For two hours we were out trying to convince people we weren’t pushy salesmen; we were only trying to give them a free cup of coffee in Jesus’ name. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s one small way we can serve people we don’t know.

The goal wasn’t to con people into hearing us share the gospel. The goal was to bless others and create an opportunity for conversations to happen. We gave away about 150 cups of coffee and talked to a couple dozen people curious about why we were out in the cold.

Rina was a coffee-giving phenom. You could see she was thrilled to be out there serving the people of Reno. She gave away more hot java than the rest of us combined. Way to go, Rina! She had plenty of people decline her offer, but she thought it was fun just to see people’s reaction to the free gift.

Many people tried to avoid eye contact, but Stephen said maybe if we’re out there again and again, people will become accustomed to our acts of service. This was the first Servant Evangelism project Stephen and his wife Hannah have participated in. They’ll join in again in the future.

The next few Servant Evangelism projects include a blood drive with United Blood Services, a smoke alarm battery give-away, and maybe even a dog wash to raise money for Double Diamond Elementary. Dates and more information can be found in the sidebar.

More photos below.

Thanks to Nichole for shooting the pix.