As many of you know, Christina's latest venture is officially under way. Christina accepted a job at the beginning of August to be the manager of a new coffeehouse in Athens. The coffeehouse was to be opened by Rob and Deandra Bailey, Rob being Christina's former youth pastor. Rob and Deandra felt a calling to plant a church in Athens about a year ago. After driving around Athens a few times, they thought it would be really cool to start a coffee house before planting the church. They thought it would be a great way to meet some people in Athens while also getting their foot into the culture here.
So, the project started in August and was lots of work for the first few months. Rob, who had recently sold a construction business, did all of the renovations on the house himself. After just a couple of months, they had transformed a 100 year old house into a beautiful coffee house! I wish you could have seen the house before the renovations! It was old, dirty, and falling apart. Rob worked incredibly hard, knocking down walls, building a deck, fixing the floors, fixing the ceilings, painting, hammering, drilling, and the list goes on!
After many long conversations, we came up with the name Two Story Coffee House. First, there are two stories to the house- a first story where people will order coffee, hang out, talk, listen to music, etc. And a second story, designed to be a quiet zone for students to study. However, there are also two stories to the house- the first story is that this is a place that sells coffee, the second story, however, is that this is a place where people can talk and relationships can be built. Get it....Two Story Coffee house! There are two stories AND there are two stories!
Finally, on Halloween night, Two Story Coffee House officially opened for business. The first few weeks have been better than we ever could have imagined! The coffee house has been packed out with customers and everyone seems to love it. It has become a very popular hang out place as well as a great place to study. In a college town, coffee houses are always popular!
Christina has worked A LOT of hours! But she seems to be enjoying the challenge. For someone who didn't even like coffee a few months ago, she has become quite the coffee expert! She has a wonderful staff who have been a huge help to the process, especially her two supervisors, Ellen Matthews and Chris Barr. They have all put in countless hours to make this place a success, and have had a blast doing it!
What has been really exciting is that the true vision for the coffee house has really been happening. Christina and the Baileys never intended for this to simply be a place where coffee was sold. All along, the true vision for this place was to create an environment where relationships and community could be built. While never intended to outwardly be a "Christian" coffeehouse, it was certainly intended to be a light unto the people of Athens. We have seen and been a part of numerous conversations with different people, and watched as it has truly become a place where community is being built.
We praise the Lord for all He has done so far through the coffee house and pray that it will continue to be a light unto the darkness here in Athens!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Where's Waldo event
We had our second "Where's Waldo" event last week. This is an event where we have a staff member dress up as Waldo and walk around the mall in Athens. The freshmen then go to the mall in teams and walk around the mall trying to find Waldo. They get points every time they find him.
Along the way, "Waldo's friends" are also walking around the mall. These are staff members dressed up in random costumes. We had a mummy, an explorer, a lost river rafter, a wizard, and many more!
The night didn't start off so well, as the mall vendors were a little freaked out by the random people walking around in costumes. So, the security guard made us leave before we had even gotten started. It was a pretty rough start as we had just had 60 freshmen arrive at the mall!
However, after some quick decision making, we decided to head to the SLC (Student Learning Center) on campus. We had Waldo and friends walk around the bottom floor of the SLC and outside in the surrounding areas. Thankfully, it all ended up working out really well, and we ended up having a great time and the freshmen had loads of fun!
Along the way, "Waldo's friends" are also walking around the mall. These are staff members dressed up in random costumes. We had a mummy, an explorer, a lost river rafter, a wizard, and many more!
The night didn't start off so well, as the mall vendors were a little freaked out by the random people walking around in costumes. So, the security guard made us leave before we had even gotten started. It was a pretty rough start as we had just had 60 freshmen arrive at the mall!
However, after some quick decision making, we decided to head to the SLC (Student Learning Center) on campus. We had Waldo and friends walk around the bottom floor of the SLC and outside in the surrounding areas. Thankfully, it all ended up working out really well, and we ended up having a great time and the freshmen had loads of fun!
Candy Casino!
We hosted our annual Candy Casino a few weeks ago and it was a huge success! Every year, we gather together to play lots of card games and eat LOTS of candy! Each of the freshmen received a bag of candy that they could go around and barter with. They played poker, blackjack, spades, and even go fish.
We then had a monster game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em to finish the night. The entry fee was one king-sized candy bar, and we had 72 people enter the tournament! That's right, the winner would receive 72 king sized candy bars. The tournament ended up being a blast, and our very own Philip Klayman came out victorious. He was, of course, very gracious in sharing his candy with all that made it till the end.
Much thanks to our INCREDIBLE fellowship team who put all of the decorations together and helped the night run as smoothly as it possibly could have. They have been amazing all year and have made our fellowship events incredible!
As always, our vision for nights like tonight is two-fold. First, we love to give our freshmen opportunities outside of Monday nights to hang out, have a good time, get to know people better, and to build community with others. It's amazing what happens when you can just hang out with people while playing cards and eating candy!
Second, we love to give our freshmen opportunities to invite their friends who might not be walking with the Lord to a non-threatening place where their friends can get plugged in to the community here at Freshley. It's often nights like these where people get plugged in and really begin walking with the Lord!
It was an amazing night of fun and fellowship and I praise God for all that He continues to do in the lives of these freshmen!
We then had a monster game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em to finish the night. The entry fee was one king-sized candy bar, and we had 72 people enter the tournament! That's right, the winner would receive 72 king sized candy bars. The tournament ended up being a blast, and our very own Philip Klayman came out victorious. He was, of course, very gracious in sharing his candy with all that made it till the end.
Much thanks to our INCREDIBLE fellowship team who put all of the decorations together and helped the night run as smoothly as it possibly could have. They have been amazing all year and have made our fellowship events incredible!
