WHAT DOES JESUS LOOK LIKE? Image, Influence, and the Peculiar Power of the Jesus Entrepreneur

What Does Jesus Look Like?

Dolly Parton understood something that every entrepreneur, broadcaster, leader, and communicator eventually learns:

Image is not everything—but it is the first thing.

In this timely and thought-provoking edition of the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective, Stan Hustad—“Stan the Radio Man”—begins with the passing of one of America’s most recognizable performers, entrepreneurs, and generous public figures.

Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80. The media response was immediate and enormous. Her passing became one of those major stories that, in broadcasting language, “takes all the oxygen out of the room.”

That observation becomes Stan’s first practical lesson for anyone trying to communicate through modern media: every message enters a crowded marketplace. Even an excellent program, article, podcast, product, or proposal competes with hundreds of other stories for the public’s attention.

Good communicators therefore must pay attention not only to what they say, but also to when they say it, how they present it, and what is already occupying the audience’s mind.

Stan wisely waited a day before releasing this program. After more than 50 years in broadcasting, he knows that timing is not a minor production detail. Timing is part of the message.

But Dolly Parton also provides the starting point for a much deeper question: What does Jesus look like?

Dolly Parton and the Power of a Distinctive Image

Dolly Parton did not become unforgettable by accident.

She developed a public image that was colorful, distinctive, warm, humorous, and unmistakably her own. The hair, the rhinestones, the voice, the clothing, the stories, and the self-deprecating humor all worked together. She created an image that attracted attention, but she supported that image with genuine talent, disciplined work, business intelligence, generosity, and service.

Dolly never walked into a room wondering whether anyone would notice her. Beige anonymity was apparently not part of her business plan.

Yet the image alone would not have sustained a seven-decade career. Behind it were thousands of songs, countless performances, careful business decisions, Dollywood, publishing interests, motion pictures, charitable projects, and the Imagination Library.

Her image opened the door. Her character, competence, creativity, and generosity kept people in the room.

That is an important distinction for every Jesus entrepreneur. A manufactured appearance without substance eventually becomes an empty costume. But genuine ability and character that are never communicated may remain undiscovered. The challenge is to bring appearance, message, conduct, and service into alignment.

Dress for Leadership—and Then Live Up to It

Stan encourages entrepreneurs and professionals to “dress for leadership.” That does not necessarily mean wearing expensive clothing or attempting to look like someone else. It means presenting oneself with intention.

A leader’s appearance, voice, energy, preparation, surroundings, website, business card, podcast artwork, and personal behavior all communicate before the formal presentation ever begins.

The goal is not vanity. The goal is congruence.

A Jesus entrepreneur should develop a distinctive and appealing presence—and then complement that presence with even greater grace, personality, competence, generosity, and service.

The clothing cannot substitute for the calling. The logo cannot replace the labor. The photograph cannot compensate for a lack of faithfulness. But image can become a visible invitation into a much greater story.

What Did Jesus Actually Look Like?

The honest answer is that no one knows with certainty.

The Gospel accounts do not provide a detailed physical description of Jesus. No authenticated portrait painted during his lifetime has been discovered. Although many artists have pictured him, those images usually tell us almost as much about the artist and the artist’s culture as they do about the historical Jesus.

Across centuries and continents, people have pictured Jesus through the faces, clothing, symbols, colors, and artistic traditions of their own communities. European artists often portrayed a European-looking Jesus. African Christians pictured him through African features and experiences. Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Indigenous, and other communities have done the same.

Human beings naturally attempt to picture Jesus in a way that places him within their own world. The important warning is this: people must not confuse their preferred picture of Jesus with Jesus himself.

A familiar image can help someone think about Christ, but it can also become limiting. The Jesus of history and faith is always greater than any portrait, painting, movie, church window, or AI-generated illustration.

Jesus in the Marketplace

The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective is attempting a form of contextualization. It presents the message and person of Jesus within the contemporary cultures of communication, commerce, entrepreneurship, leadership, performance, and business.

That does not mean changing Jesus to make him fashionable. It means helping people recognize that his teaching applies beyond the walls of a church.

Work and calling

Leadership and responsibility

Money and stewardship

Risk and courage

Creativity and innovation

Service and customer care

Reputation and integrity

Failure, forgiveness, and restoration

Success and its temptations

The proper use of influence and power

The Jesus entrepreneur looks to Jesus as more than a distant religious figure. Jesus becomes teacher, mentor, master, model, and—if the word is properly understood—boss. The entrepreneur is therefore an apprentice.

The central question is not merely, “What would Jesus look like if he entered my business?” The more demanding question is: What should my business—and my behavior—look like if I truly belong to Jesus?

The Lost Poster and a Continuing Search

Stan recalls an important visual discovery from his years in missionary broadcasting in Europe. While working with Trans World Radio and maintaining connections in the Amsterdam and Hilversum area of the Netherlands, he encountered a remarkable Christian poster.

The poster contained approximately 40 different pictures of Jesus, each reflecting how Christ had been imagined within a different country, culture, or community. It became one of Stan’s prized possessions, but it was eventually lost during the many moves and transitions of life. Now, some 30 or 40 years later, he is searching for it again.

