I am in sales and travel occasionally. Toward the end of 2006, I was in a hotel room in Florida. I was doing what I normally do at the end of the day - checking and returning emails, updating notes from that day's meetings, etc.
I'm not even sure on how to relate the next part of this to you because it sounds like something out of a science fiction movie but I guess this is the way God works sometimes. As I was sitting there, I heard a voice so clearly that I actually looked around the room to see if I was still alone. I was sure that it was in my head but I looked anyway. I was alone, but this voice was very clear to me. Suddenly I found myself thinking about designing t-shirts. Now, this is something that I had never, ever thought about doing. I've never even been one to wear shirts with logos on the front of them with the exception of a couple of sports teams.
For a minute I thought I was going crazy. Then, I realized that I was talking aloud about this, pondering what kind of shirt I would design. Again, the answer came. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that I needed to design Christian t-shirts, but not just any Christian t-shirts. They had to be different.
As a Christian, I knew that I was required to witness to people. The problem was that, even though I knew I needed too, I didn't know how to comfortably get into that conversation with anyone. Even after being successful in sales for several years, I was intimidated by the prospect of this particular conversation. I knew what I believed. I knew how deeply I believed it. I just didn't know how to begin talking to someone about it.
So the idea that I truly believe was put into my head was to design shirts to assist fellow Christians in witnessing. I believe that there are a lot of good Christian people out there that are just like I was. They truly want to witness but don't know how to get the conversation started. The purpose of these shirts would be to have a question or saying on the front that would get the person looking at it to ask the person wearing it what it meant. This would give the wearer the chance to explain the shirt and break the ice to witness at the same time. And by someone picking out which shirt they wore on a particular day, they could even prepare beforehand with how they would potentially respond to any questions.
I remember wondering how I was going to get this started. I didn't know the first thing about this business. It suddenly dawned on me that I had met a man on another trip about 2 months before that had a partial ownership in a t-shirt printing company. I knew that I had saved his card. When I got home I looked everywhere for it but couldn't find it anywhere. After that, I kind of put it on the back burner because I couldn't remember his name or his company's name.
About 2-3 months later, as I was getting ready for another trip back to Florida, I had completely forgotten about this t-shirt business. I was getting my computer bag settled with everything I usually take. The bag was sitting on the floor and I was sitting in my chair at my desk. As I was putting things in and taking things out, his business card literally flew up out of the bag and landed on my desk, right side up, facing me, just as if I had placed it there myself! I immediately hit my knees and prayed to God, telling Him that I understood what He wanted me to do and promised to set an appointment with the guy when I got back. Remember that I said I couldn't remember his name. Well, it is the same as mine - Jim!
Looking back, I know that Satan really didn't want this to happen. I went on my trip and, by the time I got back, I was busy and just didn't follow through. You'd think that I would learn. A couple of more months passed and my wife and I were getting on a plane to go away for a long weekend. As we were standing in line to get on the plane, who do you think got off of the incoming flight? That's right - Jim. I didn't recognize him until he got too far away for me to call out to. I told my wife who he was and she said that I needed to call him. On Monday, I did call him. We met the following day. I found out that he is a Christian and he liked my idea. We printed up some shirts and they came out OK.
You know, Satan's a nasty dude and will do everything he can to prevent the spread of the Gospel. I got sidetracked yet again. We were living in one state and moving to another so I was busy getting ready to move my family. I was given very convenient reasons to forget about finishing this project. I was moving away from my t-shirt guy. I still needed to get a website built and, in the meantime, had decided that I couldn't afford keeping all of these shirts in different sizes, colors, and designs at my house so I had to find a solution for that also. It was all just too much to deal with for someone with no experience in this business.
Through another set of events that I watched a Christian man go through with the loss of his child, I was reminded through his eulogy how we were supposed to live as Christians. He spoke about trials and tribulations that we will go through on this earth. He also mentioned how, through it all, we should never take our eyes off of Jesus and how we should continue to lift up His name and bring Him to all who don't know Him as we do.
Needless to say, I felt a tremendous amount of guilt about letting God down and immediately searched out solutions that would solve my dilemmas. In very short order, I had designed some shirts, created a website, and began a very small marketing program. (I'm still working on that.)
I may not sell very many of these shirts. I may be doing all of this to reach one person. I may have created all of this so you can just read this story. If that's the case, I'm OK with it because I know that I am following God's command for me.
Then again, you may be the one that needs this to help reach someone. If you are, I hope that it helps you. If it does, I would like to know. Send me an email at jim@worshipshirts.com and tell me your story. I may even put it on the website. I know that this was a somewhat long story and, if you are still reading, I thank you and hoped that you have been blessed in some way.
May God bless you and keep you.
In Christ,
Jim F.
