Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Love Justice Podcast where we hear from different voices who are joining us in the fight against modern day slavery. Here's your host, Hannah Munn.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Welcome to the Love Justice Podcast where we share the ideas behind Love Justice's work through conversations about fighting the world's greatest injustices.
Today, I'm joined by someone whose story and work I think you will find both inspiring and deeply moving.
About an hour outside of Seattle, in the small town of Buckley, Washington, Luke and his wife opened Anchor House Coffee Roasters, a beautiful community hub that not only serves amazing coffee, but also donates 10% of its profits to fight human trafficking through Love Justice.
But Luke's journey to this point has been anything but ordinary. From two years of solitude in the Alaskan wilderness, to a transformative encounter with Jesus on the streets of Peru, to a 7,000 mile walk across 12 countries raising awareness for orphans and the global trafficking crisis, Luke's life has been one marked by courage, redemption, and a heart for the vulnerable.
At Anchor House today, Luke and Tanya have created more than a coffee shop. It's a place of belonging, hope and mobilization, sparking events like races and dinners that bring people together to fight injustice. I cannot wait for you to hear Luke's story and the heartbeat behind Anchor House Coffee.
Luke, welcome to the Love Justice Podcast. How are you?
[00:01:36] Speaker C: Thank you.
Great to be here. I'm actually doing really well, thank you. I can't say that a lot of days, but I can say it today, so thanks.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah. It's been so fun, even in the short amount of time that we've been chatting. Just before this. You have just such a genuine joy about you.
So things must be going okay for you over there in Washington.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: In Washington state, yeah.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: The greatest. The greatest place in the United States outside of Washington. There's not much to see in the.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: US Says everyone about their state.
Luke, can you just start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your story? Who is Luke? What is Anchor Coffee House? Just. Yeah. Introduce yourself to our listeners this morning.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: Yeah, honestly, I guess the best thing to say is that I'm a sinner. Saved by grace, Son of God. And that's only by his grace alone. So that's ultimately who I am. And I had nothing to do about that.
I was raised in a Christian home.
Parents that loved us. Well, we grew up in Alaska, actually lived in the bush for years, like out like 200 miles to the nearest road.
Our nearest neighbor was like 40 miles away as the raven flies, and had a very free life.
Moved back to Washington because my, my nephew or my cousin died when he was four.
Fell out of a car going just like one mile an hour and hit his head. And we had to move back to be close to family.
And once we got back, a lot of those freedoms that we felt growing up started to, to go away.
And when my sister was in high school, she got pregnant. In this household where we once enjoyed, you know, roaming the streets and having no boundaries turned into a lot of control.
And in that moment when I think I was 14, it was just like all of us kids rebelled. We.
We went as far left as we possibly could from the direction our parents were leading us.
And from that point there's just a lot of darkness. I actually moved back to the bush of Alaska all by myself in that same trapper homestead cabin when I was just after 19 years old and spent two years with no human contact out in the middle of nowhere with a couple pet ravens, pet fox, couple pet Herman and myself.
And that, though some men say that is their dream world, it is a nightmare when God starts off his word saying it is not good for man to be alone. That's not a marriage verse. That's we're created as an image verse. We were not meant to do life by ourselves. And so after two years alone in the bush of Alaska, I flew back into town and within two months was drinking every night and had an affair with my friend's wife, ruined their family, caused a divorce. And because of all that sin, all that shame and two years of depression, I actually bought a one way ticket to South America where I was going to end my life.
And the way I set this up was my mom was the only one I really, I think, truly loved at that time.
And I knew she would be crushed if she found out her son committed suicide. So I actually joined a mission group to go build churches and schools down in the jungle. And I was going to find a way to die of natural causes down there. And the crazy thing, this is all glory to God.
The day before I left for South America, the family who were the translators who were going to meet me down in Iquitos and take me into the jungle, they called and said, you cannot come down here.
