Ministry, recovery: New owners change focus of Red Door Cafe

MOSES LAKE — Joseph Moriarty is not ashamed of telling people his story.

“I struggled with alcohol for two decades,” the new manager of the Red Door Cafe said. “And I was fortunate to meet some people that were wanting to help me out. No rhyme or reason, but they did.”

Ultimately, Moriarty said it was Jesus who set him free. It gave him a new heart, he said, echoing the words written by the prophet Ezekiel, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

“I was given a new heart,” Moriarty said of his recovery from alcohol addiction. “The heart of stone had to go.”

In response, Moriarty, 55, made God a promise.

“I said, ‘Lord, I will serve you the rest of my life,’” he said. “And I try to focus on that.”

Right now, service means running the Red Door Cafe at 202 W. Third Ave., which has been owned by a non-profit affiliate of the Moses Lake Alliance Church since mid-summer. Despite a new paint job, some new furniture, and a prayer board full of names of people to pray for, Moriarty said a lot isn’t going to change. He plans on keeping the menu and the coffee drinks, and Moriarty said the cafe’s staff is too important to change.

“I relied upon their expertise, I can tell you. They’re really talented,” he said.

And while he talked about possibly expanding the cafe’s hours, Moriarty said the biggest difference is the Red Door Cafe will become a much more purposeful and deliberate place for ministry.

“It’s a great chance to get this business with its reputation, the quality of food and the location for the price you’re getting it; it’s a great bargain, and it could have the component of outreach,” he said.

Moriarty said the arrangement arose out of a prayer group that has met for years at 8:30 a.m. every Thursday at the Red Door Cafe to study the Bible, pray for the community and talk about whatever is making news.

“Basically, we saw an opportunity to do some ministry in the community and off the church campus,” said Dave Watson, one of the pastors at Moses Lake Alliance Church. “We prayed about it, looked at it; many church groups and things, anxious to see us keep it alive.”

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Moriarty said he came back to Seattle in 2017 to take care of his aging mother, and came to Moses Lake after the COVID-19 pandemic hit to get away from the restrictions imposed in King County.

“I thought I might hang out here for a while,” he said.

But he’s no stranger to running Christian coffee houses. After finding himself called to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2004, Moriarty said he started a ministry with students at Marquette University, especially those who were also struggling with addictions like alcohol.

“The encouraging word I had to share in my most desperate hour I cried out, ‘Lord Jesus,’ and he responded,” Moriarty said. “So, if you want to talk about the challenges that you are facing any time, let’s sit down and have a cup of coffee.”

And that led to the creation of Jacob’s Well Cafe in 2014, a small coffee house Moriarty said is something of a model for what the Red Door Cafe is becoming, including the prayer board.

“The prayer board at Jacob’s Well in Milwaukee generated some of the most valued conversations I’ve ever had in my life,” he said. “It broke down that barrier of insecurities, and there’s something about being in a position to request intercession from somebody that takes one’s self out of their own perspectives and their own challenges and says, ‘I’m not alone going through these struggles, I’m not alone.’”

He also said the Red Door Cafe will eventually host Celebrate Recovery meetings, a 12-Step group modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous that Moriarty said is “Christ-focused” and helps people grow in their journeys with God.

“We’ll have fellowship, sing three songs, say the Serenity Prayer, and then publicly go through the 12 steps and then a teaching,” he said.

But it’s being a place of public prayer Moriarty said is most important.

“The great thing that we can do is intercede for people when given a chance,” Moriarty added. “The prayer board is a reminder that this is a Christian coffee house and that we’re willing to engage the community and help in any way that we can.”