1211 Apparel Owner Greg Ryan's Personal Testimony

Hey, Greg Ryan with 1211 Apparel, and I wanted to do a quick video on my testimony. 1211 Apparel is based on my favorite scripture. It's Revelation 12:11, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. It is based, it is based on scripture. It is, I call, I tell people I always tell people that it is the most powerful clothing line in the world because it is based on the Word of God and it is designed specifically to give glory to God. It is to help you as a believer fulfill the Great Commission and it is something, I think it is a godsend to me. I have no business owning a clothing line. I have no business. I really don't care that much about clothes. I got to wear them. But I do not have any interest at all in clothes. But it is something that God just won't let me, He won't let me drop it. And it is, for the first 29 and a half years of my life, I did not know God. I tell people from a billy goat. And I had a Christian business meeting and I accepted Jesus there. And the pastor that Sunday morning said, you know, get a Bible. Find a church that preaches the Bible. Get a Bible and read it all the time. I tried to read the Bible before I was saved, but I always started at Genesis. He told me to start at John, the Gospel of John, and to read through it and ask Jesus or the Holy Spirit to help you understand it since he wrote it. I mean, all this stuff, I had never heard any of this stuff, but it really worked because I got the Bible. I started reading. He said to pray every day and talk to him just like You talk to your friend because He said He'd never leave you nor forsake you. So I did all these things, found a church, and for the first few years, God, for 29 and a half years, I had gotten really good at sinning. So I mean, I didn't know the Bible. I was comparing myself to my friends and I thought, you know, I'm not as bad as that guy. But I mean, when you start comparing yourself to Jesus, I was horrible. As I was, as I was, as God was cleaning me up over the years, I had read in Genesis 3:21 that God had made tunics of skin and clothed Adam and Eve. And I thought, wow, God made the first clothes. And so then I had another thought, well, why wouldn't he want to take the clothing industry back? So in my ready, fire, aim mentality that I walk through life with, I was struggling because I had been saved and, you know, for 29 and a half years not going to church, I knew a lot of people that didn't go to church. In fact, we played golf a lot and the best tee time was usually Sunday morning. So anyway, all these people I knew and they knew that I had changed. They knew I'd quit coming on Sunday morning. And so I was beating them over the head with the Bible and that wasn't working. And so I'd made up my mind that I was gonna put something on my shirt that would have them go, "Man, what's that all about?" And I was a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FCA. And so I had some shirts. And I just made up my mind that I was going to wear an FCA shirt every time I went to play golf. And so I did that. And everybody I played with, I was waiting for them, "Hey, what?" Instead of beating them over the head with the Bible, I was going to have them wait for them to ask me about FCA. "Why are you involved with that? What's that all about?" Nothing. In fact, it was almost like they got worse. So I got frustrated one day and I thought, man, there's got to be something I can put on my shirt to have people say, what is that? And so as I went through, and I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but in my mind I saw a nail with a drop of blood about to fall off the nail. And I was like, wow, that, a nail, and I could put that nail on my shirt. And so In my ready, fire, aim mentality, I had it digitized and went to this— went to an embroiderer and had him put it on the shirt. And I had 2 shirts made, maybe 3. And so I was going to wear it. And the first day that I was going to play golf since I had the shirt, I was like, I'm not sure this is a good day. So I mean, I could tell there was a little conflict going on because I was so fired up about it. But the day I was supposed to wear it, it was like, ooh. And so then I just put it on. On because I'm hard-headed. And I put it on and I said, "God, if there's somebody that doesn't know you, have them ask me a question." And so sure enough, I'm in the parking lot, I'm in the parking lot pulling my golf bag out of my car and a guy I play golf with, I mean there was about 20 or 30 of us that played, but the guy I play golf with said, "Man, what's that on your shirt?" And so instead of beating him over the head with the Bible, I was able to answer the question and I told him what God had done for me. "Ah, that's pretty cool." So to make a short story long, 3 people, including the guy in the parking lot, 3 people asked me about that shirt the first day. And