now I know how it's done

Inspiring people

I have had the privilege over this last year to make the acquaintances of a few artists that inspire me toward greater excellence in my own work. Each of the three Dallas artists that I will highlight in this post are people of faith who know all too well the no-man's-land of being a Christian visual artist (being too artsy for the church and too churchy for the arts community). And yet they persist and continue to create thought provoking work that is of the highest artistic merit. As an act of faithfulness they create and utilize the tools God has granted to them. May their tribe increase and may the church do well and support these artists who are laboring among us.

James Michael Starr

As a poignant demonstration of recreation and redemption, James Michael Starr takes throw away objects and refashions them into hauntingly beautiful sculptures and 2 dimensional images. Below are his works "Dad" and "Going to Heaven".




You can see more of James Michael Starr's work at http://www.jamesmichaelstarr.com/

Billy Keen

Billy Keen is a prolific artist who employs painting, sculpture and woodworking in his large and impressive works. Themes of creation, redemption, renewal, spiritual rebirth, and the mysteries of being human are all close to Keen's heart. Below are "Lone Rider" and "Cactus Wren".

You can find out more about Billy Keen at http://www.billykeenart.com/

Kimberly Alexander

Kim's art is directly influenced by her full-time "day job" as a teacher of international high school students. Her work is filled with both the heart breaking as well as the inspirational stories of these immigrant teens. Her large scale works are carefully planned out and meticulously executed. Below are "Self portrait as a teacher" and "Two Bullets".

It is artists like these that encourage me to keep painting and to tell the stories God has given me to tell.

One of those times

Ever had one of those moments when you are in a conversation with someone and you don't know their name, but somehow you think you are supposed to know their name? They know your name but you don't know theirs. And then you reach that point in the conversation when the window of opportunity closes to ask their name. It would have been ok at the beginning of the conversation - one of those "tell me your name again" statements. But then you wait too long - and the moment passes.

Too slow and now you're stuck.

If you had only been quicker - more free - more honest from the very beginning - you wouldn't be having this dilemma. But you weren't quick, you were slow and you didn't speak up with the question you really needed to ask. You let the moment slip away. You chose the safer path - to not speak up - to not risk awkwardness. Now you have missed the opportunity. Your timing was all wrong.

Now it's just easier to stay quiet. Don't ask the question. Hope it never comes up. When you stay quiet long enough, continued silence becomes the most preferable ongoing solution. To speak up now - to ask the question now - after so much silence - just seems weird.

That's kind of how I feel about this blog. I've got lots to say that I should have said already. Now it just seems weird.

It's easier to just let another day pass.

Anniversary

Today is my anniversary. Well, not just mine. It's Kelly's anniversary too. 16 years ago we said "I do" to each other - having very little idea of what would be in store for us.

Very little idea.

Kelly is an amazing woman. She has been through an awful lot being married to me. Being a pastor's wife for 10 years is a difficult thing to do. She filled that role with grace and humor and humility. Now - we get to experience the joys of starting a new business... together. And while it is great to be working together, it's stressful too. Communication becomes quite delicate - finding the line between business and personal - the important and the vitally important. It's not all easy. We are both being stretched in new areas - growing - learning. God continues to teach us thing that we didn't know we needed to learn.

She has been through a lot being married to me.

And I love her dearly.

It's probably best that we didn't know what was coming 16 ago. It's probably best that way.

Much has not turned out the way we planned. But, as my journey has twisted and turned, God has not seen fit to leave me alone. He gave me a teammate - someone to complete me, sustain me, thrill me, encourage me, make me laugh, and make me feel loved. I hope she doesn't feel too jipped. I made out a lot better in this deal that she did.

16 years of the unexpected. The adventure continues.

16 years... and counting.

LOST prediction - amended

Ok - I change my mind.

