Serving is Also Bonding for Tribe Coffee Team

“You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” Ephesians 2:19-20 comes in the context of how separate groups of people, even formerly hostile ones, are joined together in peace because of Christ.

God does that on every scale: Christ unites believers and churches from all the nations of the world, and we are also joined to the people sitting near us on Sundays. Particularly when we work together serving His body, we see ourselves becoming bonded together as family members in the household of God.

There’s no more distinctly Spokane-ish way of bonding than “getting coffee.” And even with free coffee and donuts provided every Sunday, Faith Bible Church members have also supported a specialty coffee cart since 2008.

Theresa Erbeznik is the new volunteer manager of Tribe Coffee & Books in the Connection Room. She has served there as a barista since 2018, and she says it’s a lot of fun working on the team making coffee drinks to order. Plus, it’s good to know the proceeds go toward global outreach to bring the gospel to unreached people, because Jesus “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

Coming to Faith Bible Church from a very small church was at first an overwhelming experience for Theresa. “I’m an introvert until I get to know people,” she says. She needed accountability to get over those reluctant feelings and arrive punctually every Sunday morning. Volunteering for the opening shift at the coffee cart (7:45 to 8:30 am) filled the bill: It forced her to arrive on time, and it helped her get to know her co-workers and customers.

Now, Theresa says, it feels strange when she isn’t working that opening shift, and her teenage sons who also help say the same. The shutdown of the coffee cart during Covid restrictions in 2020-21 was especially hard as she missed seeing people, both her fellow workers and customers.

Many teenage and young adult members have fun serving at Tribe together, and Theresa enjoys helping them grow in teamwork and excellence. Tribe’s older equipment requires some training to be able to produce a consistently high quality of espresso, but she tries to keep it fun. “I don’t want people to feel like, ‘This is so stressful.’ I want to be joyful serving together.”

Theresa relies on the strengths of the team. She calls Izzy Rainbow her “right hand”; Izzy also works at Thomas Hammer Coffee and usually oversees closing Tribe after “rush”— the between-services shift from 10:00 to 10:30 am. Izzy also works on scheduling volunteers and helps develop new ideas such as seasonal drink offers.

One change Theresa has brought to Tribe is strict closing times for each shift. Previously, the cart was open during services, but most of the time there were very few customers and Tribe volunteers would have little to do. By only opening outside of service times, baristas don’t miss any of the worship service and are also available to serve in child care and other ways during whichever service they don’t attend. Plus, customers have learned to allow enough time to get their drinks so that they aren’t late to service either.

Theresa would welcome any Faith members who would like to be trained to serve at Tribe weekly, monthly, or somewhere in between. To get started, fill out the form at fbchurch.org/serve.

Lynn Yount

Lynn and her husband, Doug, lead a Growth Group. Lynn serves as a writer and editor for Living Faith magazine and other church communications.

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