T-shirts for Tommy
Trust the LORD! God is always merciful and has the power to save you.
-Psalms 130:7
I am a graphic designer. I have a print-on-demand account with Printiful. But making t-shirts using technology would not meet the deadline to send the requested products with a local lawyer/mechanic/evangelist man headed to Ocean City for street ministry for a week. So I opted to hand-draw and color text and images of crosses with fabric markers, yielding six designs in five days. This man of God who refers to himself as Donkey Tommy Granger, stated that he wanted to be a walking billboard and fired off clever messages for me to create on the backside of colored t-shirts. They were ready two days before he and 15 other disciples of Jesus departed from Anne Arundel County and traveled 150 miles to Ocean City on Sunday, August 13th.
On Sunday evening, Tommy recounted his blessings to me via text:
📶Truly you are a woman of Proverbs 31, one like unto Esther, Hannah, and Ruth. This must be from God. Lonny gave me the paint I needed. Numerous people came with prayer, encouragement, and cash funding. 192 NKJV Bibles I ordered came on time. My phone failed [yeah, technology was conking out on us] but Saad the repairman was able to get it fixed in time. An artist lady named Scarlett created six marvelous custom hand-painted advertising t-shirts for the street ministry - they are worth $150 each being original pieces [Com’on Tommy, I think you gotta an extra digit in there brother]. My guitar needed professional work, Jay got it done, well and very carefully. Numerous others are helping in other ways with transportation and ideas. Each day I am feeling more inspired, and gaining ideas, and insight. Thanks to all who have helped, prayed, and donated.
Tommy kept me updated daily as the Lord blessed him and the other disciples he served with in OC. They arrived Monday morning at 02:00, cleared the cargo truck, and started cooking meals at 05:55. He worked side-by-side with a group of missionaries, and other faith-based volunteers to provide free breakfasts and served full meals to 72 souls. A man and his girlfriend recommitted their lives to the Lord, and many seeds were sown on day one! That day, they had “wonderful” Bible studies at 10:30 and 20:00. Tommy said, “We walked the boards for two hours, again many seeds were sown; people were asking for prayer here and there. These are the pick-up lines we used for talking to people on the boardwalk:
Jesus loves you. very much.
Do you know that He is the creator of heaven and loves you very much?
Hi, hello, how are you? Do you live nearby?
Is there anything I could pray about for you?”
Tuesday was another long day. Two people received baptisms in the ocean waters and about six people gave their lives to Jesus. With his active involvement in music, food, and boardwalk ministries, Tommy was exhausted.
On Wednesday, he texted a message and asked that I forward it to others so that they could read a note of praise from his heart.
📶To the Beloved Elect Missionaries of RHLC Family and Anne Arundel County [volunteers]: You are doing good work for God and Jesus; thank you. God says, “Keep up the good work.” Tommy says God is pleased.
Two planned trips to “Love the People” were executed at 10:00 and 18:00. The goals of this mission were to sing, preach, love on people, and talk to people about God, and Jesus. The team prayed for and anointed the sick with oil according to the Scriptures, James 5: 13-18. Tommy passionately indicated by his overuse of exclamation points that it was a “serious effort!!!” He frequently texted a scripture to support many of the events of the day, like: “God shall bless our efforts because God brought us here to do His work. Romans 8:28-31.” And “We shall have success. Luke 10:17-19.”
When Thursday arrived Tommy reported that they continued to feed 60-70 people daily. He also indicated there was a growing need for some supplies of deodorant, sunscreen, and pickguards [he was evidently playing his heart out], along with ice money, prayers, encouragement, loaders, unloaders, and other types of equipment.
On Friday morning, Tommy played his guitar and sang traditional gospel songs such as The Old Rugged Cross, In the Garden, He Touched Me, and All of My Life You Have Been Faithful, while people were dining at breakfast. After much reflection, Tommy made the decision to have others wear the hand-designed t-shirts so that more messages could be on display at one time as they went out onto the boardwalk. Early Friday night, Tommy texted that he would be leaving the next day, but later on texted he was contemplating staying in OC longer and was seeking God for confirmation. He arrived safely at his home in Pasadena Saturday morning around 05:00. Although very bushed and sunburned, he texted to say he was quite eager to share more details and statistics with me after his brain regenerated from the amazement of it all.