Jacob is not the smoke - the other dude at the beginning of the season finale is the smoke. He is also the manifestation of every other dead person who appears to be alive on the Island - including Clair, Christian, Ben's daughter, Locke, etc. That dude has been manipulating everyone and everything in a grand attempt to get someone other than himself to kill Jacob.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Actually, I need to thank Ed Clark (the video guy at Chase Oaks church) for helping me see the light concerning the above theory. Although, I don't think he reads my blog, so I might as well take credit for it.

He'll never know.

LOST predictions

I just watched the session finale of LOST last night. Here are my predictions:

If you are not up on Lost - and/or have not yet seen this season's finale, don't read.

1. Next season will begin with the original Oceanic flight taking off from Australia and safely landing in L.A. Everyone will then find themselves back on the Island through some other means. It's fate after all.

2. The Island will turn out to be a modern version of Mount Olympus - where real versions of Greek Mythological gods live (Jacob being one). Like Greek gods, these characters are quite fallible, powerful but not supreme, and quite willing to put on disguises and interact with humans. Also - like Greek gods there are different characters with different attributes and degrees of specialness.

(I am not sure why Jacob has been drawing people to the Island for so many years - at least back to the time of the Black Rock. He wants the Island to be found by certain people. Don't know why.)

3. Richard will turn out to be one of the crew of the Black Rock. He was given some divine attributes by Jacob (which is why he doesn't age).

4. When those on the island face ultimate judgement, they stand before Jacob as he takes the form of black smoke.

5. All the characters, all the players who have had a role on that Island at any time will turn out to be pawns in a divine "chess match" between those two dudes at the beginning of the season finale. Ultimately, the entire story of LOST - all six seasons (or however many seasons it is) will all be about those 2 men. Everyone else is simply doing their bidding.

Once the "pawns" realize what's going on they will rise up and kill their "gods". It appears that Jacob may already be dead. One down, one to go.

Kind of random, but I just like it a lot

Stand by me from Vendée 1 on Vimeo.

Click here to read THINK Magazine's article about Mark's Bros Coffee

Of fathers and daughters

Life has been pretty crazy around the Holmes' household for quite a while now. I have been so consumed with moving and settling into a new city, a new house and starting a new business that it is easy to lose focus on things that really matter. Through all the craziness, I think each of my daughters have grown about an inch.

I feel like I have missed it.

I turned around and said, "When did this happen? When did you get so tall?" I have been so wrapped up in all my own stuff, my daughters have gone about their business of getting older - without me.

Following the advice of a dear friend I took Abby (my oldest) to a "Fathers and Daughters Summit" today. These summits are put on by the National Center for Fathering. It was well done. I am so glad I went. How refreshing to be in the same room with 400 other fathers and daughters who desire a good relationship with each other.

To be quite honest, I was not super excited about going. I had a ton to do today - none of which got done. I had some great conversations with Abby though - conversations that were long overdue. It was a great day.

Emma - you're next.

Mark's Brothers are now selling coffee

We're open.

It's been quite a process, but we are now up and running. Mark's Brothers Big World Coffee Roasters is now in business. Visit us at www.marksbrotherscoffee.com. Our site is functioning but we are still finding revisions. Be patient.

If you live in the Dallas area, stop by the shop between 10:00am and 2:00pm (or whenever you see the light on). We are located at at 1915 Central Expressway in Plano (the south west corner of Central Expressway and Park Blvd - behind the Fishmongers and near the Asel Art). The suite number is 340. We don't have a sign yet - coming soon.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in what we are trying to do - who might be intrigued by our story and stories of the coffees we are trying to sell, please point them to our web site.

Thanks

O.K. - Kelly here (Greg's wife). I'm supposed to be editing his post, but I'm here to say that he copied mine minus the bling (he's really tired).

The honest to goodness deal is that this coffee is amazing; we are thrilled to have our website functioning (even with revisions forthcoming); and you have been tremendous in your support. And, well, we're REALLY HAPPY to be roasting coffee that is amazing - I'm loving it and we're hearing great things. Thank you! Your word of mouth plus great coffee are the best marketing tools we have going for us.

Don't tell him I invaded his blog; He'll never know.

