Introducing...Billy Landahl!

Meet Empty Frames Initiative board member Billy Landahl. Billy is the owner and operator of Oak City Coffee Roasters, a Raleigh-based coffee roasting business that was born from a daring dream to see the city of Raleigh touched by Jesus through the coffee market. As well as reaching customers with the love of the Father, Oak City Coffee employs disabled adults in need of work. Billy uses the metaphor of jumping off of a cliff to describe his journey with Oak City.

"My current life situation is that I'm in mid-air. Fully committed to the jump I just made off that cliff behind me. No signs of imminent impact...yet. I'm living the adventure of extreme trust in Jesus every single day and seeing His joyful provision."

A little known fact about Billy is that before becoming a coffee connoisseur, he was a Navy Intelligence Officer, and after that an engineer. Billy's favorite movie is Braveheart, hands down (but come on, who doesn't love an epic Mel Gibson pre-battle pep talk?) Billy says that as boring as it sounds, he can't leave home without his phone, wallet, glasses, or keys.

At this point in his life Billy is trusting the vision that God has placed in his heart to see the kingdom manifested in the marketplace as well as in the lives of the disabled adults that work for Oak City. Billy is seeking kingdom solutions for his employees and listening with an open mind to where the Lord wants his career to go.

As an Empty Frames Initiative board member, Billy wants Empty Frames to see foster kids getting skills, getting connections, getting loved, and getting Jesus. He states that he'd like to see the ministry begin with a passion for service; buildings and projects are secondary because the kids are what matter most.

A verse that has meant a lot to Billy in this season of his life is Proverbs 8:30-31.

"Then I was beside him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men."