Livers is the face of Soldier in God’s Army, a Christian-based business. His mission is to build God’s Army of followers, bringing them to Christ with the help of a new icon.
In 2003, Livers’ father was given an image through prayer by God. The image was of a slanted cross leaning on the letters of ?“L-O-V-E.”
The Livers family decided to patent the image in 2006 and S.I.G.A. was founded.
“God gave this image to my father,” Livers said. “He was praying and he asked ‘Show me your face.’ After 20 minutes he got up and drew this in five minutes. The first prototype was out of tape and cardboard.”
A business competition during Livers’ second year at college at Ohio Northern University confirmed S.I.G.A.’s potential.
“They invited all the students from the business college, whatever idea you had, bring it to the table and you had a two-minute pitch,” Livers said. “There was an opportunity to win $800. I entered it, there were two rounds, and I won.”
The win resulted in a decision to return to his home state and attend IU.
“I wanted to come back home,” Livers said. “I just didn’t feel like that school was a good place to really start something.”
Along with the larger models, the Livers family is now selling jewelry and educational craft kits for kids. The craft kits are intended to be sold to churches for Sunday school classes or vacation Bible school programs. The product series is titled “In His Own Image.”
“In the Bible, it states that God created man in an image of himself,” Livers said. “There are a lot of controversial images about what people think Jesus looked like: the black Jesus, the white Jesus. What we’re looking at is that everyone has a head, two hands and two feet. If you’re a Christian and you believe in God, it’s hard to look at this and say, ‘I can’t vibe with that.’”
While juggling school and his business venture, Livers is also the president of Willkie Residence Center.
“I am the head of student government in Willkie,” Livers said. “I help make campus-wide decisions and throw programs for ?residents each month.”
Being able to take his vision and translate it to the public has been harder than anticipated, he said. Livers has learned that a tailored approach makes a ?difference.
“You have to really show somebody how this is going to help them,” Livers said. “When I first started selling these, I explained it the right way but it didn’t seem sincere. With the faith-based market, it is different. I know it is going to sell, but I have to take more of a serve ?perspective.”
Livers doesn’t like to compare his business to others, but he said he hopes that one day, his icon will need no explanation, similar to the W.W.J.D. bracelets.
One day he wants to wake up and see someone he has never met wearing his product.
“Wherever God takes it is what I’m going to do,” Livers said. “The Christian market is huge. There are over 2.3 billion Christians in the world, and in the United States, like 223 million. It would be my dream to reach that 2.3 billion, but that’s not realistic. I want to reach a decent amount of people and expand that number.”
For the Livers family, it is less about making a profit and more about having a positive effect. That is why the family made the decision to donate 10 percent of its proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“The idea of the cross keeps me grounded in the things I believe in,” ?Livers said.