Our daughter's having problems with pregnancy in Florida and we're going to fly home and be with her. And I told her like, too bad I have already planned this out. And I still went down, but couldn't get to the jungle and then roam for three months across seven countries, walking through hills, no shoes on, kind of slit in the bottom of my feet every day and squeezing out pus. I was drinking as much as I could at high altitudes and none of it was working.
None of it was getting me close to end my life, as sick as I was.
And they, they speak Quechua up in the mountains, everywhere down there, in other languages. And I couldn't understand any of it, but. And I had a Bible with me because that's, that's kind of what you do when you go to commit suicide. I think you take a Bible with you usually. And by the grace of God, whoever the Lord was to me before then, I found him to be a gracious savior in those pages. And I wrote in my journal down there that I came here seeking death and discovered life instead. So from that point, he opened my eyes, gave me new tastes in my mouth. And though I have sinned horribly many times since, I've always found a gracious savior to go back to one that Obama is down there in South America. And so from that point, I flew back home, got a ticket home, and started a homeless outreach. I think the hopelessness that I felt being alone for so many years and the hopelessness down South America, there was something about the homeless community in Seattle that just was hopeless and lonely.
And so I connected with them at that level. And so for 11 years, ran the homeless ministry down in Seattle, Washington, serving about 200 and something people every week.
And then local church was involved, which is awesome.
But something wasn't.
Something wasn't right. I just felt like this, this call from the Lord, like you need to get away and fast and pray and find out what I'm truly calling you to. And so I actually flew to Spain and there's a Camino de Santiago, a trail across northern Spain.
And I wasn't doing it for any other reason than I needed to go spend the time alone with Jesus. And so on that trail, just talking to him, reading his Word, I just, I think, was convicted that whatever we do, we're called to do it for the glory of God. And I had a set of legs. I have a voice that's about all I had at the time to my name. And so he just put on my heart to take a long walk.
And so I came back home and actually joined with World Vision. I don't know if you're familiar with World Vision. So joined with World Vision and then flew back, flew to Greece and actually walked 7,000 miles across 12 countries, two continents, actually ended just outside my hometown, where I live now, and was doing it Just to get kids sponsored at that time.
And so that I say all that because that is my tie to love justice in a lot of ways.
I'm sure we'll get to questions around that, but it was actually speaking at churches and concerts and universities and stuff along the way.
Every time I went to speak to them about these orphans in Africa, somebody would come up to me and say, have you heard of human trafficking? What's going on with the orphans around the world? And the Lord just started, like, stirring something in me, especially some of the grotesque stories I was hearing. And I just started getting pretty angry. And justice was something that was like, starting to rise up within me that I wanted to see had.
And so actually when I got back home from the walk, I knew that was what my next kind of step was in life. And so I came back and actually had an apartment picked out in Thailand. I already had, like, the hotel I was going to work at there. I had a whole map of Bangkok on my wall. And I was going to just go do some crazy vigilante work over there.
But.
But by the grace of God, I met my wife just not long after I got back, and I had to choose between her and Bangkok. And I chose Tanya Wilbeck. So, yeah, big time. Thank you, Jesus.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Shout out to Tanya.
[00:10:11] Speaker C: First week.
So, yeah. And so we got married 15 years ago.
And the first four years were so incredibly hard. Like, marriage is the absolute hardest thing on the planet. I don't care what anyone says. And so that.
That sanctification process, that being wrung out. And I thought I was a pretty decent dude before I got married. And then everything was revealed how many wretched. I truly am.
So it's just been a sweet 15 years of growing in God's grace there.
We have a little boy named Indiana, who's 12, and a little boy named Oz, who is 9. And I cannot get enough of those two suckers. Like, I want to gobble them up every day still. And they're getting old enough to almost push me away now. And so.
But that's. That's kind of the. The joy in my life right now.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: And so, Luke, that is wild. Okay, I. I just have to say to listeners, before we hopped on, Luke was like, so do you want, like, a testimony with, like, that first question? And I was like, up for interpretation, like, had. Having no idea that. That is, like, the most incredible story, Luke.