More progress

We moved into our new home this last weekend. We are living in the midst of boxes and are surrounded by little projects that need to be done to make our house our unique home. It is great to be in our space again, though. We are very thankful. We love our new place.

I'm roasting - running "junk" beans through our roaster to get it seasoned and calibrated.

We were just told this morning that our web site should be up and running next week.

Soon we will be open for business.

Progress

As anyone who has started a new business already knows - there are about 15 things that need to happen (hopefully concurrently) before a business can really be up and running - there are legal issues, finance issues, accounting and book keeping issues, marketing issues, inventory, sales, purchasing, etc.



We are slowly but surely crossing things off our list.



This past week was the "dealing with the building and health departments in the city of Plano" week. No fun. The city has never dealt with a coffee roastery before, so they are not quite sure how to classify us. We are not a coffee shop. We aren't serving coffee by the cup - or any beverage - or any food items. But coffee is obviously ingested, so sanitation is very important. Pinpointing the exact requirements has been a bit of a puzzle for the city. In a way it's good that the city doesn't know what to do with a roastery - it means there's not a lot of local competition. But, we have had to adapt to several building requirements that we weren't expecting. Some of the requirements aren't too costly. Others, however...



The biggest requirement we have had to adapt to was the health department saying we had to install a 3 compartment sink (like in commercial kitchens), a hand washing sink, and a mop sink. That's all on top of a sink we already have in our bathroom. In case you are keeping score - that's six sinks.



Six sinks.



And - all those new sinks have to be in our prep area where - you guessed it - we did not already have plumbing. So, we have been doing our best this past week to keep area plumbers employed during a down economy.



On a brighter note - our big new roaster came in. It's hooked up and our vent stack is installed. The gas company is coming by today to check everything out and turn the gas on. We will start calibrating and seasoning the machine this week.



Very exciting.

Hurry up and wait

Nothing quite goes like it's supposed to.



Everything seems to take longer than it needs to.



Starting a business is not for the feint of heart. The learning curve is pretty steep. Stress levels get pretty high. Every day is a new obstacle. Some of the obstacles are external - venders who don't return your call - landlords who... don't return your call - coffee roaster manufacturers who... don't return your call - stuff like that. Some of the obstacles are internal. It's pretty overwhelming having to get good at about 10 things at once, knowing that about 9 of them I have never done before. It can get paralyzing if you are not careful. There is a reason why accounting, finance, marketing, real estate, sales, and web design are all professional jobs for professional people. I am in one of those "Am I in way over my head?" stages of life. It's exciting and terrifying all at the same time.



I made an important decision today though. I ordered my first shipment of coffee. I am super excited; we have some great coffees coming in. We have been sample roasting and cupping coffee after coffee over the last 3 weeks. Our goal was to start out with a manageable handful of coffees - with a good mix of Central and South America, Indonesia and Africa. We also want a good flavor mix of: mellow and balanced, buttery and sweet, fruity, deep and dark, along with a great tasting decaf. Above all of that, who we buy the coffee from and under what terms is an issue that is very important to us. We have had the privilege of beginning the process of relationship building both with our buyer who shares our values and the farmers whose coffee we'll carry. Each of our coffees were purchased at or above Fair Trade prices. And, there are some exciting stories of what's going on in those regions as a result of the premiums these fine coffees are fetching - schools being built - standard of living increasing. Cool stuff.



Here are the coffees we will be carrying. You will hear more about these coffees - and the stories that surround them soon. And, when our web site is done - there will be much more there.



1. Guatemala Huehuetenangeo Rio Azul - This is a wonderful, smooth and balanced coffee. It has a gentle nutty flavor that makes you just want to drink it all day.

2. Brazil Mogiana Natural Yellow Bourbon Fazenda Cachoeira - Wow - this coffee is awesome. It is naturally sweet and buttery - like an oreo cookie dipped in heavy whipping cream.

