Austin, Texas - Four years ago, South Austin Church of the Nazarene was at a crossroads as the staff searched for ways to reach out to their local community.

"We just got on our knees and prayed and we spent a good while in our office praying as a staff," said Ryan Hannay, youth pastor at South Austin. "When we opened the door, this guy just walked in the door. He said, 'Hi. I’m Justin. I’m the owner of a local coffee shop looking to park our trailer somewhere. Would you guys be interested?'"

That interaction set the course for the church and provided an opportunity to connect and minister to the immediate community.  

Justin, a Christian, sought out the church because of his faith background.

"[He] started to talk about his own faith and [how] he’s really convicted for the church and connecting the church to the community," Hannay said. "It felt like such an answer to prayer."

Summer Moon has become one of the most popular coffee shops in Texas. Their truck is open seven days a week in the church parking lot, staying open as late as 8 p.m. and opening up at 6 a.m. The church built a gazebo for people to sit, fellowship, and drink their coffee. On the tables, they have prayer cards for customers to fill out, asking how the church can pray for them. Church staff also look for opportunities to go out and strike up conversations with people and even pray with them.

In addition to providing a comfortable home for the coffee truck to operate, the church has sponsored events through Summer Moon, like a s’mores night for the community. 

Hannay said one of the church’s biggest opportunities to share Jesus Christ has been with the coffee shop staff. 

"One of the advantages of my office is it's right next to their supply shelves," Hannay said. "And so I see them like 10 times a day as they walk by. And for a couple of them specifically, I knew that they had really bad experiences growing up in church, and they expressed that to me pretty early on."

Afbeelding

As the staff of Summer Moon got more acquainted with Hannay and other members of the church staff, doors started to open.

"One of the employees' dog got run over and she asked me to do a funeral because I was a minister," said Ismael Flores, who pastors the bilingual congregation. "So, I was able to witness to her family and friends and a circle of influence that, you know, I would never have."

Expectations for a ministry opportunity like this were somewhat unknown when they got started, but Flores said it opened their eyes to the hunger in their community.

"[In the] community, both on social media and out in person, there is a hunger and a desire for Jesus in people's lives, and we see that," Flores said.

Flores insisted that opportunities like the one that has arisen with Summer Moon Coffee could be available in each church’s community.

"A few years ago, I was at a workshop," Flores said. "[The presenter] said something along the lines of, 'stand outside your church and open your eyes. What do you see?' I encourage churches to not copycat what the next church is doing. Go out there and start looking, start praying to open up your spiritual eyes to see the needs that you can meet in the community where you're at."