And just one that reflects Christ's love for us. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that.
[00:11:37] Speaker C: That is, for sure. Yeah. And it's not, it's, it's not false humility. It's like, I'm a pastor now. That's what I do full time. And so it is true that all we bring is sin to the table and God just brings all the grace and mercy. So it's, it's not just saying it because the Bible says it's true. Like, it's the experience of my life. Like I just am a mess up every day of my life. And his mercy just keeps coming in every morning new. And man, he's good. He is so sticky good.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. So wow. I'm like a little bit.
I had no idea. So this is like, this is real live. Like, here we go.
So Luke, what was. Okay, so like in that, in that story you now are running and started Anchor House, which is a coffee shop in Washington. Talk to us about what, what, what the spark was that led to that. And did you always envision it to be more than just a coffee shop? Because you guys are supporters of love, justice and we'll get into that in a little bit. But that, but that coffee shop is very much a means by which you are creating justice in the world. So talk to us about like, where is, where did that fit into the story?
[00:13:02] Speaker C: Yeah, it was always meant to be more than a coffee shop.
My mom and my sister, this was back in like the late 80s.
They actually start were working at the first two espresso stands on the whole like plateau area where we lived. Like this is pre Starbucks era.
So before coffee was coffee, my family was making coffee and going to the stand after school and sitting behind us, espresso stand in the cold with my mom making coffee for people coming in and out of the store.
There was already a culture that I was kind of like grafted into at a young age. But also like, it didn't matter how many churches I spoke at or how many concerts I spoke at. I've always been able to share the gospel with more people over a cup of coffee than I have around any pulpit. And so there was something in me that just wanted the gospel to connect in a place that I called my own. Someplace I could not just have to leave when the doors closed. Because we keep Anchor House open way past closing hours some nights just, just to be with people. So I think when I, when I had to say no to Thailand and I had. And when I said yes to my wife, I knew I still had to do something about trafficking. I didn't know what, but I knew that was it. And so we looked into starting a coffee shop for years before, looked at buildings, a lot of them closed. But once we found this building, and that's a whole nother story of God's providence, I'll let that sovereignty story of the Lord be for later days.
Once we were given this.
That is when I actually started doing about two years worth of research on every nonprofit out there around human trafficking. But I knew that like when Jesus told his disciples to reach the people in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth, like, I long to reach the people of Buckley Washington. They are my heart. Like every day I wear a shirt with Buckley on it. I don't go a day without wearing a shirt. Even the one underneath this shirt has Buckley right here. So Buckley is my life. Like, these people are the love of my life outside my family. This is who I long to meet, Jesus. So I want them to know Jesus, but I also want them to be part of something bigger than Buckley. Jesus died for way more than just Buckley Washington. He died for people all over this planet. So I wanted to connect what God was calling me to to a small town of local people and say, whether you're saved or not, we can actually be belong before you become and you can be part of this mission with us. And so that was the goal from the beginning.
And would you like to know why we chose Love Justice?
[00:15:53] Speaker B: Yes. But can you hold on to that thought?
[00:15:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I will hold on.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: I have a follow up question because Luke, I don't know if you remember, but we had invited, I think it might have been Andy. Andy invited you to participate in a global call with Love justice maybe a couple years ago.
And there was something that you said in that conversation. That one has never left me. Two got me so revved up for this work. And that was your guys's vision for community around the coffee shop and for people to hear the love of Jesus Christ by fighting the world's grace and justice is. And you literally articulated our mission and like how you guys are on one hand, like, a lot of people hear that mission statement. Like, okay, the program work of Love justice is doing that right? Like trying to fight the world's grace and justice is sharing the love of Jesus Christ while doing that. And for the first time that mission connected on the opposite end of the spectrum for me of like, man, what an amazing opportunity from a donor perspective to share the love of Jesus Christ by fighting the world's grace and justice is like, that was just the most I could get teary at thinking about it right now. And I don't know why, but it was just like, it was just so powerful and so like I, I want to dig into that a little bit especially. It's so fascinating to me. You have, you know, have in part of your story is living in isolation.