As always, our vision for nights like tonight is two-fold. First, we love to give our freshmen opportunities outside of Monday nights to hang out, have a good time, get to know people better, and to build community with others. It's amazing what happens when you can just hang out with people while playing cards and eating candy!
Second, we love to give our freshmen opportunities to invite their friends who might not be walking with the Lord to a non-threatening place where their friends can get plugged in to the community here at Freshley. It's often nights like these where people get plugged in and really begin walking with the Lord!
It was an amazing night of fun and fellowship and I praise God for all that He continues to do in the lives of these freshmen!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Freshley Retreat
We held our annual Freshley Retreat last weekend, October 3-5, and had an amazing time! This is one of the most critical events we host every year, as it is the most significant opportunity for students to build relationships and develop community within the body. We took 137 students to the Wahsega 4H center in Dahlonega, GA, and had a weekend of worship, fellowship, teaching, and, of course, fun! Our speaker was a youth pastor from Akin, SC who is also a stand up comedian- and he was hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! But what was equally important was the powerful message he delivered to the students about experiencing a true relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Aside from our worship and teaching sessions, we played capture the flag, a giant game of 5 way dodgeball, frisbee, volleyball, took a hike, grilled some hamburgers, and so much more! It was a wonderful weekend!
It's always great watching the Lord stir a passion in these young people's lives, and he did that in such a mighty and powerful way this weekend. Praise the Lord for all He is doing in these student's lives!
It's always great watching the Lord stir a passion in these young people's lives, and he did that in such a mighty and powerful way this weekend. Praise the Lord for all He is doing in these student's lives!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Freshley Tailgate
Every year, the Freshmen Ministry gathers together on one Saturday in the fall for a Freshley tailgate. We'll get together on Myers quad, the leaders will all bring some food, and we'll have a nice, enjoyable morning/afternoon before heading to the big Georgia game. It's always a great time for the students to hang out and have a little fun.
Before the year started, the Freshmen staff got together to plan the date. As we were looking at the calendar, we knew we wanted one in late September, and the Alabama game popped up. We thought to ourselves, "That should work. Alabama's not very good. That shouldn't be too big of a game. There shouldn't be a massive crowd. That should be perfect!...."
Wow were we wrong! Who could've seen this coming! Alabama was an undefeated top 10 team, the Bulldawg nation decided to black out the stadium, and ESPN's Gameday crew even decided to set up camp in Athens (on the Myers quad, no less). Needless to say, it was not the nice, relaxed, low-key game we thought it might be! We were even told there were 150,000 Crimson Tide faithful headed to Athens for the day! When I showed up on campus at 6:00 am to reserve our spot, and realized I was almost too late because of the hundreds of people already set up, I knew it was going to be a long day!
Despite the chaos of the day and multitudes of people milling around Athens, we still had a great time at the Freshley Tailgate. We had somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 freshmen stop by for some delicious homemade BBQ (courtesy of the ever-so-generous Linda Abufaris!) and some amazing sides fixed up by the Freshley leaders. We hung out for a few hours eating great food and getting amped up for the nationally televised top 10 matchup, then shut things down around 4:30 for people to head to the game. Unfortunately, the game didn't turn out as we had hoped, with Georgia losing 41-30, but we still had a great time!
Before the year started, the Freshmen staff got together to plan the date. As we were looking at the calendar, we knew we wanted one in late September, and the Alabama game popped up. We thought to ourselves, "That should work. Alabama's not very good. That shouldn't be too big of a game. There shouldn't be a massive crowd. That should be perfect!...."
Wow were we wrong! Who could've seen this coming! Alabama was an undefeated top 10 team, the Bulldawg nation decided to black out the stadium, and ESPN's Gameday crew even decided to set up camp in Athens (on the Myers quad, no less). Needless to say, it was not the nice, relaxed, low-key game we thought it might be! We were even told there were 150,000 Crimson Tide faithful headed to Athens for the day! When I showed up on campus at 6:00 am to reserve our spot, and realized I was almost too late because of the hundreds of people already set up, I knew it was going to be a long day!
Despite the chaos of the day and multitudes of people milling around Athens, we still had a great time at the Freshley Tailgate. We had somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 freshmen stop by for some delicious homemade BBQ (courtesy of the ever-so-generous Linda Abufaris!) and some amazing sides fixed up by the Freshley leaders. We hung out for a few hours eating great food and getting amped up for the nationally televised top 10 matchup, then shut things down around 4:30 for people to head to the game. Unfortunately, the game didn't turn out as we had hoped, with Georgia losing 41-30, but we still had a great time!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Freshley Olympics!
We hosted our first fellowship event of the year, the Freshley Olympics, this past Friday night, September 12th. It was amazing! We had around 125 freshmen show up, and there was so much excitement and energy in the room! Each of the small groups were given a country to represent for the night, and they came dressed the part! We had opening ceremonies to begin the night (of course with some drumming in the dark and some glow-in-the-dark sticks) and then the games began. We had 7 events they would participate in: track (5-legged race), bobsled (you had to see it), archery (spit balls shot at a target), shotput (water balloons), javelin (throwing pool noodles), swimming (walking across the parking lot with your head in a bucket of water), and gymnastics (ribbon dancing). We then concluded with a medal ceremony. It was a blast! The freshmen seemed to have a great time and were really enjoying themselves. I think ribbon dancing ended up being people's favorite! Thanks for all your prayers and continue to pray that the Lord will change the Freshmen's lives!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Welcome!
Welcome to Steve and Stina's Blog! We hope to use this as a way to keep all of you updated on everything going on over here in Athens! We hope to update this every few weeks, so be sure to check in periodically. We pray the Lord's blessings on all of you as you read this and hope to hear from you soon. God bless!
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