December 17, 2024 • 41 mins
What if the warmth of a coffee cup could unite a community and inspire compassion? Join us for an engaging conversation with Pastor Steven Snook, who shares his extraordinary journey of building connections through his innovative "pay-what-you-want" coffeehouse concept. Discover how this approach not only fosters inclusivity but also transforms the Metro Cafe into a vibrant community hub, transcending cultural and economic barriers. Pastor Steven's story is a testament to the profound impact of community engagement through coffee bridges divides and nurtures the soul.
Travel back to the mid-80s with us as we explore the vision of coffeehouses as welcoming spaces for diverse communities, long before Starbucks became a household name. Learn about the very beginning of the vision with Metro Rags and Java in 1995, a pioneering endeavor supported by Metro Church to bring people together in Los Angeles. We delve into how this coffeehouse, coupled with high-end vintage fashion, became a symbol of hope and unity in a city marked by disparity. The narrative unfolds with tales of collaboration and partnership, highlighting how inclusivity can transform a simple cafe into a beacon of faith-driven service.
From the heart of civil unrest to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pastor Steven and his community of believers & baristas exemplify resilience and selflessness. Their unwavering commitment to service is brought to life through stories of distributing essentials amidst chaos and extending a welcoming hand to those in need. As we look toward the future, we reflect on the power of humility and faith in driving meaningful change, leaving us inspired by the miracles of community impact and the promise of a brighter tomorrow through unity and collaboration.
Beyond The Plate is a podcast by international charity, Food For The Poor
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the midst of a riot, in the middle of that
community during COVID, and youwere able to take 5,000 bottles
of water and something reallysignificant happened.
I want you to share that.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, when you start giving bottles of water one at a
time, or, for us, tens ofthousands of cups of coffee, we
realize that's going into thehands of real people.
So on the day that we had ariot in Santa Monica and there
was a lot that was going onnationally but it was pretty
crazy and there was some lootinggoing on and handing it to
people as they were going by,and he's like what are you guys
(00:32):
doing?
And we told him a little aboutwhat we do and who we are.
And so he pulls out his phoneand he takes a picture of
Metropolis that was right thereand he says, hey, this is a
church.
They've just been feeding thecommunity, don't touch them.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
We're all inspired by our human connection that
arises when we share food withothers.
So what's on your heart becomesa hub for truly heartfelt
conversation.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Tertulia, as they say in Spanish, fostering genuine
bonds between individuals,creating that sense of community
and connection.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I'm Paul Jacobs, your podcast co-host, ready to
inspire you by conversationsthat nourish the soul as we go
Beyond the Plate.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I'm Daniel Patino, welcoming you to join us for
some truly inspiring tertulia.
Get ready to satisfy thatcraving for connection and
inspiration as we dive intotopics that aren't only broaden
your perspective but also deepenyour understanding of lives of
families in Latin America, theCaribbean or even in your own
backyard.
So, wherever our conversationstake us, come along for the ride
and let's go beyond the platetogether.
(01:30):
All right, I got three coffeecups sitting on a table right
here, Paul, All right?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, not literally right here, but I can see it.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Let's go to imaginary land and imaginary land.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I got to tell my daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
imaginary land.
Imaginary land there is acoffee table.
There is a coffee tables withthree coffee cups.
I see it All right.
The first coffee cup has CafeCubano.
Ooh, now we're at Coconut Creek.
Excuse me, our Coconut CreekFlorida studios.
Our studios are in CoconutCreek Florida, right.
So Coffee Cub Excuse me, ourCoconut Creek Florida studios,
our studios are in Coconut CreekFlorida, right.
So coffee Cuano is a majorthing around here.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's a stone's throw from Miami.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
There's one down right here by the block, and I
passed three of them on the wayhome and another one right
before I turned into the house,uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
All right, so that's one coffee cup.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
The other coffee cup has espresso oh of course, we
all know the espresso right,true, yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And the third coffee cup.
There has Kopi Luek coffee Waitfreeze.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Slow down.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
No, because I need you to say that in.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
English please.
I didn't understand.
What language are you talking?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It's foreign Kopi Luek coffee.
Okay, all right, all right.
This is an expensive bean now.
Expensive bean now.
It's sold on your favoriteonline store for more, almost at
$200.
If it's on sale, it's for $400.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What?
Yes, no, I asked for a coffee,not a bar of gold.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, this coffee is specially made, evidently
Because it comes from thedigestive tract of an animal,
what?
And then they cure it, and thenthey sell it what?
And then?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
they cure it and then they sell it.
What are you freaking?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
us.
So if Pastor Stevensook were togo for one of these three
coffees, which one would it be?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, I haven't tried the third, so I would like to.
And if you guys are buying,everything is good.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
All right then Coffee Cubano it is there, it is there
, it is.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, first of all, words can't describe enough our
guest.
You could probably use thewords innovative or trendsetting
, which are all true, but theone that keeps coming to my mind
, as we got to know, our guestis committed Pastor of Metro
(03:46):
Church, chaplain in the SantaMonica, california area.
A father, a husband, a pastor,as I said, but whether it's
serving coffee to busycelebrities in SoCal or
executives in what I learned, anew term I learned we're going
to talk about this later SiliconBeach.
(04:06):
You've heard of Silicon Valley,but this is Silicon Beach.
I'll get there in a second orleading prayer to unify a very
diverse community.
Pastor Stephen Snook, we aregrateful that you are here and
added to your resume podcastguest Welcome.
I'm very, very grateful to bewith you guys yeah, we're great,
(04:26):
great to have you here onbeyond the plate.
This is interesting because wehave um.
First of all, I gotta kind oflike take us back to go to the
future, right like that back tothe future reference.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
See what you did there.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
He likes back to the future.
Um, this all actually startedin a very interesting way.
So we here at food for the poorhave what we call the Church
Alliances Department, the GreatCommission, it's churches and
pastors and our ministry workingalongside industry to really
(04:57):
connect businesses and connectchurches to the mission of Food
for the Poor in the gospel.
And so they have these, ourspeakers who go through a
convocation.
A number of those speakers camethrough for a big tour in the
office after they came back fromconvocation and what I thought
was really cool was all of themwere talking to us, you know,
(05:17):
asking about Beyond the Plateand asking about the podcast.
They said unanimously, they allsaid you've got to meet this
pastor that had this coffeehouse where, if you, whatever
you wanted to pay for yourcoffee, that's what you paid.
I was like what?
This is Whatever you wanted topay, whatever you wanted to pay.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Whatever you wanted to pay.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Okay, okay Right, but they all, unanimously, were
like clamoring about how coolthis concept was.
They were just blown away, ofcourse.
They said you've got to talk tothis pastor.
So, of course, immediately I go, I say goodbye to the guests
and I start emailing.
Okay, who is this pastor?
And I get to meet our guest,pastor Steve Snook.
(05:59):
What I love about your storyand I'm going to ask you to tell
it because you can only tell itbest is that it really began as
, I guess, a vision that Godgave you back in the mid-80s, to
evangelize, but using theinstrument of coffee.
Want to tell us about the dreamof community that came through
(06:21):
coffee?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah.
So I was a young guy that wasgoing into finance.
I thought I was going to be afinancial planner and I had this
encounter with God.
I could just say that.
But in that was this callingthat I realized it was on my
life that I did not want toaccept that would send me to Los
Angeles.
(06:42):
But if you go back to mid 80s,I'm in Los Angeles, beginning to
understand a little bit of whatit would look like to do a new
thing for God, and I'm likedowntown Los Angeles, I'm
looking west, which means you'relooking at Santa Monica, you're
looking at Pacific Palisades,malibu, you're looking at Venice
Beach and Marina del Rey, andthen there's a lot of other
(07:04):
cities between downtown LA andthat and that would be the west
side of Los Angeles.
So in that and I wasn't a dreamor vision guy really, but I had
these dreams and I had thesevisions and what was interesting
is there were like the littlefires that were in different
places throughout that part ofthe city, but one thing that
stood out to me was coffeehouses and I thought coffee
(07:27):
houses, but it was a place ofcommunity where everyone could
come together.
It wasn't like it was thechurch as we know as a church
buildings, it was coffee houses.
Now again, remember, there's noStarbucks then.
So the idea of coffee houses indifferent areas and it was
almost like they were strategic,based on different kinds of
(07:49):
communities, and I could seeactually into them and some of
what the music sounded like orthe conversations, and so with
that there was much more to thisbecause it was a picture of
what I think maybe the church issupposed to be.
But I was a little of what Ithink maybe the church is
supposed to be.
But I was a little bit caught upin thinking that this is my
vision that God is giving me andwe're going to go in and reach
(08:12):
this area.