The poster represented more than an interesting collection of religious art. It demonstrated how people encounter Jesus through the culture, history, hopes, suffering, and imagination of their own place and time.

Stan invites listeners, international broadcasters, missionaries, artists, historians, and members of the Christian community to help locate the original poster or identify the organization that produced it. Recovering it could become an important project for the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective—and perhaps the foundation for a new contemporary collection showing how people around the world picture Jesus today.

You May Be the Only Jesus They See

The program then moves from portraits of Jesus to the living picture presented by his followers.

“You may be the only Jesus they see.”

That is both a privilege and a sobering responsibility. People may form their impressions of Jesus by watching those who claim to follow him. They observe how Christians conduct business, treat employees, respond to criticism, handle money, keep promises, serve customers, admit mistakes, forgive people, and behave when no applause is coming.

A Jesus entrepreneur is therefore always communicating an image of Jesus—even when no sermon is being preached and no Bible verse is being quoted. The question is not whether an image is being presented. The question is whether it is a faithful one.

Do people encounter arrogance or humility?

Do they experience manipulation or service?

Do they see fear or faith?

Do they discover condemnation or grace?

Do they receive religious language without dependable work—or someone whose faith makes that person more honest, creative, courageous, compassionate, and trustworthy?

Stan concludes with another memorable instruction: “Play it well.” If a person is going to represent Jesus in the marketplace, that role deserves preparation, humility, excellence, and wholehearted commitment.

Things to Remember

Image is not everything, but it is the first thing.

Every message competes with other messages for public attention.

Timing is an important part of media communication.

A distinctive image must be supported by ability, character, and service.

No one possesses a completely certain physical portrait of Jesus.

Every artistic picture of Jesus contains elements of the culture that created it.

Jesus should not be confined to a church building or a religious category.

A Jesus entrepreneur treats Jesus as teacher, mentor, master, and leader.

People may judge Jesus by what they see in those who claim to follow him.

The most compelling Christian image is still a life of grace, courage, competence, and loving service.

Things to Share

Share this program with:

An entrepreneur trying to distinguish a business in a crowded marketplace

A younger leader developing a professional identity

A pastor interested in faith and work

A broadcaster, podcaster, or communicator learning how media attention works

An artist who has explored cultural representations of Jesus

A missionary or former missionary who may remember the Dutch poster

A business owner who needs to align appearance, message, conduct, and service

Anyone wondering what it means to represent Jesus in everyday work

A useful conversation starter might be: “When people do business with me, what picture of Jesus—if any—do they receive?”

Things to Take Special Note Of

First impressions are powerful, but they are not the final objective. The purpose of creating an effective image is not simply to attract attention. It is to earn the opportunity to serve.

Christians should also be careful not to create Jesus entirely in their own image. A picture of Jesus should challenge a culture as well as connect with it.

Finally, the most important representation of Jesus may not be hanging on a wall. It may be walking into the office, answering the telephone, conducting the meeting, paying the invoice, solving the problem, or responding to an unhappy customer. That representation is you.

Things to Take Action On

Examine your present professional image. What do your clothing, website, photographs, graphics, workspace, voice, and written communications say about you?

Ask three trusted people what impression you create when you enter a room or begin a conversation.

Identify one place where your presentation needs to become more intentional and professional.

Identify one place where your character or service must become stronger so that you can live up to the image you present.

Consider how Jesus functions in your working life. Is he merely part of your religious identity, or is he truly influencing your decisions, relationships, money, leadership, and ambitions?

Help search for the historic Dutch poster containing approximately 40 cultural portrayals of Jesus. Contact Stan if you recognize it or know an organization that may have produced it.

Share this program with one younger entrepreneur who needs encouragement to bring faith, excellence, and distinctiveness into the marketplace.

The Closing Challenge

The Jesus entrepreneur should never seek attention merely for the pleasure of being noticed. The goal is to become noticeable in order to be useful.

Create an image that opens the door.

Develop the competence that earns trust.

Demonstrate the character that sustains relationships.

Offer the grace and service that point beyond yourself.

The Jesus entrepreneur is a peculiar kind of person with a special kind of power.

In a culture that rewards imitation, perhaps becoming “peculiar” is not such a bad business strategy after all. Let that sit on your head for a while.

Reach Out to Stan

The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective is being developed to encourage, equip, mentor, and connect hundreds—and perhaps thousands—of younger men and women who want to make their mark in the marketplace while living as serious followers and apprentices of Jesus.

Stan Hustad brings more than 50 years of experience in broadcasting, communication, entrepreneurship, teaching, and business-performance coaching to this growing movement.

If you need help developing your message, strengthening your professional image, building a podcast or media platform, clarifying your calling, or becoming a more effective Jesus entrepreneur, Stan would be glad to begin the conversation.

He would also be grateful to hear from anyone who can help locate the historic international poster depicting Jesus through approximately 40 different countries and cultures.

STAN HUSTAD
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.witradio.net
Presented by: The What It Takes Radio Company
Program: The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective

You may be the only Jesus someone sees today. Play it well.