And, and so, and one of the things that I know about Anchor Coffee House is that it's about community.
Can you describe the kind of community that you've seen around your shop or that you've tried to build around the shop? Or you're probably going to say what the Lord is building around the shop.
Talk to us about that. Especially like since you got to, got to see the opposite of that, like in a very real and tangible way in your life for sure.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: Yeah. So we live upstairs, so my family lives above the coffee shop. So the whole community gathers underneath our living room. So there's a reason why after years of loneliness, I now live, you know, 15ft above a whole community of people. So that self protection in a lot of ways too. But yeah, it's called Anchor House because of Hebrews 6:19, which says like we have this sure and steadfast anchor for our soul, this hope that goes behind the curtain for us. So honestly, this is, and I want to try to answer both questions, but why Love justice has been so sweet is that sometimes the gospel is hard to connect unless there's something to connect it with. And with a two minute exchange of coffee and busy coffee shop, when people look up at our wall and we have this huge thing right above our bar that says Love Justice International and in gold letters that we change out, that the lights are hitting and it's shining is 76,000, you know, whatever dollars now. And so when we pass that cup of coffee to a stranger, we say thank you to them. Which usually when I go places, I say thank you for the coffee. That doesn't work at Anchor House. We look at them and we say thank you to you. Like you are the ones who just fought human trafficking just by drinking coffee. So thank you. You are doing something so much greater. And I think that is though, I think, yes, the gospel.
My staff is the most amazing group of people I've ever met. I've picked them all individually for a purpose. We've had 250 applicants given applications to ours, over 250 and I've never chosen one person. I see people in the church or at a church around us and I go after them and say, will you come work for me? So these people are people that already get it. But the way that they like so much better than I can, even the way that they connect with the community and build friendships and put meal trains together for every pregnant couple and fast and pray for people who are hurting.
Like they are just setting this family culture there that people want to be part of. And then when they want to be part of it, we can, we can be on greater unity, on mission together.
But that, that's the goal. Like, we have to be united before we ever go forward or else we won't. And so that's happened around.
Honestly, my staff is amazing. They have, they have created such a culture of hope and invitation and making people friends that it's not the typical, oh, we know your name and drink. Like, we know your marriage, we know the struggles with your kids, we know your family of story history.
So all of that matters. And we have. The last time, I think I was told like 85 to 90 people now at Gospel Life, where I'm a pastor, we have just from the coffee shop. So 85, 90 people have. Have met Jesus or come to be in relationship that are now coming to church on a Sunday being part of God's greater mission. So did that answer that? I'm sorry.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Yeah. No, no, no, you did. And Luke, what's crazy is like something that we talk about often at Love justice is that love is not idle in the face of people's sufferings.
And you, what you just described is yet another mirror of that, of like that, that embodiment just in the coffee shop, like, realm. Like, that's amazing because like, your staff are not sitting idle in the face of people's sufferings or their hurting or their brokenness. And it's that effective love and action that draws people to Jesus and how he draws people to himself.
That is crazy.
And like, what do I gotta do to put my application in? Or do I like, do I just gotta move the Buckley and then live there for a couple years and hope to get invited in? That sounds. That sounds like an amazing workplace culture.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: It is. It's amazing. Yeah, even. Even back in our.
