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WORK TITLE: Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.rondemiglio.com/
CITY: Snohomish
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
Lives in Snohomish, WA, and Phoenix, AZ. * http://www.kregel.com/autores/ron-demiglio
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Seattle, WA; married; children.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Business executive and writer. Eko Brands, LLC, president and owner.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Ron DeMiglio wrote the 2017 Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order, a combination memoir and musings of his twenty-five years as an executive of an international coffee company and as a devout Christian. Based in Snohomish, Washington, and traveling to Phoenix, Arizona, as a “snowbird” for the winter, DeMiglio is the former president and owner of reusable coffee filter maker Eko Brands, LLC. He traveled extensively for his business, speaking about business ethics and environmental responsibility. Along the way he has gathered tales and anecdotes of faith, politics, and wealth. In an interview with Jeff Chaves in Outreach magazine, DeMiglio explained that during his travels, “There [was] a great deal of opportunity to discuss Jesus and recognize him in a lot of amazing ways in other cultures and in other countries. … There are those subtle moments when God shows up, and you could perceive it as just a business circumstance, but then you see the truer instead of just the true.”
Struggling with the image of the spiritual elite in America, DeMiglio takes a look in the book at the flaws and daily struggles to live a Christian life in today’s fallen world. He offers twenty-eight humorous vignettes with insight into his unique take on coffee-scented faith and spiritual growth that he gleaned from his round-the-world travels to such places as Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and South Korea. He writes about ineffectual Christian missions that give people handouts but not true betterment, privilege and hypocrisy, but also humility, lessons learned, and purpose in life. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted a message of the book as overcoming failure, adding, “Though the book is a somewhat disconnected set of musings grouped by location, it contains plenty of valuable aphorisms.” The reviewer also commented that DeMiglio creates a sometimes too informal tone with jokes and self-deprecation, but that the book will speak to global entrepreneurs and Christians.
A reviewer online at A Simple Life, Really?! Said the book reads like a relaxed commentary that is too uptight and that DeMiglio “takes a bit of a hard-line type of approach to the real world” and relates it to a coffeehouse type of Jesus. Nevertheless, the reviewer said the book is well written. In a review on the Kathryn W. Armstrong website, Armstrong explained that “he weaves tapestries from around the world, … explaining what he learned with insightful charm and lighthearted transparency.” Overall, DeMiglio’s book is “easy to read and hard to put down, makes you laugh and makes you think. What’s not to love?” according to Armstrong.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2017, review of Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order, p. 68.
ONLINE
A Simple Life, Really?!, http://asimplelifereally.blogspot.com/ (July 24, 2017), review of Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order.
Kathryn W. Armstrong, https://kathrynwarmstrong.wordpress.com/ (July 25, 2017), Kathryn W. Armstrong, review of Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order.
Outreach Magazine, http://www.outreachmagazine.com/features/ (August 27, 2017), Jeff Chaves, review of Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order.
Ron DeMiglio
BORN:
It’s true. I was. Although, to be honest, I don’t recall much of my time in the birth canal.
LIVES:
Snohomish, WA in the summer and Phoenix, AZ in the winter. I’m migratory.
LIKES:
My wife and kids, writing, golf, hiking, action films, sun, card games and a good cut of meat.
Ron DeMiglio is the former president and owner of Eko Brands, LLC. The past twenty-five years of his life have centered around coffee as he traveled around the world. Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order, is his first book.
RON DEMIGLIO Ron DeMiglio is the former president and owner of Eko Brands, LLC. The past twenty-five years of his life have centered around coffee as he traveled around the world. Ron lives in Snohomish, Washington.
Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not
Necessarily in That Order
Publishers Weekly.
264.15 (Apr. 10, 2017): p68.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order
Ron DeMiglio. Kregel, $14.99 trade paper
(176p) ISBN 978-0-8254-4465-4
In this brief debut memoir, DeMiglio, former president of reusable coffee filter maker Eko Brands, reflects
on 25 years in the coffee trade, drawing spiritual lessons from scripture and international travel. Whether in
Saudi Arabia to train employees or Costa Rica to source coffee, he's always learned from others'
experiences. In Guatemala, for instance, he observed that Christian missions functioned like a handout but
did not actually better lives; for that, interest-free loans and cooperatives would be necessary. To meet
people's true needs we must avoid religious jargon and acknowledge our own privilege and hypocrisy,
DeMiglio asserts. Other central messages of the book are thus about humility and overcoming failure.
DeMiglio, a frequent speaker on corporate ethics and sustainable practices, also insists that Christians
should be leading the way in environmental efforts. The overall tone is informal--sometimes too much so,
with multiple jokey, self-deprecatory statements in a row. Though the book is a somewhat disconnected set
of musings grouped by location, it contains plenty of valuable aphorisms: "Apathy is not a calling.
