Christianity Costs in the Coffee Business

Christ was bad for Bejo’s profit margin.The Christian coffee farmer lived in an area full of Muslims, and they refused to trade with a follower of Jesus. But, converting wasn’t an option for the devout man. Bejo had felt the spiritual touch of the deity he called his Savior, and he wasn’t going to forsake Christ. So, he had no other choice but to try and improve his crops and to sell in bigger markets.But, Bejo had another problem: he didn’t have the knowledge necessary to produce significantly better coffee.The government had provided the farmer with coffee plants to cover his fields, but no one taught him about pruning and fertilizing. Yet, he did know enough to separate the good beans from the bad—and that’s what Bejo was doing when Kingdom Growers met him. He was painstakingly sifting through a batch of beans, selecting the best.Kingdom Growers saw potential.After Bejo joined the Kingdom Growers Cooperative, he learned how to cultivate the best possible plants and the organization gave him a microloan to purchase fertilizer. The farmer’s eye for quality and his rigorous work ethic ensured his beans would be the best. His first batch sold for well over the normal asking price. The careful farmer even repaid all of his loans within the first growing season after he joined the cooperative.Bejo had plenty for which to thank God.Now, Baptist organizations are sending their agents to train in Bejo’s fertile fields. He’s become an expert on the cultivation of the coffee bean, and it all happened because he was faithful to Jesus.And through Kingdom Growers, Christ has blessed his family and farm, in return.