Yeah, even back in our refrigerator room on the freezer where no one can kind of see in, there is a list of people. I don't know how many names are there though. But the employees will write a name down of a customer and write what we should be praying for for them. And most of them are non believers. And so every time they're passing in, they're like, we're seeing these names of customers praying for them. And it's just like, it's my favorite place to hang out too. It's just like I feel honored to be welcomed into the place that I live above. So it's awesome.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Okay, Luke, so the big question, what was it about Love Justice International that made you say, yes, this is who we want to partner with? Especially because I did not know that you researched hundreds of organizations like that. That is intimidating, but also like, I'm excited to hear your answer.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: Yeah. The beauty with how we did our shop was I bought a hundred year old mortuary building. So that's where Anchor House is in. So it's a mortuary, old mortuary building where people used to say goodbye to the dead and we're bringing life about it. So I bought this raggedy old building that took me seven years to remodel. So did everything from the ground up myself. So electrical plumbing, all the floors, all the seal, all the wall, everything is totally remodeled. And so because it took seven years, by the grace of God, which actually allowed my wife and I to really get through the hard times of marriage to kind of get our kids growing. And then what it did, it actually gave us time to do things with wisdom instead of just, you know, trying to get money to the point where we can start making money. And so I had two years before we opened to do research. And as I looked over all the companies, I would have a little notepad and kind of write down my top two or three favorites every time I did research. And Love justice kept coming up in the top one or two every time. And the main reason, and this isn't a knock on anyone else, please don't take it that way, but there is a, there is a Christ centered up front.
We're not ashamed of Jesus that the other ones kind of tuck away to the third page or you have to get to their mission statement to say that.
And honestly there's nothing we can do to end anything. Like Christ has to be the one in his power to end this, to glorify himself, to truly set people free.
And so that is, that was the main thing is like every time I'd go to your guys site there's this just like Christ centered, I go through and it's just Jesus here, Jesus there, even building it around. Micah 6, 8 or whatever the verses that you guys built it around, like it just kept coming up. That was number one. Number two, I think personally I have two little boys and we have a lot of human trafficking around Seattle area.
And so I just imagine myself like if Somebody took my kid off my porch, what would I do to get him back?
And if I could stop things from happening one time, because as a pastor of a church who sits with people 20 to 30 hours a week in offices, the trauma that happens from one or two times from all these people that we have to sit with and lovingly work through this is atrocious. Like, it's a lifetime of brokenness, a lifetime of working through. So I would give limbs to prevent it from happening at that point. And so that was huge for me. The fact that you're actually stopping it before it happens was the main kicker. Like, I'm thankful for the guys kicking down doors and pulling kids out, but if it was my kid, I don't want no one to kick down the door and pull the kid out. I want them to grab my kid before he's behind that door. So that was. That was the second.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Wow. That is really powerful, Luke. And. And even as you were speaking, there's. Man, there's. This is such a rich conversation that I had no idea that I was walking into.
There's a couple of things that come to mind. One is Isaiah 58 and that scripture where he says, like, you will be repairs of broken walls. You'll be restorers of streets with dwelling. Like, just thinking about the physical building of Anchor House and what it was compared to what it is now, and this idea of, like, restoration and then sprinkled with the promises, the breakthrough blessing, promises that come with the type of prayer and fasting and sacrificial love in action that is very much like just your guys's reality. And we talk about.
That's a very special scripture for love, justice, and one that I think is so encouraging to people who give so sacrificially to organizations who are really trying to impact the lives of the least of these. And so it's just really cool to, like, hear that. Almost like the remnants of that blessing, or like, maybe not remnants, that's the wrong word, but, like, the. This, the teeming, like, sparkles of, like, that promise coming to life, like, in your guys's space is so cool.
And two, what you just said, I think you just said it so perfectly of, like, if it were our kids, it wouldn't be enough to break down the door. Like, I would want to know that they would never get behind that door in the first place.
And that is a brokenhearted anointing for this work that only the Lord can bestow on us. That I think is so special and so sweet. That then gives us the momentum to, like, really wreck havoc in this world, which you guys are doing.
I. I just want to say that y' all have raised, and you even said a higher number than what my research showed. But you had mentioned $76,000 raised for justice.
I actually have to redo my math. I thought I was coming in prepared, but you gu.
