Read what makes Curt Coleman a “fisher of men.”

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Curt Coleman

Founder of Go Fish Clothing & Jewelry Company

On a busy day, hundreds of customers walk through the doors of Curt Coleman’s Go Fish Clothing & Jewelry Company on St. Simons Island, Georgia. But this particular day, a 40ish-looking man caught Curt’s attention. The man stood at the store’s jewelry case intently thumbing through a Bible.

“We give those away in Jesus’ name,” said Curt as he walked up to gentleman.

“You do? May I have one?” the man eagerly asked.

“Of course you can,” replied Curt, who quickly learned that the man’s divorce with this wife of nearly 15 years was final that day.

“We pray every morning that God will bring the lost and the lonely into our stores,” Curt told the hurting man. “I believe God brought you in here for a reason.”

“Well, pray for me, because I’m having a real hard time,” the man blurted out as he tightly gripped his new Bible.

“I’m not going to pray for you,” Curt replied. “I’m going to pray with you.”

In a back room of the store, Curt prayed with this heartbroken customer, who soon began to weep and confess to God his verbal abuse and neglect of his wife. Curt urged the man to call his spouse and apologize for his actions. The encouraged customer left the store with a clean heart and God’s Word to guide his steps. Six months later, he and his estranged wife planned to remarry.

Stories like this are not uncommon for Curt Coleman and his wife Barbara, who started their clothing and jewelry business in 1986. The Colemans design their own casual clothing line. The “Footprints” poem that talks about God carrying us when we are weak is printed on the back of eachclothing item’s hang tag. Christian music softly plays in Curt’s 3,000-square foot store, where he keeps about 20 copies of IBS Paperback Outreach Bibles visible.

“We don’t pile the Bibles up—we have one or two on a jewelry case, one or two on our T-shirt folding table, one or two by the register,” Curt adds. “When people stop and look at the Bibles, I tell them we give them away. I’ve had some people come back in and get 8 or 10 Bibles that I figure are for friends who really need a copy.”

The Colemans have given away thousands of Bibles in their stores. For this couple who named their Go Fish company after Jesus’ promise, “I will make you fishers of men,” giving away Bibles is part of just putting down their nets.

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