My Mission.
In short...
My goal is to roast excellent coffee and build excellent relationships, in desire of sharing the hope and purpose in life that I have found with those who have lost their way.
A bit more about that...
I have been asked a lot, “what do you do for a living?” While I enjoy talking to people about that, I often feel as though the question is somewhat shallow. Instead, I wished people asked me “what is your purpose in life?” If they would, we could cut straight to the good stuff and talk about what gets us out of bed in the morning, which are the conversations I most enjoy.
When it comes to pursuing my purpose in life, I have wrestled to find the tension between “safe” and “meaningful.” I got a degree in engineering and was on track to have a stable occupation but ended up pivoting out of that. I could not see how that path of life would let me utilize my giftings in a meaningful way. Out of a desperation to find my path, I moved to Seminary, and started to refine my purpose into tangible goals.
Moving to Seminary brought me out of a lot of despair. As I started to study what Christianity actually teaches and how it relates to the sciences and my life, I realized that there was a lot of hope to be had in this world. I always felt outcast in church for wanting answers to hard questions, and outcast in the real world for being so heavily rooted in the church. But over time, I realized that there was a lot of hope, purpose, and peace to be found in doing as Jesus did: dining with lost and the found alike.
Finding hope and purpose in life had some life altering consequences. I realized just how rich and meaningful life could be, and now I want to help others find hope and purpose too. But I run into the stumbling block of “how can I make this happen?” Unfortunately, there is no easy answer there, but a few months ago I found something that was worth a shot.
For years I have been mastering the craft of roasting coffee and never thought much of it. It is something I love and find a lot of satisfaction in doing. While I always imagined I would one day open up a coffee shop, I never really considered a coffee roastery. Then in a conversation with my family, I realized that this craft I have been mastering for years could be used as a vessel for the social change I am seeking, and the hub by which things such as a coffee shop could later come.
We all know that this world is hurting and in desperate need of leaders and something to hope for. I believe that seeking such change is a worthy mission in life and can be done through the ethos coffee creates. After all, some of my most life-giving conversations have been over cups of coffee. Both the atmosphere coffee creates and the potential outreach it can have gave me a great deal of hope that it could become that vessel for social change.
And so, the pursuit of excellent coffee has become the foundation for the pursuit of people. The goal is to make the best coffee in the world while seeking true social change and giving hope to lost people. I believe in excellence that leads to hope, be that in roasting coffee or in conversing about our purpose in life. My goal is to use coffee as a launch pad to help people be able to answer the question, “what is your purpose in life?” and guide them into finding that where I have: in taking on responsibility, loving God, and pursuing those around us.