[00:28:35] Speaker C: I don't know the exact number. It's like 76063 or something like that. I just changed it the other day when Chuck made out the donation. So it's somewhere. It's right around there. Yeah.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: That is 575 lives, Luke, that the Anchor community has prevented from potential trafficking. And that is 575 people. Like your son. Like your son and like my kids. Like, that is absolutely amazing and totally worth celebrating. And what people don't realize is, like, we're poised and ready to scale.
There's more. There's more lives to prevent out there. And so, like, one of my hopeful expectations of this conversation is that people hear about what someone is doing with the gifts and the skills and the passions and the stories that they have and how those stories integrating so beautifully into justice work.
But I'm curious, Luke, like, what have you learned about generosity and justice through running Anchor House and this partnership with love. Justice, man.
[00:29:46] Speaker C: I think the main thing.
And this. I'm not saying this because I'm a pastor. I'm supposed to. Okay, sacrifice is so worth it.
This life is but a breath, and I'm very thankful for that, actually.
I'm glad that the Lord doesn't allow us to live 900 and something years like Noah. Like, I am so glad with the bitterness that we taste on a daily basis sometimes that life is very short.
So to give your life, to give away and to give your life for the sake of others, having life, like, not just physical life, but actually eternal life, like, that isn't sacrifice. It's. It's an honor. It's a privilege. And there is. There is. There is nothing about generosity and justice that doesn't give you joy.
So, like, it's a sweet trade.
Generosity can be a scary thing. Like, we have a lot of control issues in our lives, all of us, and sometimes to. To hold on a little tight and wonder what we can give. But, man, we.
We have only gained joy in one, you know, pursuing justice and giving to love. Justice as well.
Nothing but that. Chuck and I. Chuck's kind of like a mentor to me and also does the business side on the back end. Does a lot of the roasting every time we get together, like it seems like once a month or whatever, we'll be meeting in the, in the roasting room and we just like throw up a prayer and be like, God, if you want to burn this building to the ground, if it's over tomorrow, we will rejoice like this. Nothing will be taken from us. Like, whatever you did in this time was worth it because it brings glory to Jesus. So generosity, justice through running anchor is like, I've learned just that it's worth it. Like it's a good trade off. Like I would give anything for joy some days and generosity and justice just automatically blessed are those who give type of thing. So it's not a. I think, I don't want to lessen that. It is maybe somewhat of a sacrifice, but the trade off is in our favor. So how much can that actually be truly a sacrifice? So little sacrifice up front, massive benefits from the Lord on the back end. So.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And I think that's like perfectly reflected in Isaiah 58 too. And we don't even know like really the, the full, like the fullness of those promises.
And I don't even know if I could pull them up. Okay, here it is.
So then in Isaiah 58:10, it says, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire and scorch places and make your bones strong. And you shall be like a well watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. And you shall rise up on the foundations of many generations. And you shall be called the repair of the breach, restore of streets to dwell in. And, and just like that, like what you said, like if. If you do spend yourself on behalf of the needy, whatever that looks like, whatever context that looks like, like that promise on the back end of that. And like, I don't know what that means or I don't even know the fullness of those promises, but they sound amazing. And you're right, like it's just pales into comparison what it takes to actually spend yourself on behalf of, of the least of these and the needy. Like that's so good.
[00:33:39] Speaker C: And if those verses are true and yet they're pointing to Jesus. He is, he is all of scripture. He's the one looking to. He did all those things perfectly. Like he came and even called out because that whole section of scripture is calling out the false fasting, like you fast to, you know, bring pleasure to yourself to. And the people of his days, the Pharisees, were making themselves look exhausted and boasting that, oh, I'm fasting the glory. And Jesus just comes and does all of those things perfectly for us. He just does it. And then by the grace of God, attributes them to us so that even us self righteous, prideful people, just like Pharisees, we now have that attributed to us. And the same spirit that was in Christ has been given, given to us to follow that and live it out in a imperfect but powerful way, you know?
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Luke, switching gears. Do you have a story or maybe of maybe a customer or a community moment that really captures what Anchor House is all about?
[00:34:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna throw a curveball here. Okay.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: Okay, I'm ready.