3. Ethiopia Natural Sidamo Gerbichu Lela. Starbucks carries a Sidamo - and it's a crying shame what they do to that coffee. The Ethiopian Sidamo has one of the most prized and distinct coffee flavors in all the world. When roasted right a good Sidamo should taste like a cup of blueberries. We roast it right - it's blueberries forever, dude. If I'm lyin' I'm dyin'. This coffee is flat out incredible. Starbucks roasts theirs so dark that those delicate blueberry notes are burned and (literally) go up in smoke. It's real shame. If you have never tasted a good Sidamo, I can't wait for you to taste ours.

4. Sulawesi Torajaland. This is a deep, dark, heavy, and powerful Indonesian coffee - a good coffee to brood by. It has a long aftertaste on the back of tongue. This coffee has some meat on its bones.

5. Tanzania Peaberry Songea. Grown in the acidic soil and shadow of Mt. Kileminjaro, this is an exotic flavor that we just had to carry. It has a subtle tart fruitiness - like a dry red wine. It's really a great coffee.

6. Peru Mountain Water Decaf. This is an all natural and organic decaffeinating process - not too dissimilar to Swiss Water process. Having cupped them side by side, however, I think the Mountain Water process they do in Latin America retains far more subtle coffee flavors than Swiss Water. Swiss Water decafs have always tasted a bit "thin" to me - like the flavor left with the caffeine. Not so this Peru. This is a wonderful coffee that you would swear was not decaffeinated.



That's what we are starting with. They should be here in a week or so. I'll let you know when we are open for business.

What's in a name?

It's been an eventful week. I spent about 4 days in Clearwater, Florida with the manufacturer of the Coffee roaster we are buying. I learned a ton - not only about how to use and maintain the machine, but about the business of buying, roasting, packaging, marketing, and selling coffee. It was a bit overwhelming.

Before my brother and I left for Florida, we made an offer on some commercial space that we are pretty excited about. It looks like it is going to happen. We have a few details to finalize and some discussions with the city about permitting before we sign the lease. We are hopeful though.

While we were gone we received all our paperwork from the state. We are official now. Our company's name is... are you ready?

Mark's Brothers BIG WORLD Coffee Roasters.

This company is a partnership between my brother Brian and myself. Our oldest brother Mark is not really part of the business. He doesn't even care that much about coffee. But, seeing as though Brian and I are both "Mark's brothers" we thought we would include him in our title.

The "Big World" part comes from our desire to expand people's view of the world. We want to do that in a few different ways. First, we want to expand people's world by introducing consumers to the individuals that grow their coffee. Coffee is grown by real people who harvest and process their crop by hand in some of the most beautiful yet poverty stricken places on the planet. Our view of the world needs to expand to include people like these - places like these. So often, our own personal world tends to get so small and closed in around us - my friends, my job, my house, my family, my stuff. But it is a big world filled with exotic places and wonderful people made in the image of God.

We also want to expand people's world by introducing coffee flavors that most people have never tasted. And, when I say "flavor" I am not talking about "hazelnut" or "vanilla" - I am talking about flavors of origin. Each country, each region, each species of coffee plant has it's own flavor profile that is apparent when the coffee is roasted properly. I have been roasting and drinking exotic specialty coffee for several years now. I continue to come across flavors I have never tasted before. If you had to, could you tell the difference between a coffee grown in Tanzania vs. one grown in Burundi? What about Papua New Guinea vs. East Timor? There are wonderful coffees being grown in places I have trouble finding on a globe. And each one is distinct. I think it is exciting.

To us - it's an adventure. It's an opportunity to be introduced to people we have never met before who live in places we know very little about - who are producing wonderfully distinct coffee.

We hope others are up for an adventure as well.

Met some cool people today

I took a road trip today down to Austin to meet with the owners of Third Coast Coffee Roasting Company. They graciously agreed to welcome me in, let me see their operation and answer my questions about starting a roastery. That kind of openness is extraordinarily rare in this business. No one wants to talk. Third Coast talked to me, however - and for that I am very grateful. I learned a lot today and met some really cool people. It was well worth the 7 hours I spent in the car.