Cynicism is not a virtue." DeMiglio's slim book might prove most useful to global entrepreneurs, and is also
likely to speak to any Christian pondering life's purpose. June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order." Publishers Weekly, 10 Apr. 2017, p. 68.
General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490319316/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d46b2abd. Accessed 24 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490319316
Monday, July 24, 2017
Review: Coffee, the World, and Jesus, But Not Necessarily in That Order by:Ron DeMiglio
Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order
About the Book:
Life lessons and almost irreverent musings from twenty-five years in the global coffee industry When many Christians take a long, hard look at the lives of the spiritual elite in America, they want to shout, "I don't want to be like that!" Ron DeMiglio knows how they feel and he's not afraid to do the shouting--even when those shouts are sometimes directed at himself.
Coffee, the World, and Jesus is a collection of mildly contrarian musings from this international coffee businessman who happens to love Jesus. In these humorous vignettes about the relational, flawed, unwavering faith Ron clings to, readers will find glimmers of their own daily struggles to reflect Christ in a fallen world. For the religiously cautious, the disillusioned, and jaded followers of Christianity, this is a refreshing look at how God reveals Himself to be so much bigger than politics, dogmas, or western influences.
Ron's sidesplitting series of stories about how he found his spiritual groove smack-dab in the middle of his God-breathed, coffee-scented uniqueness will appeal to readers looking for a quick bite of spiritual growth with their next latte.
My Review:
I'm not real sure what to think about this one. I thought when I signed up for the review that I was getting a trendy, quirky book on real life, but it reads more like a relaxed commentary of sorts. I didn't feel that it was a nice, cozy book to sit down and enjoy on a rainy day in. So with that being said. This book was a little too uptight for my tastes, but if you would like a more philosophical type read than this book might be for you.
The author takes a bit of a hard-line type of approach to the real world and equates it to a coffeehouse type of Jesus which to me, He isn't. It is well written and it is based mainly on His own experiences and lessons learned.
**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author. All opinions are my own.
HOW COFFEE GAVE ONE MAN A GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR SHARING THE GOSPEL
By Jeff Chaves • August 27, 2017
Imagine what it would be like to travel the world and interact with people from all kinds of different counties and cultures. What could you learn about being followers of Jesus along the way? Or, what if you could sit down for a few hours with a businessman and Christian who had spent time in dozens countries over the past 25 years? What insight do you think he would give you?
Author and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” Ron DeMiglio was involved in the coffee industry, starting more than 300 shops in 47 countries around the world—no, not for that large, global chain. In fact, he was starting shops overseas before most of the coffee scene had expanded outside U.S. We caught up with the world traveler, who recently sold his last international business interest and wrote his first book.
Ron was born and raised in the Seattle area. He says that great life transformation began just after the end of a less-than-stellar high school career.
“I jumped on a Greyhound bus, and my grand plan was to become a stuntman in Hollywood,” he says. It took just one night sleeping in a doorway for Ron to figure out that his plan might have a few holes.
“I was eventually introduced, and taken off the streets, by a place called the House of Psalms, Ron says, “which, at that time, was associated with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. They would give you a place to sleep and give you food—but if you were going to remain, you were going to have to study the Bible two hours a day.”
Ron says it was not easy at first, but the process led him to a point of decision: “I was either going to knowingly walk away from this, or I was going to going to follow Jesus,” he says.
A year and a half after leaving, Ron came back to the Pacific Northwest as a follower of Jesus.
“From that point on, I allowed God to restore and establish some honor and integrity in my life,” he says. “I ended up meeting the love of my life: my wife of 34 years.”
God also led Ron to a job at a log-home business that sold to the Asian market. There, he formed business partnerships that would prove valuable when he had to leave that company in the early 1980s.
A friend asked Ron what he would like to do next. “The coffee thing had just been budding, but I had this feeling that this was going to have some legs. So I told [my friend] about it,” Ron says.
The friend came out to Seattle and agreed to launch a startup with Ron. “We had very little money, but a great deal of cluelessness and tenacity,” Ron says. “We opened our first shop in Yokohama, Japan, and worked at it ourselves in the beginning.”
That shop was the first of many others, from Seoul, Korea, to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The experience would be more than a way for Ron to make a living—it became his “graduate school” with God.
“There were a great deal of opportunity to discuss Jesus and recognize him in a lot of amazing ways in other cultures and in other countries,” Ron says, adding that when you are in a foreign environment, you have to observe more carefully. “There are those subtle moments when God shows up, and you could perceive it as just a business circumstance, but then you see the truer instead of just the true.”
Ron records many of these moments in his book, Coffee, the World, and Jesus, but Not Necessarily in That Order. He calls it a “collection of musings that have no thread of consciousness.”
For example, Ron asked a business partner from Asia to meet him in Seattle. Unfortunately, the only frame of reference that this business partner had was fast-food chain Wienerschnitzel—he had a great love for chili-cheese dogs. This taught Ron about point of reference. He says that this simple exchange led him to understand how to introduce Jesus into his conversations, especially with unbelievers.
