Andrew Lemon

             Andrew was a 2009 Graduate of VFCC who was in this class.

In fact, his experience in this class really helped to stir his passion for the un-churched.

His internship with Gerry Stolsfus in Gettysburg opened up a door for him to take a part-time position as a young adults pastor at Calvary Assembly of God in Mt. Airy, PA.

            Andrew says that something he found out after graduating from VFCC and getting into real ministry, is that everything you’re told in class will probably not work out the way you were told/you thought. Things don’t happen as fast as you thought. It takes a lot of patience and hard work

            The most interesting thing he’s found in young adults ministry, is that they tried creating a separate “young adults body,” but the young people wanted to participate in relationship with older Christians and to be integrated into the church body as a whole. 

To match young adults up with mentors, they set up a “Speed-dating “ style night where they had 2 minutes to find someone they connected with.

           

            Andrew started a coffeehouse, Common Grounds, in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia with the goal of relational evangelism.

He had no knowledge of business, coffee, or anything. They handed out flyers, and by word of mouth, the people started coming.

            The first few weeks, they gave out free coffee on open-mic nights on Friday nights. Because of this, they had to go through an arduous process of filing paperwork and getting licenses and permits, just to be neighborly and give out free stuff.  The process took about six months to finish.

            This process of giving with no strings attached and creating that foundation of trust really opened up a lot of doors. In fact, the community members expressed that they liked the Coffeehouse, and suggested that they open everyday instead of just Fridays. After much prayer and fundraising, they were able to open full-time last September.

            Common Grounds’ mission statement is to be a “third place” where people in the community can belong.  It had proved to be just that, as they have people of all ages, races, and social statuses coming in weekly and sharing life together. Most people who visit the shop are very open to spiritual things, so investing in those non-offensive, normal, friendly, real conversations will often times open doors to talking about personal things. They have a theory that discipleship can start before they cross the line of faith with conversations on themes of the Bible. The most important

            Unfortunately, the coffeehouse has experienced some negative attention from Christians and churches in the area.  They don’t understand why Common Grounds doesn’t have Christian music playing or a cross above the stage, etc.  What they don’t understand is that Andrew’s vision and theory of implementing relational evangelism and of reaching people who wouldn’t normally attend a church would be compromised if they were to make the coffeehouse a typical “Christian” environment.