A very dear friend of mine, Nathan, and his wife Jency work for a shop in downtown Chattanooga called the World Next Door Market. Their story is a very cool one, as God put them together and then basically orchestrated their work simultaneously--but what I want to talk about is the store.
The mission of the store, from what I gather, is basically twofold: to help relieve poverty around the world by establishing a fair-trade outlet for artisans, with whom they work to build relationships, AND to spread the Gospel to those who haven't heard, by way of this work. The shop carries goods from all over the world, ranging from coffee to clothing to canoes to dishes to stationary... you name it. It's all hand-crafted in some way or another, and it's all very much cooler than what you can buy at Target. And when you buy it, you're saving somebody from hunger rather than supporting the corporate machine. Interested yet?
Ryan and I got to sit down with Nate and Jency the other night and talk to them about their work, and I was really struck by how straightforward and effective it is. They are really interested in providing fair revenue to people, but they are also simultaneously very interested in the people. The Shirais seek out people who are helping their own communities with their business, and they are also very intentional about taking the love of Christ with them to wherever they provide business. And both of those things get done. It works. And as the business grows, it makes both missions more possible, as they'll be able to visit some of the places themselves and meet the people, love on them, and share Jesus with them.
Pretty awesome. Forgive the long-winded post, but this is where you come in: Buy stuff. ;) Or if you don't want to buy stuff, just spread the word, because it's definitely a word worth spreading, and word of mouth is by far the best advertisement. Go take a look around their website, look at their merch, check out their mission and their blog... and then link to them on your blog or website. You can even just copy and paste what you've found here to make it easy. If you have friends who are shopping, point them that way- I guarantee you they'll find something cool. And if you're shopping, same story!
Thanks for reading guys. It really is a cool thing. Helping people is fantastic; giving them Jesus while you do it is the end-all of fabulous.
If you want to hear more about it from one of them, I know they'd love to talk to you about it so contact them through the blog or the website. Otherwise, shop it up and spread the word!