Check out this awsomeness

This is the roaster we're getting. Ours will be red instead of yellow - which is even better.

Ok - here's the deal

For the last two months I have been living with my brother and his family - which has been great - in a sort of hectic, vacationing kind of way. We are still waiting for our house to sell in Kansas. It's under contract, but the buyers need their house to sell first - you know how it goes.

In the mean time I have been hanging out at my brother's and I have been scrambling to figure out what the next chapter of my life will look like.


Here's what I know so far. I am going to be following two paths at once.


Path number 1.

Chase Oaks Church (http://www.chaseoaks.org/) . I have had the opportunity over this past year to get to know a few of the pastors at the church where my brother attends. They have been gracious and generous in offering counsel and help as I have dealt with some pretty tough issues.
Now that I am in town they have given me the opportunity to help out with their arts/production team. I have oversight over the production of the weekend services. It's a pretty big church - 5 weekend services divided between two venues. And, those two venues have a very different feel and different target audiences. My role is to use my arts background and my pastoral experience to help shape those weekend gatherings.
The learning curve - at least technically - is fairly steep here at the beginning. There are a couple of software programs that I need to ramp up on pretty quickly. It's been great to hang out with some wonderfully creative and gracious people. It's just a part-time gig though and doesn't really pay the bills. So...

Path number 2

Coffee, coffee, and more coffee. My brother and I have decided to take the plunge and open a coffee roastery focusing on organic fair trade coffee. I have been home roasting for about 4 years, and during that time I have become more aware of the inequities of the global coffee exchange. Our desire is to not only sell wonderful coffee, but to run a roastery as an extension of my ministry and my heart to meet people at their point of need.


Here are some facts about coffee that you might like to know.


Coffee is the second-highest traded commodity in the world and fifty percent of it is grown on small family farms. In America alone 2.3 billion pounds of coffee is consumed each year and for every daily coffee drinker there is a worker that depends on the crop for his or her livelihood. But the majority of small family farmers are living in poverty. They don’t have the money or the means necessary to transport their crop from their mountain-growing communities to their local market. They must rely on local middlemen to buy their crop from them. Forced to sell at rock-bottom prices with no other means of income and no other option to exhaust, the small coffee farmer gets stuck in a cycle of dependency that becomes impossible to break.



That's where "Fair Trade" organizations come in. These organizations gather farmers into producing coops (giving the farmer much more selling power). Distribution channels can then be provided to these coops so that they can sell directly to importers and bypass the typical auction system and all of its middlemen. Organizations like TransFair set a minimum "fair" price for coffee increasing the likelihood that growers could make a living off their crop. And, cutting out middlemen means that even though the growers are receiving more per pound - the consumer is not paying much more for a Fair Trade product.

It's a great idea - and it's working.

Part of the Fair Trade premiums that coops receive are retained by the coops and used for community development projects in the communities where the farmers live. I've been so encouraged to read report after report of schools and health clinics and wells and bridges being built - all through Fair Trade premiums. I love that.

My hope is that others will love it too.

Needless to say, the last month has been full of research - researching commercial roasters and packaging equipment, semi-industrial lease space, sources for green organic fair trade coffee, sales and distribution channels, etc. Lots of information gathering.

We have a name (but it's not legal yet - hopefully this week - I'll let you know). Our roaster will be arriving at the end of the month. I'll be attending a four day class next week in Florida to learn how to use and maintain our new roaster. Our hope is to be up and running by early February. We have a daunting amount of work to do before then.

The focus of our new business will be:
1. Wholesale roasting for restaurants, cafes and churches who want a fresh roasted, values driven product to provide for their customers.
2. Private label wholesale roasting - for shops and cafes who wish to resell our coffee under their label.
3. Retail sales through our web site. (coming soon)
4. Fundraising - for schools and church youth groups who desire to sell something a little more values driven than cookie dough and popcorn.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'll keep you informed.