We had struggled for a while to find a logo that really summed up what Not Ashamed Youth was all about and this brought me to a place where I started to seriously pray seeking God to reveal the logo that He had in mind for us. It became one of my all consuming prayers and in the early hours one Sunday morning mid 2005, I believe God answered that prayer. I was woken with this image of the cross burning in my mind. I got out of bed and drew it onto the back of an old envelope that was sitting on our kitchen bench. I couldn’t get it out of my head, even when I had my eyes open during the next few days this image was always at the forefront of my mind, like a blazing light.
As I was drawing the logo for the first time early that Sunday morning it was as if God started to share with me what the logo represented. It is in the style of a “Dog Tag” which a soldier wears to identify themselves, it shows their identity, who they are, likewise for us, this is our identity, who we are,
Not Ashamed Youth, full on for God,
Not Ashamed of Jesus,
Not Ashamed of the Gospel &
Not Ashamed to Live It!
The line of the logo represents our lives, with the Cross, which represents our faith in God, being a natural part of who we are, not something separate to school life or uni, not something separate to hanging out with friends, or when you’re at work but a part of everything that we do. So often we put God in a box that we just bring out on a Sunday, but God wants every part of our lives, 7 days a week both public and private. Our faith in God should be a natural part of everything that we do not just one box of many.
The cross is in the centre of the logo which reminds us that our relationship with Jesus should always be at the very centre of our lives, the very core of who we are which flows on to everything that we do, say or think, making sure that there is nothing competing for that spot. So often we can cram up our lives with a whole heap of different things that leave no room for God. We need to keep life simple. In regards to this, a cool little quote I read once was “keep out of your life anything that would crowd Christ out of your heart!”
And finally, the silver of the logo on to black represents the fact that as followers of Jesus, we are called to be a blazing light in the darkness in everything that we do that we may bring all glory and honour to God and lead others to know Him.
So bless ya heaps, take care and keep rocking on for God,
Not Ashamed of Jesus, Not Ashamed of the Gospel and
Not Ashamed to Live it!
Andrew Whitehead,
Not Ashamed Youth