Church-Burnt and Prompted to Read
Dagger Project Founder Jim Houliston grew up in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. He attended Protestant churches as a kid and nearly got expelled from his Catholic high school. Out of a fear of what he was told about Hell, Jim was convinced by one of his pastors to invite Christ into his life at an early age. He never recalls personally living for God or reading the Bible growing up. Looking back on it all, he now refers to the sum of his Christ-turned-religion experiences as “Church-burnt.”
Jim left home for college and began attending West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 2001. In little time, he fell madly in love with the party scene and his new-found freedom. Consequently, he walked away from the connection he did have with God, a trend that escalated with each passing year through graduation. By May 2005, Jim was living his post-college life still filled with weed, partying, and one-night stands. Oddly enough, it was at this very time he wanted to read the Bible, not because he was tired of living the destructive lifestyle, but because he simply wanted to become educated in his opinion on why he didn’t like Christians.
The First “Dagger”
Two years before graduating, a couple Gideons on his campus had given Jim a pocket-sized New Testament Bible. He would have felt guilty throwing a Bible in the trash, so Jim did then next best thing and shoved it away inside a shoebox in his closet. After graduating, he fished out of the old shoe box his pocket-sized New Testament and noticed it was easy for him to carry and read throughout the day. Jim would never actually pull out the book in public though, for fear of what people might say or how his friends may avoid him. To disguise the fact he was reading the Bible, Jim spray painted it. And it worked, well, sort of. People weren’t asking “Why are you reading the Bible?”, but they were asking “What are you reading?” Jim felt awkward about how to reply, not wanting to sound “religious”. “It’s the most-widely published book in the world. For that reason alone I think we should all read it” he often replied. He found no one hassled him at this point. He began to feel pretty comfortable pulling out his pocket-sized spray painted book wherever he went.
A “Translucent Billboard”
By around mid-July 2005, roughly four Gospels and half the Book of Acts later, Jim wanted to see if this alleged Holy Spirit that he had been reading about for nearly 45 days was, in fact, real. He recalled hearing in church growing up that you can invite the Holy Spirit into your life. So, Jim invited the Holy Spirit into his life with a commitment to stay away from all the “bad stuff” (kegs, joints, chickies) for two weeks. He told God he was going to pray feverishly for His help in doing this since he was skeptical he could actually do it himself. “If at the end of these two weeks I don’t think You’re everything this New Testament vividly tells me You are, then I’m just gonna drop it all and not follow You” Jim told God. Well… he recalls instantly sensing a change take place. He now felt a new power and desire that he never had before to stay away from all those things in his life. It certainly was no cake walk, but Jim couldn’t deny something happened within him that mid-July afternoon. There seemed to be a translucent billboard between him and every keg, joint, and chickie that said “God.” It seemed like what the New Testament was telling him about this Holy Spirit was becoming true.
Days turned into weeks, into months, into years, and Jim’s life hasn’t been the same since. He now believes his life has been pointing to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as They’re described in the Bible, as being beyond-coincidentally real. Jim still has his questions and gets his doubts for sure, but he still can’t deny that something real has changed in his life since he invited Jesus into it.
Jim left Pennsylvania in January 2006 for a new life out in San Diego, California.
A Call to “Spray Paint Bibles”
By September 2006, Jim was sick of his current job and had been asking God what he should be doing with his life. He felt he heard God tell him to “spray paint Bibles”. Not knowing what this meant, nor even caring to look into it, he spent the next six months depressed, seeking a more “realistic” answer to his question.
Finally, in March of 2007, after believing he had received this same call three different times, Jim took a step of faith that made little sense to him and began to experiment with spray painting the covers of pocket-sized Gideon New Testaments. Signs of affirmation quickly rolled in. The first sign was the seemingly-instant removal of his depression. The second sign was the immediate interest young people were taking in the new look of these Bibles… The Dagger Project begins.
Founder Jim Houliston currently visits various Christian groups, such as churches, conventions, youth groups, and universities to present his testimony and receive support for the Dagger Project. If your group is interested in supporting the nonprofit mission of the Dagger Project by having Jim present his testimony, sell Daggers, and receive contributions from your group, please contact us for further details.
Jim also has a personal blog for any of you bored enough to check in with him: www.SprayPaintBibles.com
