Timothy (GA) Underwood and Deep Time
A perfect blend of laughter, scripture, and specialty coffee
When I first met Timothy Underwood, affectionately known as GA, I felt like I had known him my whole life. GA is overflowing with love and joy. He draws you in with his big smile, a dap, and a hug and all of a sudden, you’re best friends. I’ve known his partner in ministry, Dustin Mailman, for a long time and I’ve loved seeing how they work together leading Deep Time, one of our most exciting fresh expressions in the conference. GA keeps the Deep Time team laughing and he never runs out of encouraging words from scripture. In today’s newsletter I asked GA a few questions about how Deep Time came to be and what he’s been learning along the way. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
The Interview:
Tell us about your church.
Trinity UMC in West Asheville is about serving and collaborating with entities and programs that support communities while serving and glorifying God at the same time.
What is your fresh expression and what is it like?
My fresh expression is Deep Time and our mission is to celebrate, employ, and create spiritual communities with people who have been impacted by incarceration.
How did Deep Time get started?
Dustin Mailman shared his vision with me in the beginning of last year and asked me what I thought about the idea of introducing coffee for second chance employment and I told him coffee is used in prison to bring people together and also to relax them if they’re having a hectic day so it would be interesting to see how this could work outside the prison.
What is one of your favorite parts of Deep Time?
Whenever we do events and pop-ups we get to see two worlds co-existing all in the name of God and coffee. Some people enjoy specialty roast coffee and some people believe in the mission. When Paul said in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose, it allows us to let our light shine that they may see His good work because whether we plant or water, it’s God that gives the increase of it all.
What’s your favorite coffee blend y’all sell?
Our favorite blend is Haiti due to the relationship the church has with the Island, Queens Awakening which is created by Emily Blackwell being a living testimony and overcomer of years of trials and tribulations, and Ben’s Blend which is the staple of all our specialty coffee. Ben was inspired to do tattoo cover ups for people who wanted to get rid of their hate and gang related ink work.
That’s three blends, but I’ll allow it. What does discipleship look like at Deep Time?
Being a follower of Jesus Christ who is an example for me, I must exemplify the same qualities without wavering no matter what and how it looks like by exercising the fruit of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of disciplining babes, you got to do it with grace and sincerity because everybody is not the same so if you attempt to give them something as solid as you receive daily, they might not be able to digest it to get the proper spiritual nourishment they need to be able to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s work but it’s encouraging and worth it in the long run.
What is something you have learned from leading this fresh expression that would be helpful for others to know?
The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few so any way the Lord wants to use me I got to make myself available any time and any day!
Out of all the people in the world God has chosen me to serve and glorify him. The Word said we didn’t choose him but he has chosen us and ordained us that we shall go and bring forth fruit so our fruit should remain.
Whatsoever we do, we should do it heartily to the Lord and not unto man. So as we serve, not as man pleasers but as pleasers unto God, we grow more and more into Christ Jesus and receive the reward of the inheritance! Bless up!
Coming Up in WNCC Fresh Expressions:
As we announced at Annual Conference, a team of Hispanic and Latino/a Clergy from the WNCC in partnership with the WNCC Church Development Office are offering a supportive cohort this year for English-speaking churches that are interested in reaching out to their Hispanic/Latino/a neighbors.
We will have an exploration day on September 14 from 9am to 11am on zoom. Click below for the zoom link. In this event, we'll hear from several of our gifted Hispanic clergy including Frank Ramos, Jaidymar Smith, and Andrés Pérez González and will cover topics such as building relationships with trust, cultural competency, and bilingual and multicultural ministry.
This exploration day will help church leadership teams discern if God is calling their church to reach out to their Hispanic/Latino/a neighbors and will begin to show them how to do that well. After this exploration day we will follow up with teams to see if they are interested in continuing in a coaching cohort where they will receive resources and support for this vital work.
We will be recording the exploration day and can send the recording out after the event if your church is unable to log on live.