Mobile coffee shop seeks to raise money for missions
For junior marketing major Chase Elkins and junior intercultural studies major Everett Apple, their small idea of sharing the gospel with others has now turned into the Bean Juice Parlor — a mobile coffee cart with the goal of forming relationships and sharing truth over coffee.
Elkins said he dreamt of opening his coffee shop to build community. The Bean Juice Parlor was originally started one night during a summer MDWK, a weekly college ministry at First Baptist Cleveland.
“The Bean Juice Parlor is an amazing story of two friends that wanted to make a difference, through a common passion, during a moment of hardship,” said Cody Finch, college and young professionals pastor of First Baptist Cleveland. “What it means to me is that God can truly take any messy moment and make it into an opportunity for amazing ministry.”
The mission behind the Bean Juice Parlor started with The Envelope Project, a father’s desire to give $1,000,000 back to missions and “to see souls won for Christ.” Everett Apple, junior intercultural studies major and co-founder of the Bean Juice Parlor, felt called to fulfill his dad’s dream.
“So, as we began to think of a name for this project, we were brought back to [a] Sunday morning multiple years ago, when my dad first shared his dream with [my family],” said Apple. “Little did we know, what would start on the back of an envelope would become a project.”
Desiring to minister others, Elkins and Apple have seen community formed since beginning their shop earlier this semester.
“The biggest impact we have seen since the start of this is that it has allowed us to meet people in new ways and share the gospel in a creative way,” said Elkins. “Our passion is for the people above anything else.”
Grant Allen, the associate college pastor of First Baptist Cleveland, has seen the business’s beginning and watched it evolve over the past few months.
“It has been a unique thing to see college students watch a peer go past dreaming and make that dream a reality,” Allen said.
Having a shared passion for rock climbing and coffee, Elkins and Apple have taken their business to High Point Cleveland, where they set up shop every Friday night.
“I’ve seen a group of people become juicer’s (regular attendees in support of their business),” said Apple. “It’s a business that pulls together a lot of our passions and allows us to pursue them while challenging others to do the same.”
The Bean Juice Parlor can be found this semester serving coffee at MDWK’s on Tuesday nights at First Baptist Cleveland, High Point Cleveland on Friday nights and often on the go, as a make-shift coffee shop. Elkins is currently in the process of making the shop an official business.
