My job.....As of late.

To give you a better understanding of what we're doing, first let me explain that the total idea is called "The Phoenix Project", which is an idea for a church plant in the midtown area that is working to reach out to a demographic of young working people that have a social conscious. Of course, Phoenix wants to reach everybody, everywhere, but this would most likely represent a "core group", if there is such a thing. The actual church would be called "Phoenix Church".

There are a million different churches, and Phoenix has no desire to be cookie cutter, or to copy what other successful church models are accomplishing (ie, North Point, Trinity). Rather, Phoenix would like to reach a niche in the Atlanta community that is dedicated to relationships and service.

Now. The coffee company is designed to be an avenue to create new relationships that we would ordinarily be lacking. While working in a coffee company, we are building relationships with other ministries and businesses that are buying our brand of roasted coffee, and we are building relationships with urban people that would never walk into the doors of a church, and we are doing it in a very non-threatening way.

Financially, we would like to see the coffee shop be a major contributor to the fiscal health of the church, but to also give back to organizations that are furthering the fair-trade coffee industry. Fair trade is the means by which a coffee grower in Ethiopia, Java, or Peru can make sure that he can sell his coffee at a premium, and is not forced to deal with middlemen who only buy coffee at prices well below the market value. The coffee industry is a very rough business on the growers, and there are very few coffee shops that are selling all fair trade. In the simple act of buying coffee from us, you are literally putting food on the table for the people that grew those coffee beans.

Outside of all that, by our coffee company's location, we are at the heart of the urban renewal in our city, are contribuiting to the economic health of downtown. This is an issue that I care a lot about.

There are a lot of coffee shops in Atlanta, but we are one of two that actually roast their coffee on sight, which makes a huge difference. The brewing and selling of individual cups of coffee is actually only a secondary purpose, while the first is going to be the wholesale and distrubution of roasted coffee beans.

Hope this helps. Any questions on anything that I may not have properly covered, send em' my way.