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.

My new favorite music video

There and back again; A Holmes' Tale

About 11 years ago Kelly and I packed up all our worldly possessions, strapped in our toddler and our newborn, and we headed north. I had just finished 4 years at Dallas Theological Seminary and we were off to full-time vocational ministry in the great Mid West. Those 11 years have been quite an adventure. We went places we had never been; we met tons of wonderful people; we faced difficult challenges, and made great friends. Through it all God has taken care of us and has given us the opportunity to be a part of his mission. Now we are back - back in Big D - the home of the Cowboys, Tex-Mex, good barbecue, and terrible traffic.

Big D is also the home of my brother and sister in-law, Brian and Melanie - who are among my most favorite people in the world. Through grace and generosity they are alowing my family of five to invade their beautiful home during this time of transition. They are pretty awesome people. We just hope they don't get too sick of us.

Over the next few weeks Kelly and I will be reconnecting with old friends, chasing down job opportunities and trying our best to decompress and relax. We'll see how that goes.

I've been wondering how to say this

I haven't posted on this blog in over two months. It's not that I haven't had anything on my mind. Just the opposite. I have just had precious little that I could share in a forum as public as this. I am going through a tremendous time of transition right now - a transition that impacts me, my family and my church. About a month or so ago Kelly and I made the decision that it was time for me to step out of the sr. pastor role at Garden Community Church. There is nothing immoral or unethical going on - I was not asked to leave - my marriage is fine - I didn't steal from the church - none of that. We simply came to the conclusion that the church needed a different kind of leader and I need a better ministry fit.



The last couple of weeks have been painful for a lot of people - including me. Lots of questions. Lots of conversations. It's been hard on everyone.



Kelly and I are not sure what comes next for us. While we realize that it is not usually the way of wisdom to resign a position without a clear path ahead - we felt it was time to move on nonetheless. I have had several job conversations over the past few weeks as I have tried to figure out where we are going to land. Nothing set yet. Kelly and I are planning on relocating closer to family in either San Antonio, Dallas or Des Moines. Each of those cities not only represent great places to live long-term, but also soft places for us to land during a time of transition. If you think about it, please pray that God will make straight our path.



On a happy note - we got an offer on our house as soon as word got out that it would be for sale. We are still figuring out the contract details. I hope it all works out - that would be great.

The Power of Art

I, along with everyone else that I have talked to who watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics sat stunned at what I was seeing. We have entered into a new realm. A new bar has been set. Wouldn't you hate to be an Olympic organizer for the 2012 London games? What an act to follow. The artistry, the beauty, the technology, the precision, the excellence bordering on absolute perfection - it was an incredible show.

-

And more than a little intimidating.

China is such a mystery to those of us in the West. We know that China is huge, but sometimes we forget just how huge (one out of every 5 people on the planet live there). They have a terrible record on human rights - a record they don't want anyone else to know about. They are an economic power, they are a military power, they desperately want to be seen as a technological power. It is strange, however, to have a country that is that big and that powerful and still, I (as a fairly educated person) know virtually nothing about China. They remain such a mystery. I watched the opening ceremonies in part to learn something. I wanted to see how China would handle that opportunity.

They gave me an eyeful.

If a country wants to project societal strength, technological advancement, solid history and military power - that country has some options as to who they want to handle the task of communicating such truths. They could give the stage to politicians, scientists, historians and military generals.

-

Or they could hand that task to the artists.

You can display strength to the rest of the world by parading an endless line of soldiers and tanks, or you can employ 2000 drummers and essentially get across the same message.

I wonder how many others while watching that show went from delight, to wonder, to awe, to being a little creeped out and perhaps a bit frightened? At some point you cross a line from praiseworthy precision in large groups - to fear of the storm troopers who act as one. I realize that the term "storm trooper" is way too strong and perhaps a bit offensive. I know that those drummers and dancers have lives of their own with families who love them and a God who created them in His image. What I am trying to say is that the image of strength portrayed and resulting intimidation that I felt was quite possibly intended.

Only an artist of very high caliber could have created that kind of emotional response within me. Art is a powerful thing. It is able to touch us in ways that rational communication cannot. Which is why art should be seen as so very important to the Christian community. When the church fails to be actively involved in excellent and relevant art - we essentially hand over to those outside the Body of Christ a powerful tool for the shaping of the mind and the emotions and the spirit of the culture in which we live. The most underutilized assets that the church has at its disposal are not its theologians or its Christians politicians or even its pastors - but rather its artists. Theologically sound individuals who through years of hard work have achieved a level excellence in the performing arts, visual arts, musical arts, and literary arts often have a unique ability to communicate profound truth with depth and simplicity. They can communicate in ways others cannot. They can touch areas that are deep within you - areas that are hard to reach.

Perhaps there are lessons we need to learn from the Olympics. The reason the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics were as profound, moving, awe inspiring, intimidating, and slightly disturbing as they were is precisely because a highly skilled, highly knowledgeable, highly motivated, and highly funded artist was calling the shots.

The Olympics are starting! The Olympics are starting!

I am super pumped about the Olympics. I will be watching way too much television over the next couple of weeks. Kelly and I are already trying to figure out how we are going to handle the appearance of hypocrisy in front of our kids. We have made very clear to our children that if you watch too much TV, your brain turns into mashed potatoes. I am calling for a special dispensation at Olympic time. It is perfectly fine to zone out in front of the tube for the next two weeks - as long as you are watching a sport that you only get to see during the Olympics.

Which kind of brings up a beef that I have - not with the Olympics, but with Olympic coverage. I want to see the obscure stuff - rowing, badminton, fencing, ping pong - that kind of stuff. The problem is - NBC would rather show a gymnast eating dinner than a badminton match. My feeling is there are opportunities to see gymnastics throughout the year. If you watch Sunday afternoon sports regularly you'll know that the World Championships, the Olympic Trials along with other gymnastic competitions are indeed televised. I would just as soon they not show anything but the highlights of gymnastics. There is so much other cool stuff to watch. Show me the drama in the Taekwondo ring. (I don't even know the rules of Taekwondo - what a great time to learn). What are the odds that I will be able to catch some good archery competition, or kayaking, or handball? Probably not very good. Now, granted, I know nothing of those sports. They might be very boring to watch. But, the job of the network is to make me excited about it. They are missing a golden opportunity. There are only a couple of times every decade when I am willing to devote hours to watching and learning about a sport that I care nothing about. You get the Olympic spirit and find yourself cheering on athletes you have never heard of from countries you have never visited playing sports you don't understand. Isn't that great?

It remains to be seen if NBC will capitalize on their opportunity or if they will just show non-stop swimming, gymnastics and track and field.

From their perspective it probably doesn't much matter. I am going to watch anyway.