But beginning to understandover the years, this is a much
bigger picture.
But coffee houses really werecore to that and sometimes you
get a vision, you have a dream,but if you don't walk it out
it's just, it's just a dream.
But for us to walk it out.
So our first coffee house was1995 and went into a
(08:32):
neighborhood.
Again, this isn't like in achurch building, it's in a
neighborhood where people are,it's close to multiple schools,
a college, a middle school, evenelementary school in
neighborhoods.
But over the years, we'velearned a lot about our
community and we've learned alot about how to reach them,
with the catalyst being coffee.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Did you try anything else?
Is there another concept thatcame to mind before the coffee
house?
Like whoa, let's try to open anice cream parlor.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Or let's go for a barbershop, or let's go for a
restauranthop, or let's go for arestaurant.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Good question Do you think it would have had the same
impact as a coffee house?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
No, because what happens with restaurants?
You're going for a specificgroup of people many times that
like that kind of food or canafford that kind of food.
So Santa Monica, we've one ofthe wealthiest communities in
this country.
You got a real high endrestaurants.
But it's interesting because ina coffee shop, if you're
(09:32):
serving really good coffee,everybody is going to come,
because we live in a verydiverse area.
They say LA is one of the mostcosmopolitan cities in history,
maybe the most.
So that's true with the Westside.
So you've got people and youprobably are familiar.
The LA is kind of like thehomeless capital of the country
now, and Santa Monica is likethe and Venice beach are
(09:56):
homeless beaches.
In the middle of all this greatwealth You've got, you've got
people that are struggling.
We found out there were seniorswho are in need, all these
people, and so a coffee shop,the average person can usually
pull off a coffee even if theycan't buy anything else, and
they get to be around otherpeople and we realized that was
(10:19):
the greatest place of diversitythat we saw in the city, to be
honest with you, and we startedseeing what it was like in
different locations.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So first of all, 1995 , first coffee house.
I understand Metro Rags andJava.
Yeah, what a cool name.
I want to get to the otherstuff, but I got to know where
did this name come from?
Like Starbucks, but Metro Ragsand Java, where did that come
from?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So our church is called Metro Church and a lot of
what we have has Metro in itbecause we see that we
understand what goes on in acreative community in an urban
setting and that's kind of ourthing.
So the idea of Java obviouslywe're talking about coffee, but
Rags in that first coffee shopmy wife started up my wife is in
(11:10):
the fashion industry and it waslike a high end vintage area we
had in the coffee shop.
We were way ahead of the gamewith with denim that was going
over.
People were coming to get denimfrom japan and and so there was
innovation has been a part ofwhat we've done because we were
(11:31):
willing to try by working withthe gifts that people were that
were passionate about and saylet's do it.
So those were the rags and thisis java, but also it kind of
reminds people that we're justit's not about us.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So Metro Rags in Java , metro Church expanded into
Metro Cafe and then Metro Collaband Metro Cares.
We'll talk a little bit aboutthat, but I wanted to start by
just quoting something that Iread in one of the articles
(12:06):
about your endeavors.
It said Snook a pastor and thecafe is a pastor and the cafe is
a part of his church.
And this is your quote.
We want to run a good business,but we don't just make it about
the bottom line, it's aboutcommunity and collaboration.
Amen.
And so we have our cruiseprinciples here at Food for the
Poor, our guiding principles,and the first C is collaboration
(12:30):
.
You've got community andcollaboration.
What was that all about?
Because it sounds a lot morethan just serving coffee in the
very wealthy vintage area ofSanta Monica and the beach at
the idea of collaboration, andI'm just going to make it kind
(12:51):
of spiritual here.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Since I've been very young, I would read about the
body of Christ, where Christ isthe head and we are all
different parts of it, and ifwe're working together, he's
glorified and we're getting hiswork done.
We're walking out the mission.
So what it means that we've gotto collaborate.
It means that we've got to becommitted to investing in one
(13:13):
another and allowing otherpeople to use their gifts.
So when you bring people in aplace of community and you meet
them where they are and youtreat them the same, without
partiality, and you acknowledgetheir gifts and their identity
and them as a person, and thatwe need you but we need to work
(13:35):
together.
I honestly believe thatChristianity is probably well, I
would say is the most dividedof all religions in the world.
There's 33,000 differentdenominations or something.
So the idea of working together.
And so for us going into acommunity and saying, if we're,
(14:00):
if together, we're putting Jesuson display, what do they see
now?
What do they see in me?
I want to be a goodrepresentative, but what do they
see in the body when it's be agood representative, but what do
they see in the body when it'sworking together?
And I'm not talking about justone congregation, I'm talking
about the body of christ workingtogether and representing
christ well, but that would meanwe'd have to have some core
(14:20):
principles that we are going tolive by all these years.
So we've been committed tocollaboration since the
beginning.
We've been committed tocollaboration since the
beginning.
We've been committed tobuilding community from the
beginning.
We just have learned, we got todo it in different ways and
we've got to be unafraid ofbeing a catalyst for that unity.
(14:41):
So community, common unity.
I mean it's pretty simple, butthat's been really hard to walk
out, but it's something for thelast, well, 35 years we've been
committed to right here.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And that's a business model that I wish everybody had
, because I've been to placeswhere it's money or nothing.
You know we're looking for cash.
You know we're not going togive you any discounts or we're
sorry, we don't accept couponslike that or anything like this
is the total opposite, where youdon't have to worry about stuff
like that and you can stillfeel included.
(15:17):
Yeah, it's the community partof it and, funny enough, coffee
in a Latin culture is a thing ofthat sort.
Where I've been in places whereI am a, I feel as I am outside
the circle, I'm not part of thefriendship, but as soon as they
bring coffee into the room, Iget a coffee cup and then I'm
included.
It happens a lot.
(15:39):
The cafe Cubano, the cafe Cubanothey serve it in this little
shot cup looking.
You know cups and you know iflittle shot cup looking cups and
if you're a mutant, you can eatthe whole thing.
You can eat this whole thingand I mean you'd be awake for
three days, but usually thoseare meant to share and when that
little coffee cup comes aroundand you get one, I think it's
(16:01):
more than just a here have ashot of coffee cup?
No, no, it's.
I accept you as a friend.
I know what you need.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Here you go and I can tell you guys.
Let me just tell you real quickhow it came about, honestly.
So we opened the coffee shopand we got prices okay, and
they're a little less than theother artistic artisan coffee
shops, craft coffee but areneighbors.
We have a 13 story seniorbuilding next door and they said
(16:30):
we love the coffee shop, welove being in the outdoor area
under the shade in the trees andjust being there, we love being
around, but we just can'tafford three bucks for a cup of
coffee, and that's 2016.
Okay, so we're like oh, could?
I said one day.
I said could you afford a buck?
And they said yeah.
(16:51):
So then we started thinking OK,what are we going to do for the
seniors?
But then we had homeless peoplecoming in.
We had other, we have studentscoming in because we were
surrounded with colleges allaround us and the different
universities, and so we're likewhat if?
And so it became a point ofprayer and we said, well, let's
just try it.
But it was a step of faithbecause we realized if we're
(17:13):
really committed and it's notabout the bottom line, then
we're going to make it aboutpeople, and if we're going to
make it about people, then we'regoing to make it accessible to
everyone, and we trusted thepeople that had more would give
more, and that's exactly whathappened.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
But, pastor, you need to keep the lights on right,
you need to keep the airconditioning flowing.
We need to pay the help.
Where does that line stop?
I mean, let me get the largecup of coffee with sugar, all
that and all that more, and I'mgoing to give you a dollar.
There's got to be a line.
Was there a certain menu forthat?
Or everything was on the menufor whatever you wanted to pay?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Whatever you want to pay.
But there is a point thatthere's some things that we had
to say listen, could you atleast help us cover the cost
when we could just have anhonest talk.
So when people would come in,they would walk up and they
would they'd say the baristawould say have you been here
before?
And they said no, and then theywould give them a little spiel.
And so when they would do that,they're like are you kidding me
(18:12):
?
And so when they said, butwhat's the story?
So that became the point, werealized that we got to tell the
story of what we were doingwith what they gave, Because we
are doing these programs for thecommunity, we're doing these
things for seniors, we're doingthese community lunches, we're
doing all these other things.
(18:32):
So those people that might comein, many times we didn't know
who they were until all of asudden, you know, the $100 for
that cup of coffee comes out.
And that's what got a lot ofattention.
That got us a lot of mediaattention because people started
hearing about it and it was notjust national, it went
international.
And so you're just like, we'rejust doing what we believe God
(18:56):
told us to do and he blessed itand yes, there were times that
was difficult, but you getthrough it.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Okay.
