May 2009 - Our ultimate goal has always been to fund Kingdom initiatives – the work of the Church around the world.  And so it remains.  HOW we accomplish that goal is likely to evolve over time.  It has never been our intention to design or produce “religious” clothing – and that has not changed.  We want to convey positive messages and be a constructive influence within our culture.  But our primary purpose has been – and remains - to raise money to help others.  Great designs, positive messages, constructive influence – all of that is important, but secondary to the causes we will support.  And we do not intend to limit our reach to the “religious marketplace”.  We felt it was a safe place to start – and we saw a real need for designs that were less religious and more likely to be worn on the street.  But we will not be content to transfer wealth within the Kingdom.  We plan to capture some of that “other wealth” (the stuff that’s been stored up for us) and redirect it to good works.  We may even find programs worthy of our support outside the church.  We will investigate every open door.

But here are some changes we do see coming soon.  First, we will be making some changes to the IGNITESTORE.COM web site to emphasize our commitment to our partners and the various causes we support.  And in conjunction with that, we will be actively seeking ministries and projects with whom we can partner.  We will also be attempting to broaden our appeal by introducing additional lines of clothing.  So you may see a skate line, a surf line, and/or an urban line.  To that end, we are interested in hearing from graphic artists within those various groups.  Let’s talk about how we can collaborate.  And we have already added IGNITE Wholesale for retailers who want to order in quantity for resale. That’s not something we planned to do; it was an open door that supports our purpose.

As mentioned above, ultimately we hope to market excellent designs and positive messages to the broader (e.g., secular) market.  And ideally, we want to contribute to economic development overseas and revitalization in our inner cities through our sourcing and distribution strategies.  So we are looking to partner and collaborate on every level – with churches and ministries, overseas missionaries, graphic designers, marketplace leaders, and governments.  We are a willing vessel waiting to be used.  You can help us get started by purchasing a couple of shirts now…signing up for our mailing list…and forwarding a link to IGNITESTORE.COM to your friends.