Jesus told a couple of fishermen to follow Him, and He would make them “fishers of men.”
I’ve always liked that picture.
Maybe it’s because fishing is something most of us understand. You can have the best rod and reel. You can know exactly where the fish are. You can have the right bait, the right boat, and all the knowledge in the world.
But at some point, you have to put a line in the water.
You’re not fishing if you’re not casting.
That simple idea became one of our designs at 57 Ways to Sunday, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it also says something about why we started this company in the first place.
You Have to Make the Cast
A lot of us want to share our faith.
We believe the gospel. We love Jesus. We care about the people around us. And if someone came up and asked us what we believe, many of us would gladly tell them.
The problem is getting the conversation started.
That can be the hardest part.
How do you move a conversation with a coworker, somebody standing in line at the store, or a stranger at the ballfield toward something that really matters without making it feel forced?
Sometimes you just need an opening.
That’s the idea behind 57 Ways to Sunday.
We don’t want to make shirts that simply announce, “I’m a Christian.”
There are plenty of shirts that do that, and there’s nothing wrong with them.
But we wanted to create something different.
We wanted to make shirts that cause somebody to stop for a second and think:
What does that mean?
Because a question creates an opportunity.
And an opportunity gives you a chance to cast.
The Shirt Isn’t the Conversation
That distinction matters to me.
The shirt isn’t sharing the gospel for you.
It isn’t evangelism.
You are.
The shirt is simply something that might open the door.
Maybe somebody reads, “You’re Not Fishing If You’re Not Casting,” and asks what it means.
Now you have an opportunity.
Maybe the conversation lasts thirty seconds. Maybe it turns into something much longer. Maybe you simply plant a seed that somebody else waters later.
You don’t know.
And that’s part of fishing, too.
You Don’t Control the Bite
Every fisherman understands this.
You can choose where you cast. You can choose when you cast. You can choose what you put on the hook.
But you cannot make the fish bite.
Sharing our faith isn’t about manufacturing a response from somebody.
That’s not our job.
Our responsibility is to be faithful with the opportunities God gives us.
You don’t control whether they bite. But you do have to cast.
That may be the best explanation I can give for the philosophy behind 57 Ways to Sunday.
We want to create more opportunities for ordinary believers to have meaningful conversations about Jesus in the ordinary places they already go.
At work.
At school.
At the grocery store.
At a ballgame.
At the lake.
Anywhere life happens.
One shirt isn’t going to grow the kingdom.
But one conversation might matter more than we ever know.
So make the cast.
Wear your faith. Start a conversation. Grow the kingdom.
See the “You’re Not Fishing If You’re Not Casting” shirt in our store.