I know it’s been a few weeks since the last Lifetree Cafe update. I thought I’d take just a minute and catch everyone up on our progress.
We’re very excited to now be official! Our franchise documents have been signed, sealed and delivered, and we are now officially one of the first Lifetree Cafes in the nation! The process and the paperwork are lengthy, but well worth the effort.
The next step for us has been the development of an initial marketing plan. For the past couple of weeks, our communications team has been working on collecting demographic data about the Pikeville area in general, and the campus community of Pikeville College specifically. This information was a great help in figuring out how to best get the word out about Lifetree in the area.
From there, we worked with ad departments at local media outlets (newspapers, radio & TV stations), as well as with community events coordinators to develop a plan for how we would promote specific episodes (topics) that would be presented at Lifetree discussions, and how we would get general information out about the ministry. What we ended up with was a four page document that will give us a concise roadmap to successful marketing.
As I look back over the slow, painstaking processes of building this ministry, I’ve realized this — it takes a lot of work to get a Lifetree Cafe off the ground. But, I’m sure Thom, Joani and the team at Lifetree’s home office would say there is a lot more behind the few months we’ve put in. In fact, there are YEARS of work that have already gone into the Lifetree program we will present on our very first week of operation.
From all those days, weeks and years of work, though, a solid ministry has emerged. The attention to detail required in every single step of this process is totally worth it when we can be this sure of success. We have been forced to slow down. We could not rush into decisions about starting this ministry. (Partly because federal law would not allow us to rush. 
) I have no doubt that God is in this work, if for no other reason than the complexities could not have been worked out without Him.
In the weeks ahead, I will be meeting with leaders from the college and in the community to finalize location information and set a firm date for our first Lifetree Cafe. We are moving ever closer to seeing this dream become a reality, and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through Lifetree in Pikeville!
Keep the prayers coming… they keep this dream alive!
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