Care and caffeination

After being inspired by generous baristas, a student began a coffee ministry

It is 10 p.m. Sunday night and people are scattered about in the computer lab.

Exhausted yet focused, some people type busily away, trying to finish a paper that is due tomorrow. Near the area that has recently been vacated by Jazzman’s or anywhere that has available space, students begin lining up for free refreshments, served by sophomore Justin Rodgers.

Rodgers was inspired to start his coffee ministry after he wanted a cup of coffee while studying around 1 a.m. last semester, but realized no coffee shops were open. His roommate, Ryan Malone, suggested they start a coffee counter of their own as a way to make some extra cash, but the idea fell through.

Currently an aviation major, Rodgers’ interest in acting led him to scout out Los Angeles and to seek opportunities in the film industry over this past Christmas break. It was not until Rodgers returned to Lynchburg after spending winter break in Los Angeles that he decided to follow through with the idea to serve coffee.

Because this trip was off a whim and Rodgers’ family lives in Zambia doing mission work, he spent 28 days in Los Angeles with 22 of those nights sleeping around different areas of the airport.

The other six days were spent visiting a childhood friend, staying with an acting professor whom he had just met, and sleeping at a house in Los Angeles after contacting the home owner via couchsurfing.org.

According to couchsurfing.org, the website encourages travel through staying with volunteer hosts who choose to offer their home based off of reviews by others who have allowed the “couchsurfer” to stay with them previously.

Because of Rodger’s inexperience with couchsurfing.org and lack of reviews, many people in the Los Angeles area registered on the website did not offer him a house, so it was important for him to have a consistent place to visit.

“It was really good for me to have this community base, which was this Starbucks on North Beverly Drive,” Rodgers said. “I went there every morning for a cup of coffee and got to know everyone there.”

It was at this Starbucks where Rodgers met two baristas who motivated him to start his coffee ministry.

“To this day, I don’t think they knew my situation, that I was technically homeless,” Rodgers said. “One day, (one of the baristas) dropped a cake on the ground. I joked with him and said, ‘Don’t throw it away; I’ll take it.’”

After stepping away from his table to go to the bathroom, he came back to a bag full of food including the cake and the one of the more expensive bakery items on the menu, a chocolate croissant.

“For him to do that for me, it cost him money,” Rodgers said. “And for him to do that for me when I was almost at a low point, I felt the love.”

The other barista continued to pay for Rodgers’ food on occasion, further stimulating his desire to start the coffee ministry.

“It got to a point where I had to argue with him to not pay for my food,” Rodgers said. “It was awesome that he wanted to gift me with something, but at the same time, I didn’t want to take money out of his paycheck.”

When Rodgers returned to Liberty after break, he told Malone about his encounters in Los Angeles and how he felt convicted to start their coffee counter.

“Had I not seen (the baristas’) kindness and how selfless they were toward me, I don’t think I would have started this at Liberty,” Rodgers said. “I thought to myself, ‘If they can be as kind as they are to me without being Christians, what’s my excuse?”

To prepare, Rodgers and Malone go shopping on Sunday afternoons. They buy tea, coffee, hot chocolate, apple cider and cookies. Rodgers estimates they serve approximately 60 to 100 students every week between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Although they do this every week, Rodgers and Malone pay for the refreshments themselves and typically refuse any monetary donations from students.

“Every once in a while, someone will sneak money to us, but we don’t like taking it because we don’t want to be tempted,” Rodgers said. “(Because) we don’t go shopping until (the following) Sunday, if someone gave us money that night, we don’t want to stick it in our wallets and use it for something else. If someone wants to donate, we just ask them to buy a box of hot cocoa or something.”

However, there was one time Rodgers recalled where they did accept the money.

“One time, it was a pretty expensive week,” Rodgers said. “We pray God’s blessing over everything we buy, and (God supplied). That night, a girl came up to Ryan and handed him money and walked away. It was just enough to buy next week’s food.”

Although the purpose is mainly to provide students with socialization opportunities and free caffeine, Rodgers’ ministry has a prayerful focus.

As Rodgers was texting one of the baristas he had met in Los Angeles one night, he realized she was far from knowing Jesus. After this revelation, Rodgers wrote both the baristas’ names down and started a daily prayer list specifically petitioning for their salvation.

Rodgers encourages visitors of the coffee counter to pray for these baristas as well as share their own prayer requests by writing them on index cards and dropping them off.

So far, prayer requests are the only missional extent of the ministry.

“Ryan and I have topics on our minds that we could (use to) lead (a) Bible study, but that’s not the goal,” Rodgers said. “Our goal is good fellowship and if the Bible comes up, (which it sometimes does), … we thought about adding an extra hour to it beforehand for Bible study, but we haven’t done that yet. We’re just there to meet people and talk with them and be available
for them.”

Though the future for his coffee ministry is uncertain, Rodgers hopes to continue serving.

“It’s awesome to see how happy this makes people,” Rodgers said. “The reason we do it is to serve the students and to see (the ministry is) giving them joy.”

MAURER is a feature reporter.