‘Not Your Average Joe’: How A Coffee Shop Became A Ministry Of Belonging
OKLAHOMA CITY — “Uncle Tim’s gonna fight for you, buddy. I’m going to do what I can to make a place for everybody.”
That was Tim Herbel’s promise to his nephew, Braxton Herbel, at the 11-year-old’s funeral. Braxton had hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain, and cerebral palsy, which affects movement, coordination and development, among other symptoms. Braxton was excluded at school and church, and Herbel did not want others with disabilities to experience that.
Eight years after his nephew’s death, Herbel fulfilled his promise by opening a coffee shop. But not just any coffee shop.
Not Your Average Joe is a nonprofit organization that offers customer-facing, meaningful employment for people with disabilities.
Herbel, a member of the Oakcrest Church of Christ, quoted Matthew 25:45, where Jesus speaks about ministering to “the least of these.” That’s how society often views people with disabilities, he said, but after working with them he has come to view them differently.
“You realize they’re not less than,” Herbel added. “They’re more than able.”
Fulfilling his promise
Not Your Average Joe’s first location opened in 2019. The storefront in Oklahoma City’s Midtown neighborhood, known for artisan taco shops and pizza parlors, was previously home to Hanks’ Coffee.
Herbel was a financial planner for Marty Dillon, owner of Hank’s. Dillon was interested in selling when Herbel had a better idea: Why not donate Hank’s Coffee to a nonprofit?
Dillon’s response: Why don’t you start one?
“He’s like, ‘Why don’t you make good on the promise you made your nephew to include people of all abilities in the world and turn this into a coffee shop that’s a nonprofit?’” Herbel said.
Not Your Average Joe opened six months later.
The nonprofit grew quickly with support from other businesses, the community and churches. It now has four locations: Midtown Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow, Norman and Choctaw. Their campsite-themed sister store, Abe’s, is in downtown Oklahoma City.
The Alameda Church of Christ in Norman, Okla., invited Not Your Average Joe to open a location in its campus ministry building at the University of Oklahoma. Students in Alameda’s campus ministry now volunteer in the Norman store or meet there for Bible studies.
Director of development Joey Morris discovered Not Your Average Joe through volunteering in college in 2021 and became a manager after graduating. In January 2024 he was hired to work with the nonprofit’s fundraising and future opportunities.
A number of churches and businesses support Not Your Average Joe by purchasing its locally roasted coffee beans. So last fall, when the owners of an Oklahoma coffee chain asked Herbel for a meeting, he thought they wanted Not Your Average Joe to roast their coffee.
“It wasn’t that at all,” Herbel said. “It was, ‘What if we donated Stella Nova to continue your mission and accelerate what you’re doing?’”
The addition of the four Stella Nova locations means the nonprofit will hire 60 to 80 people with disabilities. In June, Herbel interviewed the first person with disabilities to work at one of the newly acquired Stella Nova locations.
Creativity, coffee and cream soda
Herbel and Kyle Parker, vice president of human development for Not Your Average Joe, both graduated from Oklahoma Christian University before entering careers in ministry across the nation. Both now serve the Oakcrest church, where Parker leads Sunday morning worship and Herbel teaches a Sunday night class.
But both consider Not Your Average Joe to be their primary service for the Lord.
“I do more ministry now than I ever did from a pulpit,” Herbel said.
In recent years, the nonprofit expanded its mission to help communities become more inclusive of people with disabilities. Herbel has trained companies and spoken at conferences and college classes about hiring disabled people. When he spoke to Oklahoma’s school system, Herbel “preached” to 72,000 people over two weekends.
“I preach all the time,” Herbel said. “I just may not quote a verse, I may not say the name of Jesus, but I get to teach people how to serve the least of these.”
Not Your Average Joe seeks to give its employees more than just a job. The nonprofit stresses outward-facing roles and social engagement for people with disabilities. Baristas express their creativity through the drinks they serve.
Isaac Myers, a Not Your Average Joe employee with disabilities, has worked at the Midtown location for two years and five months. He helps cater events and prepares food and drinks at the coffee shop. Myers also creates limited edition drinks, including a frappé for the upcoming fall season and a cream soda for Oklahoma City’s national champion NBA team, the Thunder.
Known for being the No. 1 Thunder fan at Not Your Average Joe, Myers has supported the basketball team since they moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. He created the “#1 Fan” drink during the playoffs this summer – a Red Bull cream soda with blood orange and blueberry flavors to match the team’s colors.
“I came up with that based on my entire Thunder outfit that I was always wearing (during the) playoff games,” Myers said. “We thought, why not just make the Red Bull cream soda with the (blood orange) syrup and the blueberry cream on top? And that’s how it turned out.”
‘The hands and feet of Jesus’
Not Your Average Joe also provides a space to build community with and minister to the people who walk through the front door. Coffee shops are a “third space” — a place for people to gather outside of the home and workplace, Herbel said. He’s seen people of all walks of life at the nonprofit’s stores — on first dates, doing homework, signing movie deals and meeting friends.
“That’s what I love about coffee shops,” Herbel said. “People can come in, and you’re welcome just as you are.”
Not Your Average Joe is not a Christian coffee shop, per se. It doesn’t play K-LOVE radio. But the baristas shine the light of Jesus into the community by the way they treat customers.
Herbel said, “Everybody comes into Not Your Average Joe — they may have faith in Jesus. They may not. But they get to experience the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Parker, formerly the connections minister at the Long Beach Church of Christ in California said a challenge he sees in ministry is letting the community know that the church actually cares.
“One of the things I love about being (at Not Your Average Joe) is that people come in, and then we get to show how much we care,” Parker said. “We care about coffee — that’s a big deal. But it’s more important that we care about the people that we work with, the people in the community that come into our stores and … the families that we go home to.”
He added, “We don’t have a cross or ichthys (a fish-shaped Christian symbol) on the door, but this is the best ministry I’ve ever been able to do.”
This article originally appeared at The Christian Chronicle.
Kenzie James, a senior multimedia journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is a Christian Chronicle intern working in the main office in Oklahoma City. James grew up in Tallahassee, Fla., where she attended the Timberlane Church of Christ.