We testify that our faith is in God alone. We believe that Jesus saved us by Grace, through Faith, and that we owe Him everything. Yet, when we go to Walmart, we wear a shirt that presents the Good News of Coca-Cola, Disney, Under Armour, or God forbid some "celebrity." Tired of promoting things that have no value?
Many of our youth are basically wearing walking billboards for Satan. Unfortunately, the followers of Satan have been more dedicated in marketing evil, than Christians are at sharing our faith. How clever would it be if we could flip the script and provide an alternative message that would take seeds of our faith, send that message right back into the homes of those we are trying to reach.
God may chose to provide in other ways at some point, but currently, this ministry is mostly self-funded on a shoe string budget, meaning no salaries, low overhead, minimal assets, and a laser focus on our core mission.
And this is where I lose some of you . . . . For items with Scripture quotes, I WILL NOT use corrupt translations. We are KJV By Conviction, not by Preference
We will not flirt with worldly messaging. For example, we will NOT take "This Bud's for you" and switch that to "This Blood's for You."
We will not mimick the look of Satans Marketing (HardRock Album/Concert) to deliver our messaging.
If a suggestion comes to us that doesn't pass the smell test, it's out.
We will, however, print messaging such as: "A man is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." — Jim Elliot
There are many good causes, but we have a message more urgent than politics or charity. Where we succeed, a seed will take root, hearts will change, and minds and politics will follow. Nothing wrong with political messaging, or finding the cure for cancer, but we will not be distracted from our mission.
We DON'T SPREAD HATE. If God's message offends, so be it. But the intent is to plant a seed, not to burn ground . . . except for Satan, whom I hope to tick off every day of my life!
There is nothing wrong with youth group, church camp, christian school, or other ministry-branded apparel, especially if integrated with Distinctly Christian messaging. However, short runs of custom designs entail a lot of setup effort and cost, and we have limited time and resources. Over time, if we attract enough help, we might do some of this or assist ministries with DIY DTF strategies and training, but to maximize our efforts, we will focus on very few designs, and high volume per design
We have the use of a 6-color screen press, washout booth, exposure unit, screens, large-ish format printer (14"), flash dryer, conveyor dryer, some plastisol ink, and misc. tools for use as long as we need them. We have no buildings, but have use of a small, efficient space to house this equipment and serve as the home for this endeavor. Though a bit more expensive per shirt that Screen Printing, for low volume proof of concept, we can do limited runs with DTF (Direct to Film), using affordable vendors for the film creation and then using a heat press to apply.
We will spend some time looking at the tax-exempt logistics, but our priority is to get up and running and to get the first examples out the door.
This ministry concept is radical, unproven, mostly self-funded, and yes, with the substantial initial investment already made, it feels a little nuts! However, I see incredible possibilities for this type of ministry, and with God's help, we will prove it! I believe God is in this, and this ministry will absolutely require God's blessing to succeed!