Monday Morning Ministers

This is part of an occasional series on “regular” people from my church who are serving God and ministering to people in their “regular” lives. This week’s interview is with Althea LeBlanc, a 47 year old woman who works at a local coffee shop. Althea and her husband, Dennis, are active in ministering to internationals especially through our ESL classes at URC.

1. Where did you grow up?
I was born in Chicago, then my family moved to North Dakota where my dad finished college and then he moved us to Washington state.

2. Tell us about your family—the family you came from and the family you have now.
My dad is ethnically Hawaiian and my mom is a descendant of German pioneers in the Dakotas. When my parents met in Chicago, my dad had just gotten out of the military and started college and met my mom on a blind date. They soon married and after I was born, headed to Grand Forks where Dad earned an electrical engineering degree and my brother and sister were born. After we moved to eastern WA state, my youngest sister was born. When I was in college, my older half sister who was born to my mom and placed in adoption before my mom met my dad initiated a search and reunited with her. I met Dennis in college through a collegiate Navigator ministry. We’ve been married 20 years after being just friends for four years. No kids, but are open to adoption.

3. How did you become a Christian?
I was in high school and as a 16 year old, was depressed enough to think about and plan a suicide. A fellow classmate gave me a hug, and told me, eye to eye, that God loved me. She didn’t know it but she shook me up to reconsider my plan. I also started to pray to God, be concerned for my family and contemplate what true love and faith were. I also was feeling enormous pressure about the anger and hateful attitude I had towards people. The parish priest shared the gospel how Jesus was God, and solved our problem of sin and going to hell by dying for us on a cross because He loved us and so that we could be with Him eternally. I believed that sermon and it has guided me ever since.

4. Describe your current vocation and why you decided to do what you are doing.
I work for a coffee shop and I decided to apply for the position because I liked coffee, a barista (I was her “regular”) recommended me to her boss and I needed something I liked to do to keep me busy.

5. What are some of the blessings of your vocation?
I love talking with people, getting to know them and engaging in spiritual discussions when possible. I like my high profile company’s benefit plan for part time workers as well as stock opportunities. I also have been able to transfer within the company to different stores around the nation while my husband’s military career moved us around to Atlanta, Denver and here. And I learn about the world and people through how coffee is cultivated and processed, I can tell the difference between most coffees by tasting them, thereby using a little of my food science degree. The part time schedule allows me to work 20 hours and then have time to devote to home and international students.

6. What are some of the challenges?
When the company is up, everyone is up and when it is down, everyone struggles even though your particular store is doing well. I am on my feet a lot and I invest in good work shoes and try to protect my back. When I am not feeling well, this can be hard because it means I am throwing off the schedule if I call in sick. It is a very physical job. And customers aren’t always nice, especially if they are affected by a bad economy and I am just a stranger to them. I try to make a connection anyway but it is way more difficult if they never knew me before they had financial problems.

7. How is your commitment to Christ challenged, strengthened, and exercised in your vocation?
In my character development, I am often humbled by how God uses my job to confront me about my sin. When I was a supervisor, I affected my co-workers if I did not handle negative emotions by trusting in Christ and gaining His perspective over what made me angry or stressed. It made for a difficult work environment where people work closely together under pressure during peak service times. Having a sense of His strength often made a difficult situation easier and helped me gain a sense of humor, especially when I realized that it wouldn’t matter 10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10,000 million years from now.

8. How has your life and/or vocation been affected by the downturn in the economy?
I stepped down from being a shift supervisor and away from looking at other career opportunities within the company, because people were getting laid off and stores were closing. And the pressure was getting to me and affecting my store. And my marriage. I now am a barista, and I enjoy that more because it actually enhances what I do best, connect with customers and drive up sales which makes our store profitable and able to stay open. I know more customers’ names and get to listen to their problems that they are having with the economy. There are some I haven’t seen for months, and when they walk in I’m able to recall their names, drinks and where we left off at our last conversation. And have running inside jokes with them. They feel normal again. But it is harder with customers who feel displaced because their neighborhood store got closed and they have to start all over again at my store with baristas they don’t know. It really is more than just the caffeine addiction.

9. What is one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?
I can’t make everyone happy, not even myself. But that’s alright, because that’s not what God intends for my life anyway. I am a sinner saved by grace, mercy and love and my purpose is to glorify Him.

10. Any good books you are currently reading or would recommend to others?
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman