Every Monday morning Jay and I meet at a coffee shop to pray, review the previous week and plan for what is ahead. Several months ago we decided that we would meet at the same coffee shop each week and get to know the regulars and the staff. Our hope is to utilize that time each week be a blessing there – not just to plan “church stuff.”

It has been fun and interesting to get to know people around our weekly coffee talks. We have ongoing conversations with several new friends from one week to the next. Many people are pleasantly surprised when we remember details about their lives that they had shared with us in the previous weeks. Others are surprised when we just remembered their name (which is often a greater challenge for me than remember their life story!).

This week our routine was no different than before, until a woman approached our table with a concerned look on her face. She walked right up to us and said, “Excuse me, my friends over there said that you are ministers and I was wondering if you would pray for a dear friend who is suffering…” We were obliged to pray and we asked if she would like to pray with us then and there. She wanted to pray together, so she went on to share the details of her prayer request and we prayed. How beautiful is that?! We were asked to pray in a busy public place, out loud, with a stranger.

At Scarlet City Church we talk a lot about the church’s role in bringing the hope of the gospel to a hurting world. The key word is “bring.” We cannot expect people to just come to environments and communities that we construct. We need to bring the gospel everywhere we go. We need to live out our lives with a kingdom mindset. We are the ambassadors, and we are to live out our calling in our natural spheres of influence – in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in the workplace, in the places we patron and so on. We can be a blessing people bringing the greatest blessing there is – hope in a King and his kingdom. And when people who don’t yet know Christ are approached with the kingdom as they enter into their day-to-day lives – this is the beginning of city renewal.