“Simply finding out where people were, what they loved and what they knew,” he says, “gave me a starting point for how to bring the cross into any conversation.”
Some of Ron’s encounters ended rather comically, while others were more serious—like the conversation he had with an Islamic man in Istanbul, Turkey, which led to a frank discussion about Jesus.
Ron says that the man did not immediately respond, but months later, “I received an email saying that he wanted to thank me for my conversation and that he had been spending time looking at the historical data regarding the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ—and it was making sense to him.” Ron does not know where the man’s faith is today, but he certainly planted the seeds.
According to Ron, although he wrote his experiences down, he didn’t originally intend to publish a book.
“It was a way to establish a spiritual discipline, and for me to get those really important moments down on paper,” he says. He started by putting his thoughts in a blog that he had no idea if anyone read. The blog caught the attention of an author and long-time friend, James L. Rubart, who thought that the pieces really insightful.
“He [Rubart], behind the scenes, conspired with my wife to buy me a birthday present: a trip to the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference [in Santa Cruz, California],” Ron says. Ron attended and shared his work. He ended up with three agency offers and interest from two publishers.
Ron and his wife, Tina, discussed and prayed before settling on an agency. He believes that the timing, and they way it all came together, was pointing him to the next step on his journey with Jesus. “If it fails miserably,” he says, “then I’ll move on and look for my next adventure.”
Each chapter in the book ends with the phrase “shun common,” and every experience that Ron shares is a challenge for Christians to do just that. He says he hopes people will begin to see that sharing the gospel can be as simple as a conversation over coffee—and that walking closely with Jesus can be the greatest adventure.
Learn more about Ron at RonDeMiglio.com, and click here to order the book on Amazon.com.
Jeff Chaves is a freelance writer and pastor. He has been married to Peggy for more than 32 years, and they have four children. He is the pastor of Northpointe Community Church in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Coffee, the World, and Jesus, But Not Necessarily In That Order
Posted on July 25, 2017
It’s such a catchy title that I couldn’t improve on it for my post, and frankly, Ron DeMiglio’s entire book continues to live up to expectation! It’s easy to read and hard to put down, makes you laugh and makes you think. What’s not to love?
Ron spent twenty-five years traveling the world selling coffee for a living but following Jesus for a life. His book, Coffee, the World, and Jesus, But Not Necessarily In That Order, is a collection of 28 loosely spun tales with clever titles like “The Hypocrite Oath,” “A Tale of Two Pities,” “His Grapes, My Wrath,” and “An Affinity for Salinity.” Ron not only has a way with words, he can spin gold from coffee grounds!
Each reflection starts with a title geared to pique your curiosity and then lists a location (which pretty much includes every continent but penguin territory) and the purpose for his trip. With that fabric, he weaves tapestries from around the world (super fun for me as a travelogian), explaining what he learned with insightful charm and light-hearted transparency. Every story made me smile; every object lesson made me ponder; every chapter ended with this mantra: “Shun Common!”
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur (or church planter or missionary), I’ll share one particularly helpful bit of wisdom from the book to whet your appetite. In the context of explaining how businesses are unpredictable and don’t all succeed despite outward expectations, he mentions what makes for a prime location: “High visibility, easy access, ample exterior signage, adequate parking, great foot and drive-by traffic, a high per capita income, and good mix of residential and retail, low crime, some form of mass transit nearby, and a favorable lease rate.” Obviously, if you have ministry instead of money in mind, then your CEO is the Holy Spirit, and He might direct slightly otherwise in some areas, but even thriving ministries have to be financially sustained somehow, so I think this list is worth considering no matter what your objective.
Last, but not least, a few quotable quotes. I hope you read the book (if you’re local, you can borrow mine), but if you don’t, I know Ron has a heart to share the abundance God has given him, so here are a few samples from his espresso bean:
“Spotting the Savior’s hand in the obscure and trivial makes me feel uncommonly loved.” (And, I hope it does that for you too!)
“Correction without a Holy Spirit-led concern for the individual is as useful as barbed-wire dental floss.”
“The history of a person has absolutely no bearing on the authenticity of their salvation. If they have truly repented and taken and passed the Jesus-acceptance exam, they are clean and right before God.”
“Life and joy are in the obedience, not the outcome.”
“I don’t feel intellectually inferior for recognizing the divine. I refuse to cower to fiction dolled up as logic.”
“Only the ethically blind can’t recognize and acknowledge their own duplicity.”
“But grace isn’t an excuse for me to bleed my casual sin all over those around me. Based on my acknowledgment of the monumental sacrifice that was made on my behalf, grace should be the tourniquet that stems the flow of my unholy activity.”
One last pearl of wisdom, not from Ron’s coffee table but from our Father: “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established”
(Proverbs 4:26).