New Life is Blooming at the Bean

As the cold, rainy Seattle spring grudgingly gives way to a slightly warmer, slightly sunnier Seattle summer I'm watching with excitement as carrots, onions, potatoes and a myriad of other interesting plants slowly begin to claim their territory and to win the battle against the terrorist squirrels in my backyard. For what seemed like AGES the little seedlings I'd set out appeared to be losing the battle against the ravages of late snowstorms, torrential rains and the curious fingers of squirrels dead set on uprooting everything I'd so carefully rooted. But praise God, summer is coming and new life is blooming in small pockets all over my backyard!

I'm excited to report that new life is also blooming this spring at our church's outreach, the Green Bean Coffee House. I shared, a few weeks ago in a sermon, that we were in need of more workers to go out into this harvest field. I'm thrilled to report that we currently have 30 active volunteers at the Bean busily baking, cleaning, serving coffee and joyfully caring for the customers who come looking for caffeine and community! One afternoon last week I stopped to count and realized that we'd had TEN different people working behind the counter on that particular day alone! A HUGE thank you is owed to Paula Kett who's taken on the epic task of training this mighty band of eager volunteers.

Recently, after the service on Sunday, one such group, made of 12 folks from Sanctuary and the community, came and breathed new life into the Bean by devoting an entire afternoon to scrubbing the store from top to bottom...I personally witnessed Rebecca Miller dusting tea cups, Denise and Bob Jackson cleaning, and recleaning the floors with a power washer, John Eidson installing outlets and shelves, Rachel & Joe Dieleman cleaning every surface behind the counter, Sara Caldwell scrubbing every surface in the rest of the store...and those are only the people I SAW!

As the summer arrives and your schedule becomes a bit more flexible, I hope you'll consider building occasional stops at the Bean into your schedule. If you come, ask whoever's working to introduce you to one of our regulars and be prepared for God to begin expanding his kingdom right then and there as you share Christ's community with another. Or maybe now's the time to attend one of our volunteer orientations and to begin exploring how God wants to use YOU to breathe new life into the ministry of the Bean! Please let us know if you'd like to talk with someone about ways you could use your gifts here. We'd LOVE to have you!!!

Shalom,
Summer

posted by Steve-Dave @ 1:43 PM 0 Comments