So before I kick it to Dannyy,because I wanted to ask you
about that person who can affordto give that hundred dollars
and I alluded to it earlier,you're located on silicon beach.
We're all familiar with siliconvalley, we know this is where
all the, all the innovation andbusiness and all the the big
names and we order boxes thatcome to our doorstep.
You know, and we get all that.
(19:24):
But this is silicon beach,silicon Beach, and you are, just
like you said, just a stone'sthrow away from Hollywood and a
stone's throw away from the mostcosmopolitan city in America,
almost so who were theseindividuals coming in and why is
this Silicon Beach so important?
Who were those people thatcould just plunk down $100?
(19:48):
Because all I've heard aboutwas students, homeless, elderly.
There's somebody missing there.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
So Santa Monica has a neighborhood that is the third
richest zip code in America.
So these are entertainmentpeople.
These are actors, these aredirectors, these are the
producers.
Their are actors, these aredirectors.
These are the producers.
Their offices are right acrossthe street.
The guys who are next door tous do some of the best editing
(20:14):
there is in the world.
It was guys that.
It was weed distributioncompany that comes and these
guys started working there allthe time.
I mean, and they, they believeda little different, but you, we
started having meetings withthe, with different people
(20:38):
coming in saying, listen, couldwe rent this?
Could we rent your courtyard?
So we started finding out moreand more.
So Santa Monica is a small cityrelative.
I mean, like 98,000 people andmaybe 150,000 come into work.
But Netflix is here, hulu ishere I'm just perspective.
Universal records is here Allthe record companies.
This is where they make thedecisions.
(21:00):
Google was across the street.
It now is in Venice wherethey're creatives.
Ziprecruiter is across thestreet.
So, yes, it would be CEOscoming to have meetings.
Because they said they, weliked the vibe.
We had people that were comingto have their meetings to talk
about the next movie they'remaking.
We had upstairs one day.
(21:22):
They were doing reading for ascript for an upcoming movie and
everyone was so into what theystarted asking me all these
questions.
The people are up there, whichwe kind of got them up through
the back way.
They were just in the parkinglot but they said we just want
to go down and have coffee andall of a sudden, you know you've
(21:48):
got 100 people that aredownstairs, that are inside and
outside, like what is going onhere, when all of a sudden, a
dozen of these well-recognizedpeople I'll just say are getting
coffee and asking morequestions.
I mean we've had a lot of them.
I mean, and there's one of thetop quarterbacks there is in
this country.
He's there with his fiance atthat point, who's an actress
that everybody knows.
But they said how could we getinvolved in volunteering here?
(22:10):
That's great, they want to knowmore.
And so when they drop andthere's a lot of gifts that have
come, but see, we had to lookas a business.
At the end of the month you'vegot to say, okay, how much is
coming in and how much is goingout and how much reserves, and
you really had to work throughthat.
Now that meant for mepersonally, I'm going to have to
(22:33):
sacrifice.
I'm going to have to live offof savings during some time,
because if you're going to takethe lead, but see, the same
thing is true for someone who'sa startup in Silicon Beach,
santa Monica.
Before they start getting thosesecond, third rounds of funding
in, there's sacrifice, there'sa lot of hours, and I'm not the
young guy that I was.
(22:54):
I'm the older guy, but I'mstill willing to lay it down for
the things I'm passionate aboutand the things I think that God
is passionate about.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
How many times I'm sorry.
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Finish.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
You better stop me.
No, sorry, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Go ahead, finish.
No, I'm saying, is you betterstop me?
No, it's great, and I'm tryingto put myself in your mind where
.
How many times did you think ofshutting it down before you
said you know, let's just keepit going and I know God is going
to help me on this next monthor this next week or tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, so we weren't thinking about shutting it down
at any time.
I mean, even through COVID.
We're like we're going to getthrough this because you mean,
see, west Los Angeles,everything is going to be at a
higher level when it comes towearing mask and and and some of
the rules and regulations ofthe city.
So I mean we're going to beshut down, just like everything
else is.
(23:43):
Any public gathering is beingshut down.
So there was no, they're notpointing out again, they're not
going against churches or otherreligions or whatever it is,
they're just like there's nopublic gatherings.
And we realized, okay, sothat's going to affect us.
But we did not have to stopserving the community.
We were one of the fewnon-profits that never stopped
(24:06):
doing food pantry, communitylunches and we had like 225
different volunteers and theircommunity members not just
people that like a part of ourcongregation or something, 225
different ones over during COVIDand no one ever got COVID and
(24:27):
Because if we had, we have toshut it down for two weeks at
least.
No one ever got sick and wekept serving.
But the stories, I mean we weregiven 5,000 bottles of water
and we're like what are we goingto do with that?
But we realized that waspre-COVID and all of a sudden,
here we go and it was you know,10,000 pairs of socks.
(24:47):
And we realized okay, and wejust kept.
People just kept giving.
So we were partnering withdifferent organizations, so what
we're doing was having a coolcoffee house.
But, like I mentioned to youguys, we had talked about one of
the guys that is a writer, uh,and he had just it was finishing
(25:08):
a book and he told me he saysit ends at Well, I got to go to
his book signing last week, buthis experience was like as
someone raised as an OrthodoxJew who is anti-religion in any
form and Shalom is a good friendof mine, so I can say it but he
(25:31):
said I think I'm agnostic now,so I'm grateful for him and I'm
he's, shalom is a good friend ofmine, so I can say it.
But he said I think I'magnostic now, so I'm grateful
for that.
But he writes a lot at the endof the book about his experience
and our relationship.
But his experience was what youguys were just asking the
questions about.
So there are all kinds ofpeople.
The guy that wrote the articlethat got all the attention,
media attention was a writer forthe Guardian, an English
(25:54):
newspaper, but he was not just aregular.
He actually was part of ourco-lab, our co-working space,
and then he ended up writingthis.
And then it went crazy withpeople who wanted to find out
more about what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Pastor, even though many of your volunteers, as you
just mentioned, weren'tChristian, you saw people come
to faith through your work.
How did that blend of serviceand prayer shape the experience
for everyone?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's one of the most exciting things.
My kids during this time I'vegot three kids and during this
time they said I think the kindof outright reach we've
experienced now has been likenothing else in our lives,
because it's so much like whatJesus did.
It wasn't like here's thebuilding, everybody come here
(26:41):
and then we're going to try towin you over with some of our
music and a message or whatever.
We're going to go to where thepeople are, which has been what
Metro Church has since like 2010.
We made some radical changesand that this is part of it is
we've got to be in theneighborhood, but we started
experiencing something that thepeople were coming to serve with
(27:03):
us began to find out what'sbehind it.
They began to see the love.
And if you ever read, if youread what Yelp or the Google
reviews which is what CNN whenthey picked up on it that's what
they wanted to talk about inthese interviews is that these
Yelp reviews can't be true.
They talk about this vibe.
(27:24):
They talk about us carryingpeace, and it wasn't because we
were all that special, they werejust talking about the Holy
Spirit.
But when people see God at work, where James says don't just
talk to me about faith.
I want to see some deeds thatcome in with that.
Paul in Colossians, he's layingsome things out and he said
(27:46):
listen, whatever you do,whatever you say, let it
represent Christ.
And so for us to be in a placeto say, if we could do it as
individuals in the workplace, wecan do it in our sphere of
influence, in our friend groups,we could do it in our family,
we can do it in our neighborhood, but when we do it together in
(28:08):
a community setting, with thisdiversity of every nation and
every tongue and every socialeconomic level, and we're all
together and somehow we wereable to hold it together and
from this people came to faith.
People started coming early toserve, to come to the services
(28:29):
that we were doing right at thecoffee shop, and they struggled
with they're like that's toomuch music.
And so we began to even shiftsome things to make it fit who
they were.
And people just kept comingearlier.
And then they started askingfor questions and people started
asking for prayer.
Our coffee house had peopleasking me for prayer all the
time, and they're new agers,they're all over the place, but
(28:53):
when they are experiencing God,they and that wasn't me, it was
all of us, it was.
I just saw myself surroundedwith this amazing people that
just served the community welland represented Christ well.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So I hear all these miracles.
I hear all these miracles inwhat you're talking about.
You mentioned something earlierand I don't want to before
we're getting close to wrappingup our time here and I don't
want to miss this opportunityfor you to tell this story.
So one of the most famousscriptures in the Bible miracles
(29:26):
, I should say in the Bible isJesus fed the 5,000.
You mentioned you got 5 000bottles of water in the midst of
a riot, in the middle of thatcommunity during covid, and you
were able to take 5 000 bottlesof water and something really
significant happened I want youto share hispanic group.
