This summer will mark eight years since the birth of Mission Cup Coffee. What started in our home has now come full circle back to our home.
I know a lot of people were surprised and disappointed when we closed our shop on Main Street last year. In all respects, it was thriving and growing. But I was drowning and had lost focus on the whole reason why I started doing this, to begin with. For the last several months I have been working to regain that clarity and focus that I once had. It hasn’t been easy, but by God’s grace, we are getting there.
April 2019 was the last time we were in India. It seems like a lifetime ago with all that has transpired since then. And while we have no plans in progress to return in the near future, our heart is still connected to the people we met there. That’s been one of the struggles with staying focused – not being there. But that doesn’t mean the work stops.
I had mentioned on our social media pages last week that I would post about the “Why” behind returning to Farmers Market this year. Christ is the ultimate “Why”. Colossians 3:23 says,
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…
Everything I do as a believer in Christ must be rooted in my love for him and my desire to magnify and exalt him. So, from a business aspect – coffee roasting, brewing, baking – all of it is for his glory and praise. That’s one of the things that got out of focus for me previously and why I had to pull back and regroup.
Mission Cup Coffee was not started out of a desire to be a successful small business owner – but rather as a vehicle to help proclaim the gospel of salvation to the lost in India. By God’s grace, he took this tiny little business in a small town in a small state and connected it to a ministry thousands of miles away in a country of over a billion people.
I’m rambling. But these are all reminders that I need. To get back to the foundations of why I am doing this.
So back to the social media post the other day.
This year’s Farmers Market will be focused on building a church in India. We (meaning you and Mission Cup) did this a year or so ago. And I am confident, Lord willing, that we will do it again. This time, the church is located in the Indian state of Jharkhand which is in eastern India. The pastor of this church, Pastor Tudu, is the same gentleman who recently received a motor scooter from us (you and Mission Cup). This church will be constructed on land that has been given by a member of the congregation and will cost roughly $1900 to build. Yes, that’s right – only two zeroes in that number.
50% of all profits from this year’s market will be set aside for the purpose of seeing this church building come to fruition. Every cup of coffee, every jug of cold brew, every muffin, and scone will be dedicated to this goal.
In the coming days, weeks and months, I will be sharing more in-depth information about India as a whole and why the work being done there is so important – and dangerous.
