A Letter from Brian Holland and the Pastors of Phoenix Community of Atlanta to our churches and friends

My Dear Phoenix Community,

16 YEARS! I can’t believe how quickly our time together is moving! However, to be fair, I can point to many days in the past that felt like weeks, and many weeks that felt like months as we waited for the hand and plan of The Father to show up in all our lives. I am here to testify to you Our Father is active and advancing The Kingdom in our ministry and coffee company. In this letter, I want to briefly share some ministry highlights over the last decade as well as future ministry opportunities for you to commit to prayer and personal participation.

Because you have intentionally chosen to partner with The Phoenix Community Mission, we are now worshipping and advancing The Kingdom in 5 locations. We worship, learn, pray, and love each other and our community at The Phoenix Roastery Coffee That Matters cafe in Duluth, The Community Place in Buford, Elevate School of Dance in Gainesville, GA just off the square, Phoenix Athens Coffee shop on Broad Street in Athens, and a home small group in old town Buford. With these 5 locations, we will have achieved 25% of our original goal of planting 20 Phoenix Communities in and around Atlanta, GA.

I prayerfully ask you to commit our 3 Word Story to your prayer life and memory.

“Re-Birth” – By staying committed to Our Father’s ever-advancing kingdom, we are seeing new terrain, landscape, and opportunities daily. It was this commitment to God and not a “system” that gave us the dream to start Phoenix Roasters #CoffeeThatMatters. This has been our “What do these stones mean?” evidence that God is with us. Pray for us to stay pliable and moldable for new opportunities of ministry and community influence.
“Yes” – Charles Stanley said to me in 2006, “Brian, if God has called you to start a church what is holding you back?” I answered, “Fear.” He then said to me this truth which had shaped our entire ministry lives. He said, “Don’t you know that God will take responsibility for all of the consequences of a heart that is fully devoted to him?” We are living in the consequences of saying, “Yes” to The Father. Pray for us and yourself to continue fighting off fear by saying “YES” to our Good Good Father and His Plan.
“Chances” – So many times in our ten years we have crossed paths with people at just the right moment, and we are always tempted to say, “Wow! What a coincidence!” Until a dear friend named Walker Moore taught us to say, “What are the chances?” instead. Walker points to Psalms 119:105 as proof that when we are on the path with God, there is a 100% percent “Chance” that we will run into He and Jesus (often through sold-out believers) at just the right moment in time. Pray for us as we pray for you to see and be the divine appointments in our communities in and around Atlanta.

There are 3 More Words that describe how you can get involved this year:

Relationships – “Life is about relationships; the rest is just details.” Please pray for us as we are committed to growing each of our four Phoenix Communities into church planting churches. We constantly encourage our Phoenix Community to make friends and intentionally show them the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Pray about your involvement in helping our churches grow into churches that are branching more Phoenix Communities.
Discipleship – We want to intentionally to teach our friends about Jesus. Not only his words and truth, but also what it looks like to shine the light of the ultimate relief-giver in the today’s world which is full of strain and stress. Discipleship is nothing more than friendship with Jesus and one other. Please pray about spending intentional time with Jesus as you spend intentional time with at least one other this year! If we all do this we can branch 2 or 3 more Phoenix Communities this coming year!
Sacrifice – To be intentional about the people and moments we have must learn to say no! Saying yes to good things is easy, but saying no to lesser things is hard. Dave Ramsey has taught us there are two ways to build wealth…Make more or spend less. We need to say no to lesser things in our lives in order to make room for eternal opportunities in our lives. This means you. All of you. Sacrificing your whole being…including your financial resources.

Every time Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is like…” In order for the person to receive what Jesus was teaching it would take sacrifice. But, the reward is to receive the BEST LIFE FOR WHICH YOUR WERE CREATED FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME! So, would you rather have God answer your prayers, or would you rather have Him lead you to your best life?

Please know that God will provide for us with or without your financial involvement. We are very sure of this. God has already taken responsibility for all of the consequences of all of our “YESSES” to Him. This includes finances.