(29:52):
Hispanic group is an advertisingagency focused in the US
Hispanic market that specializesin customized media solutions
for businesses.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
It sure does, From social media strategies to
traditional media advertising.
They offer personalized andcreative solutions adapted to
meet their marketing objectives,all tailored to the diverse and
rapidly growing segments of theHispanic population across 42
Hispanic markets in the US andLatin America.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Wow, you get all the great lines.
But they use their culturalexpertise to create strategies
to deliver efficient results.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Hispanic group.
Lleva tu marca al corazón de lacomunidad hispana.
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Hispanic.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Group.
Their expertise lies inreaching the Hispanic market,
leveraging its richmulticulturalism.
Hispanic Group combinesinnovation, cultural insight and
strategic collaboration todrive what Tangible results for
their clients.
I agree with everything youjust said.
Now, for more information, youcan visit their website.
Guess where?
(30:57):
Hispanicgroupnet?
Okay, that's Hispanicgroupnet,or.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I'll say it in Spanish Hispanicgroupnet.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
When you start giving bottles of water, one at a time
, or, for us, tens of thousandsof cups of coffee, we realize
that's going into the hands ofreal people and so how are we
going to deliver it to them?
So on the day that we had ariot in Santa Monica and there
was a lot that was going onnationally but it was pretty
crazy and there was some lootinggoing on.
(31:28):
It was two blocks away and wejust finished a community lunch
but we closed the doors becausewindows are being broken all
over.
But we realized that we'redifferent and so we need to do
something.
And we had all this water backthere and a lot of it was on ice
for the day.
So we just started bringing itout and handing it to people as
they were going by.
And again they're walking backwith all the things they've just
(31:52):
taken from stores and stuff.
But it's pretty crazy.
The cars are coming by andwe're going hey, you want some
water, you want some water.
Well, at one point this guycomes by and I can just say he's
a veteran and is kind ofgangster.
I guess I would just sayVeteran gangster.
OG.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Thank you for your service.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
So he's one of the older guys and he comes by and
he's like what are you guysdoing?
And we told him a little aboutwhat we do and who we are.
And so he pulls out his phoneand he takes a picture of
Metropolis that was right there,which is what the name is on
the outside of Metropolis, andhe says, hey, this is a church,
they just been feeding thecommunity, don't touch them.
And then he puts this this gangsign.
And it was.
It was very interesting, but weweren't touched and we kept
(32:42):
handing out water and that'sjust.
That's just one of the stories.
There's a lot of stories, butthe truth is is that when you're
making a difference, there'sgoing to be opposition.
But you just keep pressing inand you keep doing what you know
you got to do.
But there were some times wefaced some opposition that would
shut us down for a period oftime.
(33:02):
And I mean they're tearing downthat building and they're
putting a hotel there and we'rein a season saying what does
Metropolis 2.0 look like?
What is Metro Church 3.0?
And is it brick and mortar?
Is it the next coffee house?
And I'm running into people inthe community Every day.
I'm out in Santa Monica, I'mrunning into people and they're
(33:23):
saying so, what's next?
And these are people that wejust described earlier, and so
I'm very grateful to be in thisplace to experience God and say
what's next.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Pastor Steven.
So, despite that shutdown,despite COVID and obviously we
already know what happened afterCOVID, where everything just
became everybody lockedthemselves at home, and we'll
figure it out as we go Despitethat shutdown you mentioned, you
never ran out of food orsupplies.
You fed thousands withdonations from places like Whole
(33:56):
Foods and Google.
How did these partnerships cometogether?
What's it like to see thismiracle of endless support?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Well, the kind of support when people see that
you're doing something and thenthey're saying is where is the
funding?
And we tell them you where,where is the funding?
And we tell them, you know,it's just donations.
And even being honest with them, a lot of people wanted to give
to us.
Even some of the entertainmentcompanies wanted to give to us.
But because we have a religiousaffiliation, they said you're
doing great things, but we can'tbecause of the public persona,
(34:27):
we can't because of some thingsthat are set in place.
So we just realized we're goingto say God, we just need enough
for next week, and so westarted praying in things
different times.
One of the things that's reallycool is that there had been for
(34:50):
many, many years of Thanksgivingoutreach in the community and
they said we aren't going to beable to do it during COVID.
And we said, well, we will.
And so we people started comingtogether, people bringing you
know, literally bringing turkeys.
The morning that we're going todo it, the big Catholic church
in town said, hey, we have somestuff we want to bring it over
(35:10):
to you.
Someone else brought over andthen the guy that I was talking
about that wrote the book.
He was there with his familythat's where this book ends is
he's serving Thanksgiving dinnerwith his family and saying what
is this?
And so for us to be able to say, watching those things come
together, it's word of mouth,because if you're living it and
(35:30):
you're not taking advantage ofpeople and hopefully you're in a
place of humility and you'renot making it about yourself,
and I can say you know, you come, look at, you know, you know
who I am, and so for us I meanit was.
There's a lot of pressure thatcomes with that, but I'm very
grateful that we were putting, Ithink, christ on display better
(35:53):
than we were trying to makeourselves look better.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'm just fascinated, as we get ready to wrap up, the
scripture that really kind oftouches my heart and I wanted to
just illustrate because it's soperfect.
It's Philippians 4, 7.
And the peace of God whichsurpasses all understanding.
None of this makes sense tobusinessmen, none of this makes
(36:20):
sense to baristas.
I mean honestly, truly, thiswas a vision for God, from God,
for community, and he used aninstrument that was committed,
which is you in your hands.
He used coffee, but since COVID, of course, the cafe has shut
down.
The vision for the communityand for Christ has not stopped.
(36:42):
I, just, as we kind of wrap upnow, I want you to kind of tell
us, I mean, listen, you know, we, we, we've been clamoring over
the last 16, two weeks, 16 days,two weeks, whatever, however
long it is about the Olympics.
Every day is a new story aboutthe Olympics.
And now here you are.
In just about four years, theOlympics are going to literally
be 50 yards away from whereyou're sitting talking to us
(37:04):
right now, outside his window,right there.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
He's going to open up the window.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
And he'll listen to Snoop Dogg on the street.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
A little Billie Eilish practicing her microphone
, or right, some of the squashevents going on.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
What's next?
What are you gonna do?
I mean, this is the world iscoming to your backyard.
Community is coming to yourbackyard in four years.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Well, I think that this all is coming together for
such a time as this.
Wow.
So there's been a plan in thecity.
There's been a plan in the city, has been a plan in.
Santa Monica is literally inthe beach, across from where I'm
at, 12,000 seat temporarystadium for sand volleyball is
going to be here.
I mean, it's, it's and there'sso much.
(37:44):
La is ready for it.
But see, los Angeles for decadeshas been a place where God has
done some great things over theyears, but it kind of just goes
off somewhere else Azusa Street,the crew which is on the
campuses, there's been all theseamazing things that have
(38:07):
happened, and so this is a timewhere we're saying is God, would
you do something in your churchas we unite around your mission
?
And I think what's next is thatwe are uniting in prayer, we
are uniting people in servingthe community and serving one
another, and that means we justlay down some of those things
that we got to let go of for thesake of something bigger.
(38:28):
And I think that 2028 in LA issomething for us to really look
forward to, and I think there'sgoing to be more of what we've
experienced, and I believethat's why all these years,
we've been a part of helping laya foundation for something God
could do that could have aneffect on the whole world.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
You're roasting the beans for 2028.
Right, you're roasting thebeans for another Metro cafe.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Wow Well, you're roasting the beans for another
Metro Cafe.
Wow Well, Pastor Steven Stuck,it's been an excellent
opportunity to really just kindof dive in and talk deep about
what was really a story aboutcoffee.
But it really wasn't a storyabout coffee.
It was a much deeperconversation about community and
Christ sending you.
And he still got you there 35plus years later and for the
(39:15):
next 35 years, as long as Godwill have you still ministering
right.
I have to tell you how excitingit's been for us to have you on
and sharing this story.
We look forward to the nextstory.
Danny and I are going to bethere with bottles of water and
coffee in four years for LA,we're going to be right there.
Just save two seats for us onthe beach.
Okay, Okay, Okay, but we want.
(39:40):
We want to just let you knowthat every episode of Beyond the
Plate, we always end on apositive note.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
That was good.
See, I'm going to stick low nowthat was really good.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
See oh Pastor.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Steven liked it.
Awesome.
All right, we're almost goingto take that show on the road.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Almost Our positive note for our episode today comes
from a quote from Anne Frank.
How wonderful is it that nobodyneed wait a single moment
before starting to improve theworld?
Yeah Amen, pastor Steven Snook,you didn't wait not one moment,
(40:13):
and you're still continuing toimprove the world.
