WHEN THE landlord of a building on Lebanon’s historic square called to offer Chad and Brooke Seabright the space downstairs from their prayer room, Chad’s first instinct was to say no — or at least, to try.
“I just really felt like God said, ‘Don’t you dare say no,’” he recalled with a laugh. “So I said, ‘Maybe.’ That was my big step of faith.”
That “maybe” turned into the beginning of Lebanon House of Coffee — a shop with a mission as bold as its brew: to introduce and share the love of Jesus.
A step of faith (and a lot of coffee)
Before the coffee, there was prayer. The couple had launched Lebanon House of Prayer upstairs, holding early-morning and evening worship sessions for anyone who wanted to lift the city up in prayer. When their landlord mentioned that the downstairs tenant, a coffee shop, was moving out, they considered expanding their ministry to the main level.
But with rent to pay upstairs, it seemed impossible. That’s when the divine interventions began.
A man named Dave Brady, owner of DB’s Coffee, reached out asking if he could use the back room of the new space to roast beans. “He walked in glowing,” the owner said. “He said, ‘It’s perfect — it has everything I need!’”
As it turned out, Brady had more than a roaster — he had an answer. “He said, ‘Why don’t you sell coffee?’ I told him that’d be great if I knew anything about coffee,” he said. “He said, ‘That’s not a big deal. My dad owned a coffee company for 20 years. I’ll show you how to do everything.’”
Within days, Brady had given them his father’s old equipment, shared two decades’ worth of recipes, and helped set up a menu. What began as a prayer space was now becoming a coffeehouse and a ministry opportunity.
A community gathering place
Today, Lebanon House of Coffee hums with conversation, prayer, and the steady rhythm of worship music. Downstairs, the coffeehouse serves the community from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Upstairs, the House of Prayer continues morning and evening sessions with a growing rotation of local worship leaders and volunteers.
“We’re interacting with people, having a cup of coffee, and they’re getting to experience the presence of the Lord in the coffeehouse,” he said. “Everybody walks in and says, ‘I feel peace.’”
Every weekday at 7 a.m., that peace becomes tangible as live worship fills the shop. Some customers stop to listen. Others simply sip their coffee, unknowingly surrounded by the prayers being lifted just a few feet away.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Some people don’t even realize what’s happening, but they feel it.”
Stories of faith and healing
The couple has seen small miracles take place between cups of coffee. One story stands out: a woman who came in weekly until suddenly disappearing. When she returned, she shared that she’d had a stroke and could no longer drive.
“My wife said, ‘Let’s pray,’ and we did,” he recalled. “Two days later, she came back glowing. She said, ‘After you prayed for me, I went home, took a nap, and woke up — and my eyes were better. The doctor cleared me to drive’”
He smiled, shaking his head. “It’s stories like that that remind us why we’re here.”
How the House of Prayer began
Long before coffee entered the picture, the couple had been leading a small training center focused on teaching people to live out their faith. One day, they felt led to shift gears.
“I really felt like the Lord said, ‘You talk about this, but I want you to do this,’” he said. “We just knew nothing changes in the natural until it first changes in the supernatural.”
They began praying for a space on the square — and after two years, found one. Just as they were about to sign the lease, someone bought the building out from under them. Days before they had to vacate their old space, his wife posted in a local Facebook group asking for help.
“A woman replied and said, ‘I might have a space for you,’” he said. “It turned out to be the exact same building, and she offered it to us for $200 less a month.”
That’s where Lebanon House of Prayer was born.
Rooted in Lebanon
Before putting down roots in Wilson County, the couple spent years traveling as evangelists, living full time in a fifth wheel and ministering across the country. A family illness brought them temporarily to Middle Tennessee, but it quickly became clear that they were meant to stay.
“We just began to fall in love with the city and the community,” he said. “We really felt like God called us here. Our motto is ‘55,000 saved and set free.’”
Coffee, community, and calling
Though they now serve hundreds of lattes and cappuccinos each week, the heart behind the counter remains the same. “I really could care less about coffee,” he said. “I wanna get people Jesus.”
Still, the shop’s menu has become a local favorite. His personal go-to is a caramel macchiato — hot or iced — but the runaway bestseller is the cinnamon honey latte. “Everybody loves that one,” he said. “I don’t know why — it’s not my favorite — but it’s a landslide.”
Much of the staff behind those drinks are volunteers from the House of Prayer community. “The majority of our people who run the coffeehouse volunteer,” he said. “It’s just a way to give back to our city.”
An open invitation
As they celebrate one year in business, the couple continues to see their coffeehouse and prayer room as one unified mission: to serve Lebanon through presence, prayer, and peace.
“We’d love for people to come visit and discover Lebanon,” he said. “It’s such a charming place with great shops and restaurants. But more than anything, we just want them to walk in, take a deep breath, and feel peace.” GN
