Caps with Crosses: December 2006

Flower Mound resident Don Cone is helping local Christians show off their faith in a stylish way.

Since starting the Caps With Crosses Ministry, Cone has distributed more than 4800 hats and visors with an embroidered cross on each one.

"Our religious freedoms are being taken away and we need o take a bolder step," cone said. "People get excited about sports and politics, but in spiritual ways, people need to be bolder."

Cone was inspired to start the Cap Cross Ministry when he heard about Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna who was fined $5,000 by the National Football League for wearing a hat with a cross on it during post-game interviews in 2003. Although the Kitna's fine was later revoked, the backlash remained for several Christians.

Cone said his real inspiration came when he learned about a book store in the Cincinnati area that sold hats with crosses on them and how they were quickly selling out. Cone said he wanted to do the same for the Lewisville-Flower Mound area, in an attempt to help people demonstrate"whose side they're on."

"It's been catching on pretty fast," Cone said.

Cone said he pays for the hats out of his own retirement funds and from donations people give him when he distributes the hats. Cone said he purchases all his hats from local retail stores and had them embroidered in a Lewisville embroidery shop. Cone said each hat and visor cost between $4 and $5. He said he tends to get a little carried away then distributing hats.

"I just ask people if they would wear a hat with a cross on it and then I just give it to them," Cone said.

Cone said people are welcome to give him a donation, but he generally does not ask for them. He said he tends to give out hats in restaurants, local charity events, to other Lakeland Baptist church members, and just about everywhere else he goes.

In fact, he has given away so many that it is not uncommon for him or his wife to see one of his caps while on an outing in Lewisville or Flower Mound. Cone said the most common places he sees his hats are in his church and on fellow Christian Community Action volunteers.

"I tell people 'don't keep them in the closet, put them on our heads.'" Cone said.

Cone said he likes to keep several hats with him and asks God to give him "divine appointments." By that, he means he asks God to put him in the right place at the right time for him to share his faith. Cone said he has met several new hat owners this way.

"Whenever I get the chance to speak or share, I'm just trying to get people to make a bolder stance." he said.

And local Christians have been taking a bolder stance. One of cone's contacts has ordered 75 of his hats, some of them for a church's baseball team in Allen. Another one of Cone's contacts took several to Washington for inauguration events last month. Yet another of Cone's friends took a few caps to South American on a mission trip.

"I guess we're going international now," Cone said.

Cone said he has no plans to stop anything soon. He said he just received an order of 200 more hats; many of them already have designated homes.

"I'm depending on God to re-supply me. My credit card is looking a little heavy right now," he said.

Cone said he is currently looking into taking his not-for-profit business on E-bay, with the help of a Lakeland Baptist Church member. He said he is also investigating expanding his merchandise into polo shirts. He currently has many styles of caps available and the newly-added women's visor has an American flag motif.

Besides heading his Cap Cross Ministry, Cone also volunteers as a chaplain for the Flower Mound Police Department. He is a board member of the Lewisville Advocacy and Pregnancy Center, a volunteer for Christian Community Action, and a Lewisville Rotary Club member. Cone said he has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

"I'm always networking, some people call it recruiting," Cone joked