I recently got back from a youth camp put on by Generation Now (of House of Prayer; if you live in the Richmond area, go check them out! [http://www.hop.org/]) in the hills of Lancaster, PA. It felt like a mountaintop encounter with God in the mold of Moses' or Elijah's, and I can only hope that each of the youth went home saying the same thing Moses did when it came time for the Israelites to leave Mt. Sinai: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Because while visiting God at camp is great, habitation beats visitation every day of the week.
Often people get so obsessed with the Promised Land and what they anticipate God’s doing for them that they neglect the very presence of God and become satisfied with "visits." I know at times I've been guilty of it when working to launch Risen. And I know some who even say they’ve ‘tried God’ in the past and it did nothing for them. But God lays out a promise in Jeremiah 29:13 that he’s always faithful to keep: You will seek me and find me when you seek with all your heart. If you really seek God with all your heart, making his presence a priority and his commands your cornerstone, He guarantees it’ll change your life.
But a definite second to the actual camp experience was the fact that I got to officially launch Risen Threads at camp with churches all around Virginia attending. If you were there and got a shirt, ideally one day you’ll be able to tell your grandkids you were one of Risen’s first customers!
I had a couple people ask me how somebody would fully understand the deeper meaning of some of the shirts if they aren’t a believer. And that’s just it. They won’t. There are a lot of shirts out there that slap a Bible verse, an altered logo with an altered slogan, or a line of text onto the front and call it a day. It’s almost like those who made them think that a one-liner on a T-shirt they are wearing will be the last straw in terms of convincing somebody to seek Christ and be saved. And in some cases it might be the seed that’s needed for God to move in somebody’s life, I won’t put limits on a limitless God.
But I think sometimes we as believers treat evangelism the same way. It’s about the points we have to make and the one liners we want to deliver, and we forget to do things like ask questions, listen to the answers, relate to the person we're talking to, and actually show a genuine interest in them! I don’t want my shirts to be the say all and end all. I want them to be the kind of piece that’s interesting enough artistically and conceptually to get people to look and ask questions. I’ve already had numerous conversations with coworkers and acquaintances about designs, concepts, and most importantly how my walk with Christ inspired them. I hope my shirts can be a useful tool that helps people bridge the gap from the nerves that sometimes come with evangelism to the opportunity for them to share the gospel and their own testimony in a genuine conversation (and look good doing it!).
In the end, regardless of how we go about it I know there will be a revival in this world. And if I have anything to do with it, it will be in this generation. But it won’t be because of what I do or anyone else does specifically, it will be because it’s God’s heart that all men would be saved and none should perish. As God's servants and fellow laborers, it’s our job to see God’s dream come to life by sharing the gospel with others. Let’s go out and do it.
The humble beginnings of a T-shirt salesman...
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