By Don Cox

Before we dive in, I wanted to thank Ben Cox, my “brother from another mother,” for not letting me off the hook over the years to write an article for the “The Journey.” It has created a space for me to reflect, and as John Bunyan wrote, it is “profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls” (Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners) (Bunyan’s most famous work is Pilgrim’s Progress).

What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been

I never thought my life would turn out like it has. The last thing on my mind was following Jesus, let alone committing my daily activities to build His Kingdom. Nope, I was a flat-out paganhedonist, and I liked it like that. I had nothing against Christians or any other world religion. Growing up as a child of the early 60s and 70s, my worldview was influenced by a massive counterculture revolution, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first man on the moon, and of course, Woodstock.

Fast forward to the mid-80s, and now I’m living in Boone as a student at App State. Of course, it was a different Boone back then - the county was dry, you couldn’t give away a ticket to a football game, 421 was a two-lane road, and there was a huge electric generating windmill on Howard’s Knob. In addition to that, ASU’s tuition was cheap and Watauga County’s fishing was great! Again, I wasn’t too interested in “religion.” Over the years, I developed a worldview that didn’t have room for a savior. I was more wrapped up in myself until I met my soon-to-be wife. Our relationship blossomed so fast, the next thing I knew, we were church shopping because we needed to get married in a church, as Shannon’s family were churchgoers. We ended up getting married at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Valle Crucis on a warm January day in 1989. That is when my worldview started to change. Thanks to a very persistent couple in the church, who invited us to their home for Bible study…every week…for a year…we finally decided to go to the Bible study.

An Old Rugged Cross

All I can say is it was at that moment I finally met a group of people who let us “belong before we believed.” It was eye-opening and heartwarming. Every week my wife and I would go to the study, not as followers, but more as explorers… looking for something we didn’t even know we needed. It wasn’t until some nice people from that Bible study gave us an all expenses paid trip to an Episcopal Church conference that it all clicked. Until that conference, we had never been in an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit was moving like we witnessed there. We heard the gospel preached in a way we never had before and it challenged us to our core. Over dinner at the conference, Shannon and I were talking about what we learned. I remember saying to her, “If there is a God, we need to follow Jesus or quit going to church.” Her reply: “It will cost us everything.” That evening, in February of 1990, we both gave our lives to the Lord, and we have been serving Him for the last 30 plus years.

To be fair, the wayward ways of my youth were not an act of rebellion against my parent’s religion. For that matter, the Lord gave me the wonderful privilege of leading my mother to the Lord after I came to saving faith. In that same time frame, I clearly remember my father looking at me and saying, “I know there is a God if He got hold of you.” Thankfully, my father also decided to follow Jesus after realizing an undeniable change in my character and lifestyle.

From the Cup of Christ to a Cup a Joe

You see, though people in the High Country know me as the bald guy of Bald Guy Brew, I didn’t always do coffee. The idea of being “bought at a price,” really changed how I viewed life. (1 Cor. 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price.”) Sensing a call to the ministry, I began to explore how to pursue that. My mentors at Holy Cross encouraged us to “bloom where you were planted,”so we enrolled in an Episcopalian related seminary in Pittsburgh, Pa. It was at a Reformed Anglican seminary where I received my Master of Divinity degree to become an Anglican priest.

After seminary, as part of my field training with the Anglican church, we served with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and the South American Missionary Society (SAMS) in Mexico. In those contexts, I have been blessed to see the hand of God The “next best thing” has been the rebirth of our business. I am incredibly grateful to the many individuals who gave their time, treasure, and talent to help us rebuild. Has it been easy? No. Have we encountered obstacles, speed bumps, and hurdles along the way? You bet. Oswald Chambers sums up the Christian walk like this: “To be certain of God, means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God.” move in power at different events and places all over the world. I was ordained Anglican and served in various capacities as a youth minister, assistant pastor, church planter, and coach.

The transition to coffee was my side job to pay the bills for my international coaching job which sprung from my street ministry experiences in Pittsburgh, PA. You see, we planted Bible studies that sometimes became churches in bars, tattoo parlors and coffee shops. People in other countries wanted to be taught how to do that. Thus, when I traveled abroad, I was invited to partner with indigenous ministries as green coffee bean buyers. This proved to be an excellent cover for the real reason I was there, which was to plant churches. Plus, it enabled us to make more income, which we needed.

Shannon and I were totally amazed and energized by how far God had brought us from our first meeting in the late 1980s.. That’s why it was such a shock to us when I had a fall in 2004 and received a traumatic brain injury that caused me to have to retire because I was in no shape to continue in ministry. So we decided to move back to Boone in 2005 and grow the coffee business I had already started. In 2007 I rolled up to the Watauga County Farmers Market in my Bald Guy Brew Truck, and we’ve been there ever since. We also have storefront coffee shops in East Boone on old 421 where Hollar and Greene’s first location was. We also have a shop in Blowing Rock at the Martin House on Main Street.

Out of the Ashes

Little did I know that in 2016 I would have the chance to start over. An arsonist made short work of a building that housed our company and four other businesses in Valle Crucis. As I walked away from the painful scene of a completely destroyed building where people had died and my truck was incinerated as well, I remember thinking, “God’s best is whatever is next.” That response was definitely a takeaway from my traumatic brain injury days. Yes, I was very upset and traumatized by it all, but I had learned the hard way that my identity wasn’t in what I did as a person or business or in what I owned, but it was hidden in Christ.

The “next best thing” has been the rebirth of our business. I am incredibly grateful to the many individuals who gave their time, treasure, and talent to help us rebuild. Has it been easy? No. Have we encountered obstacles, speed bumps, and hurdles along the way? You bet. Oswald Chambers sums up the Christian walk like this:

“To be certain of God, means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God.

Same Song Second Verse

If I had to sum up the “so what” of my walk with the Lord and our business, I can boil it down to one word: “Advocacy.” I can’t help but think that our work and life should reflect the result of “advocacy” in our lives. From the “Work of Christ” on the Cross (1 John 2:1) to the call of the prophet Micah (Micah 6:8), biblical advocacy is at the heart of the Gospel Story.

1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

The very nature of God is as an advocate. He comes alongside the guilty and “intercedes” on our behalf. This advocacy is not for selfish gain for the church, but for working with God to bring about His Kingdom. Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” The truth of the matter be known, it is a lot like work... more like two steps forward and five steps back. Do we get that right at Bald Guy Brew? Sometimes. Do I often fail to stay focused and fall prey to the trials of “javaprenuership” (yes, I just made up a word)? You bet.

However, my old friend and mentor, who was the male half of the persistent couple who invited us to their home Bible study years ago, once told me you always follow the last order first. That’s what he learned in his years in the military and that’s what he imparted to me as important advice for obeying God. Thirty-plus years and counting, this still is wise advice and helps to refocus us on the task at hand: to live and run a business for the purpose of His Glory.