BUT! Can you imagine how freeing it will be when you know this personally?? I want to challenge all of our Phoenix Community this year to start giving 6% of their annual household income in OBEDIENCE to the Lord here at The Phoenix Community of Atlanta. If you already give more than this, please consider making regular challenge gifts in your celebration of Our Father’s faithfulness to you.

Our goal this year is to increase our total giving through our church by $250,000.00. That would double our giving for this year. This increase will allow us to:

Provide enough financial resources for our 6th Church Plant.
Provide a matching health insurance and life insurance plan for our Pastors and their families for all campuses.
Provide the total cost of rent for all 5 church locations.
Continue to increase our missional giving, including a church plant in Vancouver, BC.

The Phoenix Community is a treasure to me. Our mission, together with my sweet wife Ginney is our life. We love you and thank you in advance for prayerfully considering your partnership in The Kingdom's mission with us.

All our hearts,

Brian and the Pastors of The Phoenix Community of Atlanta and our Wives.

Check out the ministries we are currently supporting through our church and coffee ministries here and around the world, and then see how you can join us in supporting the mission and ministry of The Phoenix Community and Phoenix Roasters this year.

Phoenix Community/Roasters Ministry Supports

Conexion 1040: Trains missionaries from Central and South America in English so they can go into Islamic countries to teach and start businesses with the goal of sharing the love of Jesus Christ. www.conexion1040.org

Project 541: Project 541 is a nonprofit organization committed to supporting and empowering women and girls of La Moskitia, Honduras. Our goal is to give girls and women the skills needed to create a sustainable future for their family and their communities. www.project541.org

Atlanta Mission: is a nonprofit Christian ministry serving local homeless men, women, and children. Our goal is to end homelessness, one person at a time. www.atlantamission.org

127 Legacy Foundation: exists to reach, rescue, and restore the orphans of Indonesia with the love of God. www.127legacy.org

365 El Sembrador (The Seed Caster): Supports 87 missionaries for up to 75% of their financial needs. https://vimeo.com/132269051

Caballero family: Panamanian coffee farmer family that pays their workers a fair living wage and feeds parents at a local children’s hospital twice a week. https://vimeo.com/132269051

Hunter Lambeth Young Life missionary in Israel: Hunter, Laurie, and Haley Lambeth moved from Georgia to the region to begin a Young Life ministry in Nazareth and oversee the growing ministry. https://expeditions.younglife.org/Pages/Middle%20East.aspx

Pastor Rafael Puac Trejo in San Pedro, Guatemala: Coffee farmer and church planter in San Juan Moca and San Pedro, La Laguna, Guatemala. Facebook Rafael Puac Trejo

Greg Hines (Abundant Life Coffee): Honduran coffee farmer and missionary who helps bring economic relief to coffee growers in Honduras and planted a church in the southwestern mountains of Honduras. www.abundantlifecoffee.com

5 church plants in North Georgia: (Duluth, Buford, Suwanee, Athens, and Gainesville) www.phoenixatl.org

Home of Hope: From homeless, to hopeful, to a home of their own. A refuge for mothers and their children experiencing homelessness.

Gwinnett Children’s Home: Gwinnett Children’s Shelter offers a 3 to 12-month transitional living program that offers homeless children (and their moms) free room and board while providing individual “life skills” training with all the resources needed to begin an independent life journey. www.gwinnettchildrenshelter.org

Missionaries: Our churches are directly financially supporting missionaries in India, South Asia, Guatemala, and the Middle East.

Good News at Noon Homeless Shelter Gainesville: Prepare and feed people housed at the shelter on the third Saturday of each month. www.goodnewsatnoon.org

Rise Against Hunger: We are partnering to pack tens of thousands of meals annually for distribution to hungry children in emerging communities around the world.

Biblical Training and Testimony Development: Through a method called T4T we are actively training our church partners how to share their faith story and how to lead Bible Studies in the communities where they live, work, and play.

Cultivate: Create sustainable livelihoods by helping Nicaraguan people with the resources they need to grow, develop, and flourish in the name of Jesus.