[00:34:54] Speaker C: I think you've been part of the church, like, you know, like in, in Matthew 5, like, or earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, like, when you give, give in secret so that your father in heaven will reward you. But like just a little earlier, he said, do your good works before others that be the city on a heel that they might glorify your father. And that word you is massively important. The word you is like plural in one. Like, do this together and your father will receive glory. Don't. When you're alone, don't do good deeds before others because then you get the glory. So that said, I think even with the question, like, I just need to boast in the local church, like, there is no one that sticks out. But the fact that for, like, during COVID we opened up the Anchor House and we have Gospel communities, they're called. They're just our small groups kind of. At our church, we had gospel communities every week in the Anchor House, making soup and dinners for all the seniors in Buckley to come to and have a safe place to eat because they were alone and depressed and no one was feeding them for a long period of time. And so to see a church, and it wasn't just our church. This was like just local Christians rise up, use a building to constantly feed the seniors. Kind of like what that verse is pointing to. Like, they're going to the least of these in Buckley, providing their needs, not just feeding them, but growing in relationship with them. And now like our small group and others we go and now serve these seniors around our town and mow their lawns and. And that's. That happens constantly. Like we've been able to do like, what is it, like six weddings for free in our community at Anchor House. It's a beautiful place with lots of space. We, we like all married the people if we do pre marriage counseling. But there's been a homeless family living in their truck that have wanted to be married for years. And we just said, let's go. And we threw a whole wedding for this homeless couple. And there was professional photographers there and flowers and everything. So honestly, I just want to, like, point to the church and say, no one gets named. They will all die and be forgotten. And Jesus will be remembered in Buckley because of his church. And so that's crazy. And it happens all the time. Like, all the time. Even a couple people from our church and you might know this, but because of even Love justice that we're partnering with, there is a flower company with a huge warehouse, a greenhouse, and a farm down in the valley. And now she gives 10% of everything to Love Justice.
We actually have a local candle maker who does like soy candles and natural candles. She has Love justice things on the top of her candles. And she gives 10% of love justice. And it's just like snowballing that even though we're serving a community, people are now joining even the larger mission of over there. And it's sweet to say, like, we sell those products in our shop. So we sell all of her plants in our shop, which goes to Love Justice. That's her money. Not, we sell all of the candles in our shop, which goes to Love Justice. And so it is a community of believers saying, our God is big and we're going to point to him in all that we do. So it's not just about us.
This is the church. And the church is as sinful and broken as we are.
The Bible would say the church is the most glorious thing in the universe because what Jesus has done, so we get to see that all the time.
[00:38:32] Speaker B: Oh, that's amazing. And Luke, what's your vision for Anchor House in the future?
And you might even say, and maybe I even rephrase that of like, what do you feel like God's vision for Anchor House is in the future? And where do you hope to see it in five, 10 years?
[00:38:48] Speaker C: Yeah, we've had like three or four people now offer to fund another Anchor House, like in a city, you know, down the way. And I've said no every time because you lose something when you start getting big. And I'm not called to reach those committees. God's given me Buckley and he's given me love, justice on our plate. And so the goal, we actually have about 225 people from the Buckley area going to Gospel Life. That's about 25 minutes away. So all of us are driving quite far to be at church. And actually the goal of Anchor House, because we're so on mission already, the goal is to actually plant a church up there.
We're a church planting church. We've already planted two churches in communities elsewhere and they're autonomous churches just on their own with people loving the people in the community. So honestly, five to 10 years, I would love to see a local church planted so that even though Monday through Saturday, Anchor House is continuing to grow and you know, sharing the gospel, loving our community, serving love, justice with whatever we can do that there is a place locally that people can be helped, loved, cared for, pointed to Jesus. That's the ultimate goal. And then from there, Lord willing, plant another church one day outside of this one to see that gospel continue down the road. So that's it.
