T-shirts are Billboards

They’re worn over our hearts, and display – by the artwork or the words on them – the posture of our hearts. 

God wants this billboard space.

I started designing t-shirts when it hit me one afternoon while flipping through tees at a local store, that mass market tees aren’t designed for believers, they’re designed for the world. And being of this world, they “advertise” things of this world. 

Wine, video games, soft drinks, cartoons, tv shows, shoe brands, universities, sarcasm, mind-numbing cliches, crude/rude humor, dark imagery…

But what was I craving as I was flipping through those tees? Something edifying and wholesome, something pure and lovely, something that spoke life and uplifted those who read it, something loving and kind, something that spoke of hope and fullness of joy.

Then it hit me: I was searching for words on a t-shirt that reflected the love of God, but I was searching for those things in a world that doesn’t know God. 

I realized that if I truly wanted t-shirts that were not “of this world”, I’d have to put my feet to my faith and design them- not by myself, but with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. So I began with the tools and gifts God had already given me – a computer, a love for God, and an eye for design- and I got to it. 

Don’t advertise the devil.

Shortly after, the Lord gave me a revelation. “T-shirts are billboards”. Contained in that revelation was the understanding that the rulers of the darkness of this world advertise themselves on the vast majority of t-shirts people wear. This revelation was huge! The devil advertises/promotes himself using companies that thumb their noses at God; company names and logos that hearken to false gods and/or demons; “social issues” that run counter to the Kingdom of God; dark imagery; inane cliches that numb and sedate the mind that God gave us; etc. 

Matthew 12:30

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

But we are the ambassadors of Jesus, kings and priests in the Kingdom of God. We are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and we can have no mixture with the kingdom of darkness (i.e. the things of this world). 

Ephesians 5:11

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

It’s not “just a t-shirt”, it’s the most valuable real estate there is!

That valuable real estate? It’s the roughly 11”x11” billboard space over our hearts! Both believers and those in the world wear t-shirts every single day. Even those who wear a suit to work everyday, come home and put on a what? A t-shirt. And then go to the grocery store or gym or do yard work in a what? A t-shirt. Even if someone doesn’t look at your face, what do they do? Read your t-shirt!

If you think 11”x11”’s of space is too small for God want to use, remember that God uses the small things – a staff, a small stone, a donkey jawbone, a handful of flour in a jar, a small amount of oil in a vessel, a mustard seed, a cloud the size of a man’s hand. 

1 Corinthians 1:28 

And God chose the small things, things that people despise. Yes, he chose even the things which seem to be nothing. He did this to destroy the big things.

We take back t-shirts now! It’s time for a T-Shirt Revival for the glory of God! Hallalujah and amen!