It is hard to imagine that
RedEye Coffee (Element3 Church’s (www.element3.org) Coffee Shop in Midtown www.RE3EYE.com) has been open for five years.
The original vision for RedEye was to: 1) raise resources for local and global
humanitarian efforts, 2) be a place where relationships could be built and
elevated conversations could be had, and 3) be a social entrepreneurial
business begun by Christians that was recognized by the secular world for
excellence. I believe our church has fully realized this vision under the
leadership of Helen Michael and that great things are on the horizon for our
church through the ministry of RedEye Coffee.
Raise
Resources for Local and Global Humanitarian Efforts
Being the tangible hand of
Christ in the world takes resources: people, time, and money. Although our
church is not a mega-church with tons of resources, we do have vision,
creativity, and our finger on the pulse of culture. So, we leveraged what we
did have and took the risk to invite the larger Tallahassee community to
partner with us on “common ground” humanitarian efforts such as: Porch de
Solomon (building homes and supplying needed medical services in Guatemala),
Trade School Haiti (Empowering Haitians to create a sustainable economy), Serve
Tallahassee (Advocating for the under-resourced in our city), and a completed
documentary produced by Unseen Stories revealing the horrors of child
trafficking in Benin, Africa. Beginning this year, we are partnering in a long
term relationship with an orphanage and school in Uganda.
A
place where relationships could be built and elevated conversations could be
had
As you most likely know, I
am not an office guy. I don’t have an office at our church building. In fact,
one thing I told the core team who began E3, “My goal is to never get stuck in
an office.” Why? Because I believe God has called me to be out in the
community, not shut away in an office somewhere. In the iconic movie, Chariots
of Fire, when Eric Liddell said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he
also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” To personalize this
statement, I would say, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made
me relational. And when I interact with people I feel His pleasure.”
In my opinion there is no
better place to connect with people than a local coffee house; there is
something “open” about the space. A place where secular humanists and fully
devoted followers of Christ can come together and have organic, elevated
conversations. To me it is a beautiful thing.
A
Social entrepreneurial business begun by Christians that was recognized by the
secular world for excellence
To be blunt, “Christian
businesses,” especially those owned by a church, too often have a reputation in
the community for being less than excellent. The temptation is to rely on the
allegiance of the fellow faithful to give grace for the shortcomings of the
enterprise. I believe by doing so these entrepreneurial endeavors have a flawed
business model. More importantly, it is a poor reflection on our namesake - Jesus.
The metrics of success in
this category are simple: 1) consistently win “best of” community awards, 2) be
invited to share about the RedEye Coffee story in secular venues, and 3) be
approached by other businesses and organizations wanting to partner with RedEye
Coffee.
I am excited to announce
that under the leadership of Helen Michael we have achieved success in all
three categories:
“Best of”:
Over the past five years we have won awards. RedEye has been recognized as the “Emerging
Business of the Year” by the Chamber of Commerce and has won “Best of
Tallahassee” in Tallahassee Magazine and the Tally Awards as well as other
local awards of merit.
Recognition by Secular Organizations:
Being invited by secular organizations to share the story of RedEye Coffee is a
great joy for me. Although I have had the opportunity to share with several
organizations the story of RedEye Coffee, last week was one of the most
exciting. The Social Entrepreneurship program at FSU invited us to give a
lecture on RedEye Coffee. It was exciting to be able to share the heart,
values, and vision of E3 and RedEye
coffee to these economic and entrepreneurial students and faculty.
Sought After for Partnerships: Nothing
says “You’re doing a great job” like another organization wanting to partner
with you and believes your brand will enhance their business or organization.
Over the past couple of years, partner requests by other businesses and
organizations have been up and to the right (increasing). The first big
partnership request was from Four Points by Sheraton in Downtown, we have also
been approached by numerous developers, city officials, and event promoters
requesting to partner with RedEye. These partnership have increased our revenue
and profile in the community.
The
most recent partnership request is from Four Oaks Community Church. About eight
months ago they approached us with the desire to license the RedEye brand (like
Four Points) so their church could increase their community presence in the
North East of Tallahassee. Although it is not a done deal yet, the potential
partnership between our two churches is exciting and full of possibility. (Check
out Pastor Paul Gilbert's Audio/Video at: http://fouroakschurch.com/
The RedEye content begins around 49:15 and the whole Outward topic begins at
41:30.)
Blessing to our Community
RedEye
Coffee has been a great way for our church to
be a blessing to our community. It has given us common ground to begin
relationships and have elevated conversations. Through RedEye Midtown, we have
been able to increase our Outreach with the RedEye Truck. We value going to
different community events and supporting causes Tallahassee cares about
because we believe God cares about them as does our church. We began a “no charge to
participate” junior cycling team called RedEye Velo (www.redeyevelo.com)
to help kids be active and build relationships with families our church that would
not otherwise have had the opportunity to connect with in a meaningful way. So
successful this endeavor has been, that the local cycling race team has joined
forces with RedEye Velo and has funded the junior cycling program.
RedEye
Coffee has been a huge win for our church, our city, the Kingdom, and the
world. Be sure to come by this weekend and celebrate with us on five great
years and looking forward to, by God’s grace, big things in the future.
