I can still remember where I was sitting when the thought popped into my head. A comfy orange reading chair in the library of a cruise ship heading to Jamaica was my daydreaming haven. As I let myself drift deeper into Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, it became difficult to fend off the distractions of ideas and possibilities. Everything was new and exciting during that time as we had just launched a risky ship of our own – a church.
It was just one year into the 5 year old project we now call Vineyard Westside. Creativity was rampant within our group as we’d not yet experienced the many failures that were destined to find us. We hadn’t screwed up enough to have the life stamped out of us, therefore, anything was an option. Even a coffeehouse that wasn’t there to make profits.
As I returned home from that cruise to share my idea of a coffeehouse that was owned by the church – I came to find out it wasn’t really my idea at all. I just happened to be in on something that was brewing in the hearts of quite a few people already. We shared our vision, we prayed, and we dreamed about what it would look like to have a business that was really a ministry…that was really a business. What if all the profits of that Biznistry went back to the church and then into the community?
God Himself would have to come through in a massive way if a new little church like us was ever going to accomplish such an undertaking. Where would it be? How would we pay for it? Who would run it?
One prayer leads to another and before you know it someone shows up who wants to use the old bar they own to transform lives instead of take away from them. Thousands of hours in volunteer labor added to a continued vision eventually put skin and bones on what many considered a pipe dream.
It was an honor and a privilege to stand amongst friends who have worked tirelessly oven these past two years to make Refuge Coffee Bar a reality. The West Side of Cincinnati has a new venue for meetings, free wireless internet access, art gallery showings, bands of all sorts, and a great hang out spot. Not to mention the fact that it is the best coffee in town. I might be biased though.
Refuge is open for business. It is located at 5012 Glenway Ave just as you enter into Price Hill. They are currently working on a website and I will share that link once it’s available. I’ve written about the progress of Refuge Coffee Bar before in August of 2008…it’s come a long way:
http://www.thisisreverb.com/2008/08/refuge.html
I think I’ll be spending a good bit of my time there. Check it out if you’re ever in the area.