Yeah Amen, pastor Stephen Snook, you didn't wait Not one moment
, and you're still continuing toimprove the world, and we are
grateful to have you as ourguest here to tell this story
and to tell so many more thatare part of our community here
at Beyond the Plate about whatGod has been doing for almost
four decades out in SoCal.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Thank you, pastor, gracias, hey, everyone, thanks
for listening to Beyond thePlate.
We love having you here.
Keep up with us on Instagramand TikTok at
beyondtheplatepodcast, and ifyou enjoy the show, don't forget
to subscribe to our YouTubechannel and give our videos a
like.
Just search Food for the PoorBeyond the Plate.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Your support means the world to us All.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
right, folks, we'll see you on the next Beyond the
Plate episode.
I'm waving.
In the midst of a riot, in the middle of that
community during COVID, and youwere able to take 5,000 bottles
of water and something reallysignificant happened.
I want you to share that.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, when you start giving bottles of water one at a
time, or, for us, tens ofthousands of cups of coffee, we
realize that's going into thehands of real people.
So on the day that we had ariot in Santa Monica and there
was a lot that was going onnationally but it was pretty
crazy and there was some lootinggoing on and handing it to
people as they were going by,and he's like what are you guys
(00:32):
doing?
And we told him a little aboutwhat we do and who we are.
And so he pulls out his phoneand he takes a picture of
Metropolis that was right thereand he says, hey, this is a
church.
They've just been feeding thecommunity, don't touch them.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
We're all inspired by our human connection that
arises when we share food withothers.
So what's on your heart becomesa hub for truly heartfelt
conversation.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Tertulia, as they say in Spanish, fostering genuine
bonds between individuals,creating that sense of community
and connection.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I'm Paul Jacobs, your podcast co-host, ready to
inspire you by conversationsthat nourish the soul as we go
Beyond the Plate.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I'm Daniel Patino, welcoming you to join us for
some truly inspiring tertulia.
Get ready to satisfy thatcraving for connection and
inspiration as we dive intotopics that aren't only broaden
your perspective but also deepenyour understanding of lives of
families in Latin America, theCaribbean or even in your own
backyard.
So, wherever our conversationstake us, come along for the ride
and let's go beyond the platetogether.
(01:30):
All right, I got three coffeecups sitting on a table right
here, Paul, All right?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, not literally right here, but I can see it.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Let's go to imaginary land and imaginary land.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I got to tell my daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
imaginary land.
Imaginary land there is acoffee table.
There is a coffee tables withthree coffee cups.
I see it All right.
The first coffee cup has CafeCubano.
Ooh, now we're at Coconut Creek.
Excuse me, our Coconut CreekFlorida studios.
Our studios are in CoconutCreek Florida, right.
So Coffee Cub Excuse me, ourCoconut Creek Florida studios,
our studios are in Coconut CreekFlorida, right.
So coffee Cuano is a majorthing around here.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's a stone's throw from Miami.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
There's one down right here by the block, and I
passed three of them on the wayhome and another one right
before I turned into the house,uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
All right, so that's one coffee cup.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
The other coffee cup has espresso oh of course, we
all know the espresso right,true, yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And the third coffee cup.
There has Kopi Luek coffee Waitfreeze.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Slow down.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
No, because I need you to say that in.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
English please.
I didn't understand.
What language are you talking?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It's foreign Kopi Luek coffee.
Okay, all right, all right.
This is an expensive bean now.
Expensive bean now.
It's sold on your favoriteonline store for more, almost at
$200.
If it's on sale, it's for $400.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What?
Yes, no, I asked for a coffee,not a bar of gold.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, this coffee is specially made, evidently
Because it comes from thedigestive tract of an animal,
what?
And then they cure it, and thenthey sell it what?
And then?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
they cure it and then they sell it.
What are you freaking?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
us.
So if Pastor Stevensook were togo for one of these three
coffees, which one would it be?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, I haven't tried the third, so I would like to.
And if you guys are buying,everything is good.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
All right then Coffee Cubano it is there, it is there
, it is.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, first of all, words can't describe enough our
guest.
You could probably use thewords innovative or trendsetting
, which are all true, but theone that keeps coming to my mind
, as we got to know, our guestis committed Pastor of Metro
(03:46):
Church, chaplain in the SantaMonica, california area.
A father, a husband, a pastor,as I said, but whether it's
serving coffee to busycelebrities in SoCal or
executives in what I learned, anew term I learned we're going
to talk about this later SiliconBeach.
(04:06):
You've heard of Silicon Valley,but this is Silicon Beach.
I'll get there in a second orleading prayer to unify a very
diverse community.
Pastor Stephen Snook, we aregrateful that you are here and
added to your resume podcastguest Welcome.
I'm very, very grateful to bewith you guys yeah, we're great,
(04:26):
great to have you here onbeyond the plate.
This is interesting because wehave um.
First of all, I gotta kind oflike take us back to go to the
future, right like that back tothe future reference.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
See what you did there.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
He likes back to the future.
Um, this all actually startedin a very interesting way.
So we here at food for the poorhave what we call the Church
Alliances Department, the GreatCommission, it's churches and
pastors and our ministry workingalongside industry to really
(04:57):
connect businesses and connectchurches to the mission of Food
for the Poor in the gospel.
And so they have these, ourspeakers who go through a
convocation.
A number of those speakers camethrough for a big tour in the
office after they came back fromconvocation and what I thought
was really cool was all of themwere talking to us, you know,
(05:17):
asking about Beyond the Plateand asking about the podcast.
They said unanimously, they allsaid you've got to meet this
pastor that had this coffeehouse where, if you, whatever
you wanted to pay for yourcoffee, that's what you paid.
I was like what?
This is Whatever you wanted topay, whatever you wanted to pay.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Whatever you wanted to pay.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Okay, okay Right, but they all, unanimously, were
like clamoring about how coolthis concept was.
They were just blown away, ofcourse.
They said you've got to talk tothis pastor.
So, of course, immediately I go, I say goodbye to the guests
and I start emailing.
Okay, who is this pastor?
And I get to meet our guest,pastor Steve Snook.
(05:59):
What I love about your storyand I'm going to ask you to tell
it because you can only tell itbest is that it really began as
, I guess, a vision that Godgave you back in the mid-80s, to
evangelize, but using theinstrument of coffee.
Want to tell us about the dreamof community that came through
(06:21):
coffee?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah.
So I was a young guy that wasgoing into finance.
I thought I was going to be afinancial planner and I had this
encounter with God.
I could just say that.
But in that was this callingthat I realized it was on my
life that I did not want toaccept that would send me to Los
Angeles.
(06:42):
But if you go back to mid 80s,I'm in Los Angeles, beginning to
understand a little bit of whatit would look like to do a new
thing for God, and I'm likedowntown Los Angeles, I'm
looking west, which means you'relooking at Santa Monica, you're
looking at Pacific Palisades,malibu, you're looking at Venice
Beach and Marina del Rey, andthen there's a lot of other
(07:04):
cities between downtown LA andthat and that would be the west
side of Los Angeles.
So in that and I wasn't a dreamor vision guy really, but I had
these dreams and I had thesevisions and what was interesting
is there were like the littlefires that were in different
places throughout that part ofthe city, but one thing that
stood out to me was coffeehouses and I thought coffee
(07:27):
houses, but it was a place ofcommunity where everyone could
come together.
It wasn't like it was thechurch as we know as a church
buildings, it was coffee houses.
Now again, remember, there's noStarbucks then.
So the idea of coffee houses indifferent areas and it was
almost like they were strategic,based on different kinds of
(07:49):
communities, and I could seeactually into them and some of
what the music sounded like orthe conversations, and so with
that there was much more to thisbecause it was a picture of
what I think maybe the church issupposed to be.
But I was a little of what Ithink maybe the church is
supposed to be.
But I was a little bit caught upin thinking that this is my
vision that God is giving me andwe're going to go in and reach
(08:12):
this area.
But beginning to understandover the years, this is a much
bigger picture.
But coffee houses really werecore to that and sometimes you
get a vision, you have a dream,but if you don't walk it out
it's just, it's just a dream.
But for us to walk it out.
So our first coffee house was1995 and went into a
(08:32):
neighborhood.
Again, this isn't like in achurch building, it's in a
neighborhood where people are,it's close to multiple schools,
a college, a middle school, evenelementary school in
neighborhoods.
But over the years, we'velearned a lot about our
community and we've learned alot about how to reach them,
with the catalyst being coffee.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Did you try anything else?
Is there another concept thatcame to mind before the coffee
house?
Like whoa, let's try to open anice cream parlor.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Or let's go for a barbershop, or let's go for a
restauranthop, or let's go for arestaurant.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Good question Do you think it would have had the same
impact as a coffee house?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
No, because what happens with restaurants?
