Riverhead couple launches coffee-fueled Christian ministry

“What would it look like to do church at a coffee shop?” 

Jay Urena recalled asking that question while dreaming with his wife, Erinn, about building a nontraditional ministry together. Both children of pastors, the couple met at a ministry school in California in 2011, where they fell in love and later married. 

“We kind of had always had this weird idea of doing a different kind of church,” Jay said. 

Now, living in Riverhead and raising their family, the Urenas are making that dream a reality through The Porch, the small Christian ministry and coffee roasting company they founded.

For the Urenas, traditional Sunday morning church “is not our thing,” Jay said. “We love those churches, love those groups, but we feel like our expression is just a little different.” 

The Porch is a blend of both Jay and Erinn’s dreams.

Jay, who grew up on the western end of Long Island, said he has always found more joy working in nontraditional church settings. “I was never really interested in doing normal church stuff,” he said, as he recalled serving in a now-defunct ministry operated out of a “dirty bar” in Brooklyn. 

For Erinn, who grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, opening a coffee shop was a childhood dream. “I had a graph paper pad where I would literally draw blueprints of this coffee shop,” she said. Working in a coffee shop for two years grew her love of coffee even more.

Initially, the Urenas considered many places outside of Long Island’s communities to settle and establish The Porch. But while visiting Jay’s parents on Long Island, they took a drive through Riverhead and fell in love with the town, they said. 

“We felt like this was where God was telling us to put roots and do it,” Jay said.

Riverhead reminded them of the small town in California where they once lived — more rural than other areas on Long Island. It also stood out for its diversity — economically and demographically.

“There’s such a wide range of people coming together in this whole idea of creating space for all these different types of people, these different groups, to have a spot at the table and come together,” Jay said. 

They have spent the years since moving to Riverhead in 2019 learning how to roast coffee, learning from YouTube videos and friends who work in the coffee industry. 

They have survived so far through donations and the work of volunteers. Jay has also worked three jobs to help support The Porch and their three young children.

In January 2023, The Porch received its business licence and started to sell coffee online through its website. About a year ago, they received nonprofit status, Jay said.

Today, The Porch sells five different roasts and cold brew coffee kits online. They roast the beans using a large Bellwether-brand electronic coffee roaster — it has a smaller carbon footprint than other roasters, Jay noted. All of the beans are organic and ethically sourced. The Porch contributes to the Farmer’s Income Fund, a program that invests in farming communities and pays a living wage to farmers, Jay said.

The Porch also operates a mobile coffee bar for events. 

But The Porch is more than just a coffee business. The Urenas host prayer walks on the Peconic Riverfront and organize volunteers for local food banks. They host Bible study, worship and potluck dinners at their home, the Urenas said. (More details can be found on The Porch’s website.)

“We’ve had people come from in the city, we’ve had people come from the Hamptons…. all over the place,” Erinn said. “[W]e get together and we make coffee. Everybody’s visiting and hanging out. Sometimes it’s people who have known each other a long time. Sometimes it’s people who have never met. Everybody leaves with a new friend.”

“We love Jesus and we love inviting people into our home,” Erinn said. “We love building community. That’s a really big thing we do.”

To grow their mission, the Urenas have set an ambitious fundraising goal of $500,000. “The capital campaign was us saying: let’s invite more people into saying yes to this crazy idea that we feel like God has for Riverhead,” Jay said. 

They want to turn a small white trailer that holds their roaster into a “mobile coffee mission” for pop-up events and to distribute donated food, clothes and blankets. Eventually, they want to grow the ministry outside of their house, hire paid staff and create their dream coffee shop/church hybrid in downtown Riverhead. 

“[S]o much of the gospel message — it happens around a table,” Jay said. “Jesus meeting with people at a table, giving them a place to be, a place to heal, a place to laugh, a place to cry — all around the table.”

“Or people can just come and get a cup of coffee,” Erinn added, “but they leave and they feel encouraged, they feel loved, they feel seen. That’s what we love to do.”

As for the name The Porch, it was inspired by a sermon they heard from their pastor in California.

“He talked about how the church is supposed to be the porch of the city; the porch being the first place that you step-up to where you are like: I’m home,” Jay said. “The place where you can gather in front on a summer night with good people, some food, some drinks and just kind of hang out. And it’s that first welcoming place when you walk into your door.” 

“And we were like, I think that’s it,” Jay said. “We want to be that place where, as soon as you set foot on our front porch, as soon as you set foot in The Porch, you feel like: I’m coming home. I’m somewhere where I’m comfortable. I’m wanted. I’m at peace, I’m loved.”