I don't like. I love all parachurch organizations, but they only exist if the local church exists. And so I want to keep pouring into that root so that, you know, more disciples can be made and more money sent to love justice and more people heading down the road to plant another church. So I know that's a. A weird answer to ask for a business, but it is not a business to us. Honestly, the, the business. I'm a horrible businessman. If I was doing this alone, like, it would be done in like two days. I suck at business.
So it's not about business. It's honestly about, like, loving our community long term until Jesus returns. Like, that's what I want.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: Frank Rao So, yeah, yeah, that's amazing. And amen. We're pray. Pray that into existence for sure.
I know that you just said, Luke, that you don't view Anchor House as a business and so maybe forgive my language in this next question, but for those listening, for those listening may own a business or dream of starting one or maybe just have a dream in general, like you did you. This started for you when you were 12, drinking espresso on the side of the road. And then it probably took 30 years or I don't know.
[00:41:31] Speaker C: I'm.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: I'm totally guessing, like before the.
[00:41:34] Speaker C: I'm 47 almost. Yeah, it took a while.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: What advice would you give about weaving purpose, mission and justice into their work?
[00:41:48] Speaker C: Yeah, like, I'm not. When I say it's not a business, I'm not trying to like lessen the fact that people are working hard and sacrificing everything to see business grown. We did that. So we're part of this community.
What I mean is that if. If the glory of Christ isn't the goal, and this is why Love justice is so awesome. We don't have any crosses on our walls in our. Like, this is a coffee shop. We want everyone in. You know what I'm saying? And everyone does come in, and then we tell them who we are because they point to things like love justice. So we want a business. But if. If what you're doing in business doesn't.
The end goal isn't the glory of Jesus and however he wants to work that out, it'll be meaningless.
It'll be meaningless like Jesus in First Corinthians.
If I have all the knowledge of man and can speak with the tongues of angels, if I give my body up to be burned, if I build the greatest business in the whole world, but have not that true Christlike love for him and others for his glory, it's just all clanging symbols. Businesses are just. They're meaningless. What makes them meaningful is that we go to work, we do our best. Our mission statement that we have written behind the chalkboard like that we see, but the customer doesn't, is to treat every single person who walks through the door as if they're Jesus Christ. And so, like, if the goal isn't to point to him, to make him known, it's where. Where do we end? With our.
Our happiness, which doesn't last long. You know, it's fleeting. And so I would say if you have business, if you're doing that, keep doing it. If you're not, and you want to start a business, make Christ center. It doesn't mean you have to write his name on your walls. We don't.
But it does mean that everything you do, First Corinthians 10:31, whether you eat or drink, and in everything you do, do it all for his glory.
That's a life well lived. That's a show up before him face to face one day. And by. By no means of ourselves here, well done, good and faithful servant, like, that's the goal, is the glory of Christ. And any business can do that. Any business can make Jesus the. The goal. So did that answer your question?
[00:44:23] Speaker B: Yeah, of course, Luke, you're answering questions better than you're asking.
You're answering them very well.
Yeah, and I would just say, like, on behalf of love, justice, and those that we seek to serve. Thanks, Luke. Thanks for partnering with us. Tell your community, tell your staff, like, make sure those guys know that they are so valuable and it's because of them that we're able to do the 575 lives.
We're just so thankful and. And very kindered in. In that. And we want to do whatever we can to get you guys connected to those stories and continually be reminded of the impact that you're making this side of heaven. And we really appreciate you guys.
[00:45:05] Speaker C: Yeah, we appreciate you big time, too. Thank you.
[00:45:08] Speaker B: Yeah. And thanks for your time chatting with us today, Luke. I know that you're busy and you could be at the coffee shop and you spent the last 45 minutes with me and. Yeah, I'm just really expectant that God will use this conversation in really encouraging ways. So thanks so much for your time and for popping on and sharing your story with us.
[00:45:27] Speaker C: Gladly. We love you guys.
[00:45:30] Speaker A: We are grateful for the generous support of the Love justice community. Please consider joining our family of donors. Learn more at lovejustice ngo.