You're going for a specificgroup of people many times that
like that kind of food or canafford that kind of food.
So Santa Monica, we've one ofthe wealthiest communities in
this country.
You got a real high endrestaurants.
But it's interesting because ina coffee shop, if you're
(09:32):
serving really good coffee,everybody is going to come,
because we live in a verydiverse area.
They say LA is one of the mostcosmopolitan cities in history,
maybe the most.
So that's true with the Westside.
So you've got people and youprobably are familiar.
The LA is kind of like thehomeless capital of the country
now, and Santa Monica is likethe and Venice beach are
(09:56):
homeless beaches.
In the middle of all this greatwealth You've got, you've got
people that are struggling.
We found out there were seniorswho are in need, all these
people, and so a coffee shop,the average person can usually
pull off a coffee even if theycan't buy anything else, and
they get to be around otherpeople and we realized that was
(10:19):
the greatest place of diversitythat we saw in the city, to be
honest with you, and we startedseeing what it was like in
different locations.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So first of all, 1995 , first coffee house.
I understand Metro Rags andJava.
Yeah, what a cool name.
I want to get to the otherstuff, but I got to know where
did this name come from?
Like Starbucks, but Metro Ragsand Java, where did that come
from?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So our church is called Metro Church and a lot of
what we have has Metro in itbecause we see that we
understand what goes on in acreative community in an urban
setting and that's kind of ourthing.
So the idea of Java obviouslywe're talking about coffee, but
Rags in that first coffee shopmy wife started up my wife is in
(11:10):
the fashion industry and it waslike a high end vintage area we
had in the coffee shop.
We were way ahead of the gamewith with denim that was going
over.
People were coming to get denimfrom japan and and so there was
innovation has been a part ofwhat we've done because we were
(11:31):
willing to try by working withthe gifts that people were that
were passionate about and saylet's do it.
So those were the rags and thisis java, but also it kind of
reminds people that we're justit's not about us.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So Metro Rags in Java , metro Church expanded into
Metro Cafe and then Metro Collaband Metro Cares.
We'll talk a little bit aboutthat, but I wanted to start by
just quoting something that Iread in one of the articles
(12:06):
about your endeavors.
It said Snook a pastor and thecafe is a pastor and the cafe is
a part of his church.
And this is your quote.
We want to run a good business,but we don't just make it about
the bottom line, it's aboutcommunity and collaboration.
Amen.
And so we have our cruiseprinciples here at Food for the
Poor, our guiding principles,and the first C is collaboration
(12:30):
.
You've got community andcollaboration.
What was that all about?
Because it sounds a lot morethan just serving coffee in the
very wealthy vintage area ofSanta Monica and the beach at
the idea of collaboration, andI'm just going to make it kind
(12:51):
of spiritual here.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Since I've been very young, I would read about the
body of Christ, where Christ isthe head and we are all
different parts of it, and ifwe're working together, he's
glorified and we're getting hiswork done.
We're walking out the mission.
So what it means that we've gotto collaborate.
It means that we've got to becommitted to investing in one
(13:13):
another and allowing otherpeople to use their gifts.
So when you bring people in aplace of community and you meet
them where they are and youtreat them the same, without
partiality, and you acknowledgetheir gifts and their identity
and them as a person, and thatwe need you but we need to work
(13:35):
together.
I honestly believe thatChristianity is probably well, I
would say is the most dividedof all religions in the world.
There's 33,000 differentdenominations or something.
So the idea of working together.
And so for us going into acommunity and saying, if we're,
(14:00):
if together, we're putting Jesuson display, what do they see
now?
What do they see in me?
I want to be a goodrepresentative, but what do they
see in the body when it's be agood representative, but what do
they see in the body when it'sworking together?
And I'm not talking about justone congregation, I'm talking
about the body of christ workingtogether and representing
christ well, but that would meanwe'd have to have some core
(14:20):
principles that we are going tolive by all these years.
So we've been committed tocollaboration since the
beginning.
We've been committed tocollaboration since the
beginning.
We've been committed tobuilding community from the
beginning.
We just have learned, we got todo it in different ways and
we've got to be unafraid ofbeing a catalyst for that unity.
(14:41):
So community, common unity.
I mean it's pretty simple, butthat's been really hard to walk
out, but it's something for thelast, well, 35 years we've been
committed to right here.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And that's a business model that I wish everybody had
, because I've been to placeswhere it's money or nothing.
You know we're looking for cash.
You know we're not going togive you any discounts or we're
sorry, we don't accept couponslike that or anything like this
is the total opposite, where youdon't have to worry about stuff
like that and you can stillfeel included.
(15:17):
Yeah, it's the community partof it and, funny enough, coffee
in a Latin culture is a thing ofthat sort.
Where I've been in places whereI am a, I feel as I am outside
the circle, I'm not part of thefriendship, but as soon as they
bring coffee into the room, Iget a coffee cup and then I'm
included.
It happens a lot.
(15:39):
The cafe Cubano, the cafe Cubanothey serve it in this little
shot cup looking.
You know cups and you know iflittle shot cup looking cups and
if you're a mutant, you can eatthe whole thing.
You can eat this whole thingand I mean you'd be awake for
three days, but usually thoseare meant to share and when that
little coffee cup comes aroundand you get one, I think it's
(16:01):
more than just a here have ashot of coffee cup?
No, no, it's.
I accept you as a friend.
I know what you need.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Here you go and I can tell you guys.
Let me just tell you real quickhow it came about, honestly.
So we opened the coffee shopand we got prices okay, and
they're a little less than theother artistic artisan coffee
shops, craft coffee but areneighbors.
We have a 13 story seniorbuilding next door and they said
(16:30):
we love the coffee shop, welove being in the outdoor area
under the shade in the trees andjust being there, we love being
around, but we just can'tafford three bucks for a cup of
coffee, and that's 2016.
Okay, so we're like oh, could?
I said one day.
I said could you afford a buck?
And they said yeah.
(16:51):
So then we started thinking OK,what are we going to do for the
seniors?
But then we had homeless peoplecoming in.
We had other, we have studentscoming in because we were
surrounded with colleges allaround us and the different
universities, and so we're likewhat if?
And so it became a point ofprayer and we said, well, let's
just try it.
But it was a step of faithbecause we realized if we're
(17:13):
really committed and it's notabout the bottom line, then
we're going to make it aboutpeople, and if we're going to
make it about people, then we'regoing to make it accessible to
everyone, and we trusted thepeople that had more would give
more, and that's exactly whathappened.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
But, pastor, you need to keep the lights on right,
you need to keep the airconditioning flowing.
We need to pay the help.
Where does that line stop?
I mean, let me get the largecup of coffee with sugar, all
that and all that more, and I'mgoing to give you a dollar.
There's got to be a line.
Was there a certain menu forthat?
Or everything was on the menufor whatever you wanted to pay?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Whatever you want to pay.
But there is a point thatthere's some things that we had
to say listen, could you atleast help us cover the cost
when we could just have anhonest talk.
So when people would come in,they would walk up and they
would they'd say the baristawould say have you been here
before?
And they said no, and then theywould give them a little spiel.
And so when they would do that,they're like are you kidding me
(18:12):
?
And so when they said, butwhat's the story?
So that became the point, werealized that we got to tell the
story of what we were doingwith what they gave, Because we
are doing these programs for thecommunity, we're doing these
things for seniors, we're doingthese community lunches, we're
doing all these other things.
(18:32):
So those people that might comein, many times we didn't know
who they were until all of asudden, you know, the $100 for
that cup of coffee comes out.
And that's what got a lot ofattention.
That got us a lot of mediaattention because people started
hearing about it and it was notjust national, it went
international.
And so you're just like, we'rejust doing what we believe God
(18:56):
told us to do and he blessed itand yes, there were times that
was difficult, but you getthrough it.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Okay.
So before I kick it to Dannyy,because I wanted to ask you
about that person who can affordto give that hundred dollars
and I alluded to it earlier,you're located on silicon beach.
We're all familiar with siliconvalley, we know this is where
all the, all the innovation andbusiness and all the the big
names and we order boxes thatcome to our doorstep.
You know, and we get all that.
(19:24):
But this is silicon beach,silicon Beach, and you are, just
like you said, just a stone'sthrow away from Hollywood and a
stone's throw away from the mostcosmopolitan city in America,
almost so who were theseindividuals coming in and why is
this Silicon Beach so important?
Who were those people thatcould just plunk down $100?
(19:48):
Because all I've heard aboutwas students, homeless, elderly.
There's somebody missing there.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
So Santa Monica has a neighborhood that is the third
richest zip code in America.
