mike penza (along with his wife kaylyn) is one of the people who GOD used to start tapestry. he is now a student at gordon-cromwell seminary in boston. today he pasted a blog post on my facebook profile that he said reminded him of tapestry. here’s part of the post:
As I sat here, drinking coffee and thinking about my life and ministry it dawned on me that there are more reasons for coming to Panera than just food. Yes, they have good coffee and breads and desserts that aren’t that good for the waist line but it hit me that there’s more to it than these.
In fact, I think the food is just icing on the cake. Deep down and not so deep down, people love community and the blessing they get from contact with another individual, especially friends that share a common interest in life.
it is a really good post concerning the community that the author is experiencing at panera bread and the “what if’s” that arise when a church opens itself up to strong webs of relationship with no focus on a building.
i was thrilled and honored that mike immediately thought of tapestry when he read the post. he would know from personal experience if it is true of tapestry or not. i was also pretty pumped that i was at emy j’s drinking coffee – it’s much better than panera.