AJ Smith: I'm this white kid with dreadlocks all the way down my back, with a scraggly beard, wearing moccasins with holes in them, pants that have been patched up a million times, flannels ripped up.

Watson Jones: Now, AJ, a good day for him is to go sit in the mountains and just sit there by himself. That's a good day for him. That's kind of how he dressed.

Eric Mennel: Crunchy dude.

Watson Jones: Yeah, no, yeah. But he was a nice guy.

XXX

AJ Smith: I really believe strongly in submitting to African-American leadership, if you're in a largely minority setting-- or minority leadership, even. So I'm this white guy. So I say, yeah, man. I love the idea of, like-- I want to be in the inner city. I want to plant churches. Let me spend some time under you and just helping you do your thing. Talked with my wife. We were like, yeah. I like it. Let's do it.

Watson Jones: We prayed about it. And we felt like it was what the lord wanted.

AJ Smith: It was going to be called Restoration Church.

XXX

Watson Jones: Early on, man, me and AJ were out on corners, passing out coffee, free coffee, on bus stops.

AJ Smith: We would make signs. We'd go to the community days. We'd go to volunteer at elementary schools.

Watson Jones: We passed out water. We would have our team standing on crowded corners in the hot summer.

Leah Smith: We were handing out Blow Pops to people.

XXX

Leah Smith: And I think we put a little message on them-- let the love of God blow you away-- so corny. So corny. But we were trying to get people. It kind of felt like anything could happen at any moment.

Watson Jones: So as we meet with people, we're going to ask, hey, man, who are three to four people you think would be interested in this? And we met a ton of people, a lot of people. We prayed for and prayed with a lot of people.

XXX

Leah Smith: Any time a new person would come, it was like, ah, this is exciting! This is great!

Watson Jones: We had interest from all kinds of people-- people who didn't go to church, people who did go to church were very interested in us, because we looked different. And they liked us. They liked our spirit.

AJ Smith: For the most part, people were very receptive, and even, I'd say, very respectful of the ministry and what we were trying to do, and were very appreciative. But it didn't translate. We largely were not successful at getting people to come to our outreaches. It was a major disappointment.

Watson Jones: Man, I probably gained 20 pounds that year alone. It was extremely stressful.

XXX

AJ Smith: That was really a gut check to us, because that was our-- that was plan A. And we weren't really sure what plan B was.

Eric Mennel: Plan A was the outreaches?

AJ Smith: Yeah. I mean, we were going to be the people who were out there on the streets, pastors who were very much present with the people. And that's how we'll grow the church. That didn't work.

Eric Mennel: Hm. Why not?

Aj Smith: I think people have been to church. I think people have done church. And I think people don't have great experiences with church. And because of that, I think the last thing people want to do is waste a day, in their mind, of the weekend coming to church.

Eric Mennel: Yeah.

AJ Smith: I love what you all are doing, but you know-- OK, maybe I'll come by sometime. They ain't coming to church. They've been to church. Their uncle started a church 20 years ago, and they had to go sit through three hours on a Sunday morning, couldn't wait to get out of there. They couldn't wait till they were 18, and they didn't have to go to church anymore.

XXX

Watson Jones: We went to this place called Temptations. And we went to Temptations--

Eric Mennel: Wait, it's called Temptations?

Watson Jones: Yeah, yeah, we-- yeah, we made all kind of jokes about that. Yeah, Temptations. The first time we went there, they just had trash everywhere-- hair weaves, and bras, and open bottles, and--

Eric Mennel: Wait, there were literally, like, bras?

Watson Jones: Yeah, yeah. We saw two bras, just on the floor, while trying to set our own stuff up.

XXX

Eric Mennel: Were you nervous before?

Watson Jones: Very, yeah. Very nervous, yes.

Eric Mennel: What was going through your mind?

Watson Jones: What if no one comes? Why would they come? There was a guy I knew who had launched a church. And every week, it decreased until, like, a month later, it didn't exist anymore.

XXX

Watson Jones: Lord, while we use technical terms of launching, and all of that stuff, Lord, we don't want any of all of this to stand in the way of you getting glory and you getting honor.

Eric Mennel: What did the launch look like? How many people were there?

Watson Jones: Man, I think it might have been maybe 150, maybe more.

Eric Mennel: Wow.

Watson Jones: Yeah.

Eric Mennel: That must have been huge. That must have felt really great.

Watson Jones: It did. I cried, actually. And I'm not really a public crier. But I cried that day.

Eric Mennel: Really?

Watson Jones: Yeah.

Eric Mennel: Why?

Watson Jones: Well, partly because I was surprised. When you have a launch, there's a gamble, man. And the deepest fear is, no one comes. And the fact that I walked in, and there were-- it was a lot of people there.

XXX

Tashaka: But the reason I don't go in is because, initially, it was because she was-- they were being-- she was being boycotted and I didn't want to cross the line.

Neil Drumming: So you didn't actually protest?

Tashaka: Hm?

Neil Drumming: You didn't actually protest?

Tashaka: Did I actually protest? Mm, I won't say-- I didn't-- I didn't stand outside.

XXX

Neil Drumming: So why do you think that people started going after all? Why did black people decide--

Tashaka: Because--

Neil Drumming: --to start going?

Tashaka: --we're very forgiving.

Neil Drumming: Say it again?

Tashaka: We're very forgiving. It's like, you can smack us in the face, and if you say you're sorry and you're not going to do it again, we'll usually accept you. You know it's true. You're smiling, and you're giggling, but you know it's true.

XXX

Neil Drumming: And what made you come here?

Woman 1: We were walking down Nostrand, and we were just trying to find somewhere to have a quick drink. And we just stumbled upon this place and decided to try it.

Neil Drumming: What are you guys drinking?

Woman 1: Oh, rum punch.

Woman 2: Rum punch.

XXX

Neil Drumming: So what would it take for you to visit that bar?

Justine Stephens: I'm not going to. I'm actually afraid to go in there, because I'm not going to-- again, I don't want to risk my safety.

Neil Drumming: Have you walked past it?

Justine Stephens: I walk past it every day.