So these are entertainmentpeople.
These are actors, these aredirectors, these are the
producers.
Their are actors, these aredirectors.
These are the producers.
Their offices are right acrossthe street.
The guys who are next door tous do some of the best editing
(20:14):
there is in the world.
It was guys that.
It was weed distributioncompany that comes and these
guys started working there allthe time.
I mean, and they, they believeda little different, but you, we
started having meetings withthe, with different people
(20:38):
coming in saying, listen, couldwe rent this?
Could we rent your courtyard?
So we started finding out moreand more.
So Santa Monica is a small cityrelative.
I mean, like 98,000 people andmaybe 150,000 come into work.
But Netflix is here, hulu ishere I'm just perspective.
Universal records is here Allthe record companies.
This is where they make thedecisions.
(21:00):
Google was across the street.
It now is in Venice wherethey're creatives.
Ziprecruiter is across thestreet.
So, yes, it would be CEOscoming to have meetings.
Because they said they, weliked the vibe.
We had people that were comingto have their meetings to talk
about the next movie they'remaking.
We had upstairs one day.
(21:22):
They were doing reading for ascript for an upcoming movie and
everyone was so into what theystarted asking me all these
questions.
The people are up there, whichwe kind of got them up through
the back way.
They were just in the parkinglot but they said we just want
to go down and have coffee andall of a sudden, you know you've
(21:48):
got 100 people that aredownstairs, that are inside and
outside, like what is going onhere, when all of a sudden, a
dozen of these well-recognizedpeople I'll just say are getting
coffee and asking morequestions.
I mean we've had a lot of them.
I mean, and there's one of thetop quarterbacks there is in
this country.
He's there with his fiance atthat point, who's an actress
that everybody knows.
But they said how could we getinvolved in volunteering here?
(22:10):
That's great, they want to knowmore.
And so when they drop andthere's a lot of gifts that have
come, but see, we had to lookas a business.
At the end of the month you'vegot to say, okay, how much is
coming in and how much is goingout and how much reserves, and
you really had to work throughthat.
Now that meant for mepersonally, I'm going to have to
(22:33):
sacrifice.
I'm going to have to live offof savings during some time,
because if you're going to takethe lead, but see, the same
thing is true for someone who'sa startup in Silicon Beach,
santa Monica.
Before they start getting thosesecond, third rounds of funding
in, there's sacrifice, there'sa lot of hours, and I'm not the
young guy that I was.
(22:54):
I'm the older guy, but I'mstill willing to lay it down for
the things I'm passionate aboutand the things I think that God
is passionate about.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
How many times I'm sorry.
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Finish.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
You better stop me.
No, sorry, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Go ahead, finish.
No, I'm saying, is you betterstop me?
No, it's great, and I'm tryingto put myself in your mind where
.
How many times did you think ofshutting it down before you
said you know, let's just keepit going and I know God is going
to help me on this next monthor this next week or tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, so we weren't thinking about shutting it down
at any time.
I mean, even through COVID.
We're like we're going to getthrough this because you mean,
see, west Los Angeles,everything is going to be at a
higher level when it comes towearing mask and and and some of
the rules and regulations ofthe city.
So I mean we're going to beshut down, just like everything
else is.
(23:43):
Any public gathering is beingshut down.
So there was no, they're notpointing out again, they're not
going against churches or otherreligions or whatever it is,
they're just like there's nopublic gatherings.
And we realized, okay, sothat's going to affect us.
But we did not have to stopserving the community.
We were one of the fewnon-profits that never stopped
(24:06):
doing food pantry, communitylunches and we had like 225
different volunteers and theircommunity members not just
people that like a part of ourcongregation or something, 225
different ones over during COVIDand no one ever got COVID and
(24:27):
Because if we had, we have toshut it down for two weeks at
least.
No one ever got sick and wekept serving.
But the stories, I mean we weregiven 5,000 bottles of water
and we're like what are we goingto do with that?
But we realized that waspre-COVID and all of a sudden,
here we go and it was you know,10,000 pairs of socks.
(24:47):
And we realized okay, and wejust kept.
People just kept giving.
So we were partnering withdifferent organizations, so what
we're doing was having a coolcoffee house.
But, like I mentioned to youguys, we had talked about one of
the guys that is a writer, uh,and he had just it was finishing
(25:08):
a book and he told me he saysit ends at Well, I got to go to
his book signing last week, buthis experience was like as
someone raised as an OrthodoxJew who is anti-religion in any
form and Shalom is a good friendof mine, so I can say it but he
(25:31):
said I think I'm agnostic now,so I'm grateful for him and I'm
he's, shalom is a good friend ofmine, so I can say it.
But he said I think I'magnostic now, so I'm grateful
for that.
But he writes a lot at the endof the book about his experience
and our relationship.
But his experience was what youguys were just asking the
questions about.
So there are all kinds ofpeople.
The guy that wrote the articlethat got all the attention,
media attention was a writer forthe Guardian, an English
(25:54):
newspaper, but he was not just aregular.
He actually was part of ourco-lab, our co-working space,
and then he ended up writingthis.
And then it went crazy withpeople who wanted to find out
more about what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Pastor, even though many of your volunteers, as you
just mentioned, weren'tChristian, you saw people come
to faith through your work.
How did that blend of serviceand prayer shape the experience
for everyone?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's one of the most exciting things.
My kids during this time I'vegot three kids and during this
time they said I think the kindof outright reach we've
experienced now has been likenothing else in our lives,
because it's so much like whatJesus did.
It wasn't like here's thebuilding, everybody come here
(26:41):
and then we're going to try towin you over with some of our
music and a message or whatever.
We're going to go to where thepeople are, which has been what
Metro Church has since like 2010.
We made some radical changesand that this is part of it is
we've got to be in theneighborhood, but we started
experiencing something that thepeople were coming to serve with
(27:03):
us began to find out what'sbehind it.
They began to see the love.
And if you ever read, if youread what Yelp or the Google
reviews which is what CNN whenthey picked up on it that's what
they wanted to talk about inthese interviews is that these
Yelp reviews can't be true.
They talk about this vibe.
(27:24):
They talk about us carryingpeace, and it wasn't because we
were all that special, they werejust talking about the Holy
Spirit.
But when people see God at work, where James says don't just
talk to me about faith.
I want to see some deeds thatcome in with that.
Paul in Colossians, he's layingsome things out and he said
(27:46):
listen, whatever you do,whatever you say, let it
represent Christ.
And so for us to be in a placeto say, if we could do it as
individuals in the workplace, wecan do it in our sphere of
influence, in our friend groups,we could do it in our family,
we can do it in our neighborhood, but when we do it together in
(28:08):
a community setting, with thisdiversity of every nation and
every tongue and every socialeconomic level, and we're all
together and somehow we wereable to hold it together and
from this people came to faith.
People started coming early toserve, to come to the services
(28:29):
that we were doing right at thecoffee shop, and they struggled
with they're like that's toomuch music.
And so we began to even shiftsome things to make it fit who
they were.
And people just kept comingearlier.
And then they started askingfor questions and people started
asking for prayer.
Our coffee house had peopleasking me for prayer all the
time, and they're new agers,they're all over the place, but
(28:53):
when they are experiencing God,they and that wasn't me, it was
all of us, it was.
I just saw myself surroundedwith this amazing people that
just served the community welland represented Christ well.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So I hear all these miracles.
I hear all these miracles inwhat you're talking about.
You mentioned something earlierand I don't want to before
we're getting close to wrappingup our time here and I don't
want to miss this opportunityfor you to tell this story.
So one of the most famousscriptures in the Bible miracles
(29:26):
, I should say in the Bible isJesus fed the 5,000.
You mentioned you got 5 000bottles of water in the midst of
a riot, in the middle of thatcommunity during covid, and you
were able to take 5 000 bottlesof water and something really
significant happened I want youto share hispanic group.
(29:52):
Hispanic group is an advertisingagency focused in the US
Hispanic market that specializesin customized media solutions
for businesses.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
It sure does, From social media strategies to
traditional media advertising.
They offer personalized andcreative solutions adapted to
meet their marketing objectives,all tailored to the diverse and
rapidly growing segments of theHispanic population across 42
Hispanic markets in the US andLatin America.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Wow, you get all the great lines.
But they use their culturalexpertise to create strategies
to deliver efficient results.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Hispanic group.
Lleva tu marca al corazón de lacomunidad hispana.
Take your brand to the heart ofthe Hispanic community.
Hispanic.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Group.
Their expertise lies inreaching the Hispanic market,
leveraging its richmulticulturalism.
Hispanic Group combinesinnovation, cultural insight and
strategic collaboration todrive what Tangible results for
their clients.
