Taken from What New Youth Pastors Really Need To Know at Nameless Youth Pastors:
2. No. We really don’t NEED one more lock-in, car wash, fundraiser, or t-shirt.3. Okay, I got carried away with that last one – we do need lots of t-shirts.
What is it about getting free t-shirts that inspire people to do just about anything? When I was at Cedarville, I managed to collect a couple dozen t-shirts — all for free. I nabbed four pep band t-shirts, a couple of dorm t-shirts, a CedarMania t-shirt, Class Clash, Youth Leadership Conference, and several others. And now that I’m working at Purdue, I’m already eyeing the Boilermaker t- and sweatshirts that are sported by faculty, staff, and student alike, wondering how long before I can begin that collection.
It’s silly. It’s just a bit of fabric, but I think to some extent, the t-shirt is something of an identity symbol. It’s a bit of how we as Americans declare our personality without ever actually saying anything. You can put anything on a t-shirt, and people often do. There is no limit to what a t-shirt can say or look like, and so it becomes a quick and easy way of telling other people, “Look, this is who I am.”
Pretty weird, huh?