Chuck, our Founder, was on staff with North Point Community Church and was working through a pastoral training course that required a missions credit to finish. During his studies, he attended an elective course on the state of the world—Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.

What started as a pursuit for course credit ended with a realization that rerouted his entire life and led to the creation of Cafe 1040. With a background and experience in extensive international travel and an understanding of Christian history, he began to see and learn that the entire Bible is about one narrative—God bringing all people groups to Himself. 

The reality is that there are 3.1 billion people in the world who have never heard the name of Jesus.  85 percent of these people live in one area—the 10/40 Window—and only 3 percent of missionaries live inside the 10/40 Window. 

Chuck began to wrestle with the questions: Why is this true? Is it even true? What can we do about it? Do I understand the situation correctly? 

At the same time, Chuck was on a team organizing the first Passion OneDay Conference – a gathering of 50,000 college students coming together to worship and pray. At the event, John Piper was speaking about unreached peoples, offering a call to college students to commit to long-term work to share the gospel with those who haven’t heard it. He asked for those feeling a sense of this call to stand for prayer.

Expecting a few hundred to respond, Chuck looked out over an open field with thousands of college students on their feet praying. 

AT THIS MOMENT, CHUCK HEARD GOD SAY IN HIS HEART, “THIS IS THE SOLUTION.”

He traveled the country with a marketing statistician performing dozens of focus groups uncovering basic principles that would build the essence of what Cafe 1040 would be all about. He learned that this emerging generation wants to change the world and complete the Great Commission. They have what it takes, and they have a set of common obstacles that holds them back.

Knowing this, Cafe 1040 invites young adults to come walk alongside long-term missionaries to see what their life could look like telling the story of Jesus among an unreached people group.

We run our overseas mentorship program, inside the 10/40 Window at one of our three overseas locations: North Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe. While there, students are immersed in cross-cultural living, language, history, religion, and spiritual discipleship - all for the purpose of equipping the next generation of missionaries with the clarity and confidence needed to understand how their skills, passions, talents, and abilities can play a part in taking the story of Jesus where it has never been told.