Do the Ends Justify the Beans?
An Interview With John Sage and Chris Dearnley
Andy Crouch, Elizabeth Wirth, Helen Lee
January 1, 2000
Microsoft money. Seattle offices. Gourmet coffee. Ministry among the poor.
Hmmm. One of these things is not like the other. But that hasn't stopped Pura Vida Coffee, founded by two Harvard Business School graduates—one a retiree from the lucrative world of Microsoft, the other an international consultant turned pastor and street worker in San JosÉ, Costa Rica. The firm sells coffee and related items direct to consumers and churches, channeling all its profits into ministries among the street kids and drug addicts of San JosÉ.
The partnership of John Sage and Chris Dearnley has its roots in a friendship forged over pancakes and prayer at Harvard, and their growing company is often cited as an effective marriage of serious faith and savvy capitalism. RQ editor-in-chief Andy Crouch, managing editor Elizabeth Wirth, and contributor Helen Lee ("Zillions of Dollars," RQ 5.3) conversed with John (in Seattle) and Chris (in Costa Rica) by email in January. Full disclosure: We have been repeatedly and willingly supplied with Pura Vida coffee samples.
RQ: Let's start with some stories. How did you originally meet?
CD: We met during our first year at Harvard Business School through the HBS Christian Fellowship. We both felt like we were struggling and decided to get together and pray for each other. We ended up living in a house off-campus with two other guys from the business school. We had a Saturday morning ritual of eating breakfast at the International House of Pancakes and sharing our ups and downs. We developed a great friendship during that time.
RQ: What trajectories were you on when you left Harvard, and how had those already been shaped by your experiences there?
JS: Although I grew up going to church, I really became a born-again ...
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