I agree with everything youjust said.
Now, for more information, youcan visit their website.
Guess where?
(30:57):
Hispanicgroupnet?
Okay, that's Hispanicgroupnet,or.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I'll say it in Spanish Hispanicgroupnet.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
When you start giving bottles of water, one at a time
, or, for us, tens of thousandsof cups of coffee, we realize
that's going into the hands ofreal people and so how are we
going to deliver it to them?
So on the day that we had ariot in Santa Monica and there
was a lot that was going onnationally but it was pretty
crazy and there was some lootinggoing on.
(31:28):
It was two blocks away and wejust finished a community lunch
but we closed the doors becausewindows are being broken all
over.
But we realized that we'redifferent and so we need to do
something.
And we had all this water backthere and a lot of it was on ice
for the day.
So we just started bringing itout and handing it to people as
they were going by.
And again they're walking backwith all the things they've just
(31:52):
taken from stores and stuff.
But it's pretty crazy.
The cars are coming by andwe're going hey, you want some
water, you want some water.
Well, at one point this guycomes by and I can just say he's
a veteran and is kind ofgangster.
I guess I would just sayVeteran gangster.
OG.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Thank you for your service.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
So he's one of the older guys and he comes by and
he's like what are you guysdoing?
And we told him a little aboutwhat we do and who we are.
And so he pulls out his phoneand he takes a picture of
Metropolis that was right there,which is what the name is on
the outside of Metropolis, andhe says, hey, this is a church,
they just been feeding thecommunity, don't touch them.
And then he puts this this gangsign.
And it was.
It was very interesting, but weweren't touched and we kept
(32:42):
handing out water and that'sjust.
That's just one of the stories.
There's a lot of stories, butthe truth is is that when you're
making a difference, there'sgoing to be opposition.
But you just keep pressing inand you keep doing what you know
you got to do.
But there were some times wefaced some opposition that would
shut us down for a period oftime.
(33:02):
And I mean they're tearing downthat building and they're
putting a hotel there and we'rein a season saying what does
Metropolis 2.0 look like?
What is Metro Church 3.0?
And is it brick and mortar?
Is it the next coffee house?
And I'm running into people inthe community Every day.
I'm out in Santa Monica, I'mrunning into people and they're
(33:23):
saying so, what's next?
And these are people that wejust described earlier, and so
I'm very grateful to be in thisplace to experience God and say
what's next.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Pastor Steven.
So, despite that shutdown,despite COVID and obviously we
already know what happened afterCOVID, where everything just
became everybody lockedthemselves at home, and we'll
figure it out as we go Despitethat shutdown you mentioned, you
never ran out of food orsupplies.
You fed thousands withdonations from places like Whole
(33:56):
Foods and Google.
How did these partnerships cometogether?
What's it like to see thismiracle of endless support?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Well, the kind of support when people see that
you're doing something and thenthey're saying is where is the
funding?
And we tell them you where,where is the funding?
And we tell them, you know,it's just donations.
And even being honest with them, a lot of people wanted to give
to us.
Even some of the entertainmentcompanies wanted to give to us.
But because we have a religiousaffiliation, they said you're
doing great things, but we can'tbecause of the public persona,
(34:27):
we can't because of some thingsthat are set in place.
So we just realized we're goingto say God, we just need enough
for next week, and so westarted praying in things
different times.
One of the things that's reallycool is that there had been for
(34:50):
many, many years of Thanksgivingoutreach in the community and
they said we aren't going to beable to do it during COVID.
And we said, well, we will.
And so we people started comingtogether, people bringing you
know, literally bringing turkeys.
The morning that we're going todo it, the big Catholic church
in town said, hey, we have somestuff we want to bring it over
(35:10):
to you.
Someone else brought over andthen the guy that I was talking
about that wrote the book.
He was there with his familythat's where this book ends is
he's serving Thanksgiving dinnerwith his family and saying what
is this?
And so for us to be able to say, watching those things come
together, it's word of mouth,because if you're living it and
(35:30):
you're not taking advantage ofpeople and hopefully you're in a
place of humility and you'renot making it about yourself,
and I can say you know, you come, look at, you know, you know
who I am, and so for us I meanit was.
There's a lot of pressure thatcomes with that, but I'm very
grateful that we were putting, Ithink, christ on display better
(35:53):
than we were trying to makeourselves look better.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'm just fascinated, as we get ready to wrap up, the
scripture that really kind oftouches my heart and I wanted to
just illustrate because it's soperfect.
It's Philippians 4, 7.
And the peace of God whichsurpasses all understanding.
None of this makes sense tobusinessmen, none of this makes
(36:20):
sense to baristas.
I mean honestly, truly, thiswas a vision for God, from God,
for community, and he used aninstrument that was committed,
which is you in your hands.
He used coffee, but since COVID, of course, the cafe has shut
down.
The vision for the communityand for Christ has not stopped.
(36:42):
I, just, as we kind of wrap upnow, I want you to kind of tell
us, I mean, listen, you know, we, we, we've been clamoring over
the last 16, two weeks, 16 days,two weeks, whatever, however
long it is about the Olympics.
Every day is a new story aboutthe Olympics.
And now here you are.
In just about four years, theOlympics are going to literally
be 50 yards away from whereyou're sitting talking to us
(37:04):
right now, outside his window,right there.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
He's going to open up the window.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
And he'll listen to Snoop Dogg on the street.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
A little Billie Eilish practicing her microphone
, or right, some of the squashevents going on.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
What's next?
What are you gonna do?
I mean, this is the world iscoming to your backyard.
Community is coming to yourbackyard in four years.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Well, I think that this all is coming together for
such a time as this.
Wow.
So there's been a plan in thecity.
There's been a plan in the city, has been a plan in.
Santa Monica is literally inthe beach, across from where I'm
at, 12,000 seat temporarystadium for sand volleyball is
going to be here.
I mean, it's, it's and there'sso much.
(37:44):
La is ready for it.
But see, los Angeles for decadeshas been a place where God has
done some great things over theyears, but it kind of just goes
off somewhere else Azusa Street,the crew which is on the
campuses, there's been all theseamazing things that have
(38:07):
happened, and so this is a timewhere we're saying is God, would
you do something in your churchas we unite around your mission
?
And I think what's next is thatwe are uniting in prayer, we
are uniting people in servingthe community and serving one
another, and that means we justlay down some of those things
that we got to let go of for thesake of something bigger.
(38:28):
And I think that 2028 in LA issomething for us to really look
forward to, and I think there'sgoing to be more of what we've
experienced, and I believethat's why all these years,
we've been a part of helping laya foundation for something God
could do that could have aneffect on the whole world.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
You're roasting the beans for 2028.
Right, you're roasting thebeans for another Metro cafe.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Wow Well, you're roasting the beans for another
Metro Cafe.
Wow Well, Pastor Steven Stuck,it's been an excellent
opportunity to really just kindof dive in and talk deep about
what was really a story aboutcoffee.
But it really wasn't a storyabout coffee.
It was a much deeperconversation about community and
Christ sending you.
And he still got you there 35plus years later and for the
(39:15):
next 35 years, as long as Godwill have you still ministering
right.
I have to tell you how excitingit's been for us to have you on
and sharing this story.
We look forward to the nextstory.
Danny and I are going to bethere with bottles of water and
coffee in four years for LA,we're going to be right there.
Just save two seats for us onthe beach.
Okay, Okay, Okay, but we want.
(39:40):
We want to just let you knowthat every episode of Beyond the
Plate, we always end on apositive note.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
That was good.
See, I'm going to stick low nowthat was really good.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
See oh Pastor.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Steven liked it.
Awesome.
All right, we're almost goingto take that show on the road.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Almost Our positive note for our episode today comes
from a quote from Anne Frank.
How wonderful is it that nobodyneed wait a single moment
before starting to improve theworld?
Yeah Amen, pastor Steven Snook,you didn't wait not one moment,
(40:13):
and you're still continuing toimprove the world.
Yeah Amen, pastor Stephen Snook, you didn't wait Not one moment
, and you're still continuing toimprove the world, and we are
grateful to have you as ourguest here to tell this story
and to tell so many more thatare part of our community here
at Beyond the Plate about whatGod has been doing for almost
four decades out in SoCal.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Thank you, pastor, gracias, hey, everyone, thanks
for listening to Beyond thePlate.
We love having you here.
Keep up with us on Instagramand TikTok at
beyondtheplatepodcast, and ifyou enjoy the show, don't forget
to subscribe to our YouTubechannel and give our videos a
like.
Just search Food for the PoorBeyond the Plate.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Your support means the world to us All.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
right, folks, we'll see you on the next Beyond the
Plate episode.
I'm waving.
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