He's doing. God has already proved himself faithful with money as there has been a very generous response by our friends and family. We greatly appreciate it. While we aim on being financially independent and successful, there are a lot of initial start up costs that can add up pretty quickly. I've also been working on ordering supplies for the cafe, and I'm finding out that there's a good amount of research and effort that goes into that.
Avandre, a friend from Crux, had his cousin shot and killed a week and a half ago. It has been tough for the family but we've been trying to love on them as much as possible. We had a car wash at the church last week to raise money for the funeral and we had a post-funeral hang out kind of thing on Friday, so it was good to be able to use the church facilities to bless their family.
I'm stoked to be getting a chance to get to know some of the guys here a little better. I'm meeting with Leo (one of the guys I live with) on a weekly basis, and I'm excited to see what we can learn from each other. We've been keeping each other accountable with reading the word over the past week ,which has been great. I've particulary enjoyed the Psalms, just seeing how honest and forthright David is. But he is always giving God praise, no matter how sucky the circumstances are.
Some great news is that Mitch is now home! He got out of the hospital yesterday and he was incredibly excited. We immediatley went to Outback (where he works) and got some delicious steaks for free. It was glorious. Then he relaxed with some other friends and caught up with them. He should be home for a little while-he will probably have to go back on the 18th or so, depending on bed availability. His blood counts aren't all the way up to normal, but since they have been climbing steadily and he is healthy, the doctors let him go. It's cool to see how far God has taken him. We've gone from initially worrying about how long Mitch was going to be alive to praying about his boredom in the hospital. It's great to see how far God's healed him and to give Him the glory for it!
One final note: I went to a Dodgers game on Saturday, and despite the fact that they lost, they are still the superior Los Angeles team (I say this because of my good friends Kyle and Smashley).
Smashley is down in Dena with me right now. That is neat.
Thanks for your prayers! I'm going to hang out with her and Mitchell
-Doug
It has been 10 days and now I have been rejoined by Sam, Christy, and Dion here in Pasadena. Well I haven't actually seen them yet, but they were supposed to get in last night from Seattle. I was kindof a sloth this past week-I worked on making drinks in the cafe, I tried to figure out some more stuff on the cash register, and did some more odd jobs getting ready for the opening of the cafe. (FYI We are opening up on the 18th of August! That's quite soon...) There are a lot of things to be done still but we're not stressing, we know God knows what He's doing. God has already proved himself faithful with money as there has been a very generous response by our friends and family. We greatly appreciate it. While we aim on being financially independent and successful, there are a lot of initial start up costs that can add up pretty quickly. I've also been working on ordering supplies for the cafe, and I'm finding out that there's a good amount of research and effort that goes into that.
Avandre, a friend from Crux, had his cousin shot and killed a week and a half ago. It has been tough for the family but we've been trying to love on them as much as possible. We had a car wash at the church last week to raise money for the funeral and we had a post-funeral hang out kind of thing on Friday, so it was good to be able to use the church facilities to bless their family.
I'm stoked to be getting a chance to get to know some of the guys here a little better. I'm meeting with Leo (one of the guys I live with) on a weekly basis, and I'm excited to see what we can learn from each other. We've been keeping each other accountable with reading the word over the past week ,which has been great. I've particulary enjoyed the Psalms, just seeing how honest and forthright David is. But he is always giving God praise, no matter how sucky the circumstances are.
Some great news is that Mitch is now home! He got out of the hospital yesterday and he was incredibly excited. We immediatley went to Outback (where he works) and got some delicious steaks for free. It was glorious. Then he relaxed with some other friends and caught up with them. He should be home for a little while-he will probably have to go back on the 18th or so, depending on bed availability. His blood counts aren't all the way up to normal, but since they have been climbing steadily and he is healthy, the doctors let him go. It's cool to see how far God has taken him. We've gone from initially worrying about how long Mitch was going to be alive to praying about his boredom in the hospital. It's great to see how far God's healed him and to give Him the glory for it!
One final note: I went to a Dodgers game on Saturday, and despite the fact that they lost, they are still the superior Los Angeles team (I say this because of my good friends Kyle and Smashley).
Smashley is down in Dena with me right now. That is neat.
Thanks for your prayers! I'm going to hang out with her and Mitchell
-Doug
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