Faithventure Forum

Check out this new video from Belay's Purple Door Coffee project which will serve young adults exiting homelessness. As one homeless young man poignantly shares, "I want a job...I really do." Please feel free to share as we strive for a September 2012 opening. Purple Door Coffee from Purple Door Coffee on Vimeo .

If you spent anytime investing time in the lives of other people, it's hard to miss that people's individual stories-- whether filled with pain or great joy-- in the end point to the goodness of the God who ultimately created their story.  Over the last 13 years at Belay and Bud's Warehouse, I've enjoyed immersing myself in the stories of people rebuilding lives from addiction, homelessness and prison. I started this blog a number of years ago as an outlet to share some of the wonderful things that I have experienced over the years.  And every year, I especially enjoy the stories that bubble up during our community times as we celebrate Good Friday and Easter. Something tremendous happens as the individual stories of our lives interacts with history's most important story: Christ's life, death and resurrection. This Good Friday morning we started with the simple question, "What was the best gift you ever got?" followed by the question, &

A recent article in The Spokesman-Review highlights an innovative Spokane faithventure Christ Kitchen that employs women overcoming poverty, domestic violence, addiction, and homelessness. The story notes how the organization's founder one day realized the importance of jobs to accomplishing their ministry's goals: When Jan Martinez founded the Spokane nonprofit Christ Kitchen 15 years ago, she relied on individual or company donations to keep the operation going. Its original goal was to serve as a social and spiritual hub for women in poverty. Before long, however, Martinez, the 57-year-old executive director of Christ Kitchen, realized that helping women find jobs needed to be the organization’s first goal. “Those women would all have said they were essentially unhirable at that point,” said Martinez, noting that the nonprofit, at 2410 N. Monroe St., works with women who have endured domestic violence, chronic poverty, homelessness or addiction. Over th

"Faith tells us that we do not exist simply to live our three score and ten years without pain, with ease and enjoyment, to accumulate possessions, power or knowledge, to receive accolades and enlarge our egos.  How empty such life would be!   Faith is an expression of the fact that we exist so that the infinite God can dwell in us and work through us for the well-being of the whole creation.  If faith denies anything, it denies that we are tiny, self-obsessed specks of matter who are reaching for the stars but remain hopelessly nailed to the earth stuck in our own self-absorption.  Faith is the first part of the bridge from self-centeredness to generosity."   Miraslav Volf in Free of Charge (Via Mel Hanna)