Gantt shared how an article he read over Christmas break challenged him to “think of [himself] as a brand” and ensure that his clothes served as an appropriate tool of marketing himself to the world. Although his (and the audience’s) initial reaction was to balk at the importance the article placed on one’s outward appearance as a means of manipulation, he began to consider how this could apply to him as a Christian.
While displaying a number of photos of celebrities from Justin Bieber to Sarah Palin to Brett Favre onscreen he asked his audience to consider how they brand themselves. He concluded the slide show with the all too infamous blank Facebook profile picture. “That is you, in case you couldn’t figure it out,” he chuckled, pointing toward the photo. “What is your brand, your image? How do people see you?”
Dean Gantt went on to explain that since Jesus’s last words to His apostles were to “be my witnesses” (Acts 1:6-9), Christians need to be sensitive to their “brand.”
“What is the name of this University?” he asked. He then defined a “Regent” as “a person who governs a kingdom in the minority, absence, or disability of the sovereign.” So as regents, or what he described as “mirrors of Christ,” Dean Gantt challenged listeners to think about how they are going to brand themselves in 2011 in a way that truthfully testifies of their Sovereign.
- By Molly Eccles