About us
"...Thus I make it my ambition to preach the Gospel." Romans 15:20
And Thus we make it our aim.
This is our ambition as a Christian clothing company, to Preach the Gospel through doctrinally sound, theologically correct yet creatively written statements and pictures. Preach the Gospel with T-Shirts? Seriously? Aren't there already enough clothing companies out there making T-Shirts with corny "Christian" one-liners? Our answer? Exactly! We have asked ourselves these same questions. But more specifically, why are there little to no deeply theological T-Shirt companies/ministries out there on the front lines? Living in Portland, OR, the least churched, least "religious" city in America, we have found ourselves ambitious to engage with this culture, to "preach the Gospel". Yes, we find avenues at work and once in a while we'll strike up a conversation with someone at home depot or some other random place. But we wanted more and a more intentional route to engagement. We wanted something that would stand out on us whether we opened our mouths or not, so that everywhere we go, some truth of the Gospel in some capacity is being spoken to people. Yet our desire is to not so much defend the Gospel, or make simple positive statements about Christianity like we're trying to fight for some conception of rights for Christians to believe what they want. This is not for us as Christians, this is Evangelistic at its core. Our Purpose is to evangelize to the world around us by creatively expounding the whole counsel of God's truth as revealed in Holy Scripture through T-Shirts designed to make people think. As God says in Isaiah 1:18 "Come let us reason together." So therefore, our business is not in making cool looking shirts that spout arrogant ignorance of the world around us while hiding in our little Christian huddles. Our business begins with our heart, a changed heart, changed by Christ Jesus Himself who ransomed us, saved us from the wrath of God and has given us peace with God through His blood. We have been chosen by grace, changed by His Spirit, adopted as sons and gifted eternal life when we deserve wrath, judgment and hell. Therefore from this place our hearts can utter Paul's own words in Romans 9:2 "That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart...for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh", and we can have such a pity and a burden for the world that all we find ourselves desiring for them is that they too be saved from the judgment that is to come. So we do not intend to arrogantly offend in order to harden but we desire that the offensive message we are entrusted with would do its work and convict. Christians, and people in general, can be obnoxiously offensive to no end, with no gain and to no purpose. So then "Let [our] conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that [we] may know how to answer everyone", as Colossians 4:5 says. In light of this, our shirts are then intended to stop people, question people, shock people, confuse people, and the message will sometimes offend people. Our statements will be primarily fueled by God's Word and shrouded with questions for we will aim at the intellect rather than mysticism or sentimentalism. We are absolutely anti-sentimentalism, meaning we will NOT create shirts that just have nice sayings that make the wearers or onlookers potentially feel good. Sentimentalism definition: the excessive expression of feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia in behavior, writing, or speech. This is not us. We will be strictly Biblical, expounding God's Word with reason reaching far into the minds and souls of onlookers. So the shirt is worn as bait to funnel people to our site, where the Gospel message will be presented clearly and cleverly, hopefully in unconventional ways and methods. There will be blog articles written by us and resources from the world's best theologians such as books, podcast links, and their associated articles. Believers and unbelievers alike can find answers to all of their questions. Our goal is to take a person at the mall who, in the 3 seconds he sees your shirt, he is confused, offended, intrigued and shocked enough to make him type in the simple web address he noticed at the bottom of the shirt, which lands him on our home page. Here he will come face to face with the Gospel message, funneled down through the doors of reason and landing at a crossroads where he must now make a decision about Jesus Christ, for He has been warned and exhorted toward repentance and faith. He will either continue in his unbelief or turn and confess the Lord.
Now at this point the question might be raised, is this just a way to excuse us from the hard work of personal interaction and engagement in witnessing to people? Absolutely not! That scenario is purely the most distant form of evangelizing. Frankly, this entire purpose is to capture people's attention and create opportunities where none would have existed had you worn a simple Dockers shirt or your favorite sports sweater. You may become the target of ridicule, harassment, and the verbal spewing of some militant atheist. But as Paul says, these are all opportunities to witness, to reason with, to engage with culture around us. Let us therefore prepare ourselves by searching and studying the Scriptures, bathing our lives in prayer and fervently working to prepare ourselves to give an answer for the hope that is in us. Let us become the peer pressure at our work, in our schools, in our homes, even some of our Churches toward living Gospel centered, Jesus centered, heaven bound lives. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. There is much work to be done and if you cannot be in professional ministry, if you do not find yourself in a place in life where you cannot change the world for the Gospel, you can at least wear a shirt that puts the Gospel on display for everyone in your sphere of influence to be forced to see and think about. You can then be a Christian and let your words and works glorify your God in heaven and cause people to wonder what you have that they do not. Your manner of life will matter, how you speak and act will matter because people will be watching you. You can then pray for those people around you. You can talk and answer questions. You can hand out books, cards, pamphlets. You can read, study and prepare and when your moments come, God will have you ready. As some dude named Sir Sydney Smith long ago said, "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can."
King of Hearts Poem:
Who is this seated on His throne?
From whose presence earth and sky try to run?
Jesus.
Eyes like fire.
Robe dipped in blood.
From His mouth comes a sword.
The very Word of God.
He is the King of Heaven’s armies
King of every king
Very God of Very God
He is the ruler of all of history.
Through His Word He breathed out earth and stars
Creator of your life
The judge of your every thought.
His gaze you cannot hide from,
His law you daily break.
His wrath is set upon you
Your goodness you cannot fake.
Yet He descended to to become like us.
Weak with limitations.
To pardon every sin committed,
His mercy extended to the nations,
Only by following Him
Can your guilt be pardoned..
No faith, no peace of heart.
Yet He’ll still be your King,
But of your dark tormented heart.
He is the One Who casts to hell
And yet the One Who pardons.
Redeemer of wrath deserved
On hearts that were hardened.
Giver of life eternal,
Adopter of sons and daughters.
He is the final King of
The Rebellious and righteous heart.
Who is this with many crowns?
A crown of gold, a crown of thorns.
A crown of power, a crown of shame.
By His merit and His blood.
Grace accomplished, love fulfilled.
He gave us that which we could never earn,
His love.
Wrath removed, love applied, by Christ who died.
By condescending to become
The redeeming King of wicked humans set apart,
He’s now crowned the Sovereign King of every repentant heart.
Let this remind you that every time you play a game
With a deck of 52 cards,
That every time you see a king with a little sword and red heart:
Jesus, like it or not, is the final King of your guilty or pardoned heart.