I was like, "Wow!" And so I started telling people about it and other people were wanting shirts. And so that's kind of how that came about. But the company failed miserably because I was going to change— because I mean, I didn't know anything about clothes and I was going to change how people bought clothes. We're going to do it through the church and we're going to have a ministry and a business and it was horrible. I'm telling you, it was bad. But we had, I mean, we gave it a try and there were some people that got saved because of it. So I learned what not to do. And then over the years, God just wouldn't let me drop it. So fast forward, and instead of One Drop of Blood, we called it 12:11 Apparel because it was based while I was explaining what One Drop of Blood was, I always went back to Revelation 12:11. And so instead of calling it something that didn't make, you know, sense. It was kind of, you know, abstract or whatever. I just went straight to the Scripture, and people go, "Oh yeah, that's pretty cool." So it's kind of funny how clear God's Word really is if you just use it. So with that in mind, we have a Scripture— we got a tract, I mean— and all of our shirts, we're not going to put a a scripture on the shirt because, I mean, based on my 29 years, I mean, we kind of knew what John 3:16 was, or we had an idea what we thought it was. So instead of, you know, "I've got the Bible and you don't," or "I've got Jesus and you don't," we kind of want something on the shirt that is scripturally based., but not something that the world has seen and that would, and it would have somebody go, what is that? So our whole, our whole purpose is to put something on you that would make someone ask a question. And instead of having to go to the church to buy it, what we've done is we've set up a store in Amazon. I've taken the steps to figure out how to get on Amazon and be a brand and get it all registered and all that mess. But I've done that and I've got it on Shopify and we're going to be able to— we're going to be very user-friendly, but we're going to have— everything's going to have a track. Every purchase, you're going to have your own track. In fact, you'll have lifetime access to tracks. You can print out as many as you want. I don't want to put 10 tracks in a shirt because you may not use the first one. So if you want more than one, instead of having to buy one, I'm going to give you the ability to print it on a PDF and you can use as many as you want. And if you got 10, you don't have some guilt, "Well, I got to give out these 9 other ones." I mean, just use what you got. And so all of that, we've got this system set up. But I wanted to give, because it's based on Revelation 12:11, I want to give you my testimony. I mean, I'm nobody. I am nobody in the body of Christ. I am just a regular guy.— but in, I think it's 1 Corinthians, I know it's 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, because I was like, "God, why me? I mean, why would you have me do a clothing line? I mean, I don't care nothing about clothes." And, you know, because I guess I wanted to be in my own little, you know, just in my little old shell and just, you know, my little world. And it just jumped off the page where Paul had said, "You see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of this world to put to shame the things that are mighty, and the base things and the things that are despised he has chosen." and the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God wants all the credit. God gets all of the glory in all of this, but he has commissioned you and I to spread his word. And that's what I want to give you the power. I want to give you the ability to fulfill the Great Commission. I've read that 85% or some big large number of Christians never have led anyone to Christ. And it's— I mean, I think that with our clothes and the training and the tracts, you shouldn't maybe have an excuse. Just put it on and pray. We've got Prayer Wear and Share, and we've got a little training on how to do that and what we do. And we bask everything in prayer. This whole This whole business is based on the Word of God and is based on prayer. And I just believe that if you want to help someone in your life find Christ, this is a great way to do it. It's not the only way to do it, but it's a great start. It may be like training wheels. Maybe down the road you'll find a better way to ride this bike, but this right here is a decent start. Start. So anyway, I want to thank you if you've made it this far. I want to thank you for being a part of this, and I want to thank you for listening to my testimony. And I want to encourage you that God knows right where you are and the people in your life that need Him as Lord and Savior. I just want to encourage you, even if you don't get an article from 1211 Apparel, Help someone find— start that conversation. And thank you, and God loves you.