He Gets Us, But Do They Get It?
I’m hesitant to criticize how people spend their own money, but I want to get back to the “He Gets Us” campaign.
I got to be the critic in the New York Times.
Erick Erickson, a conservative talk show host, said he was hesitant to criticize donors but added, “I honestly think the biggest issue is: You want to share Jesus with an unchurched crowd, that amount of money on TV ads is probably not the way to do it.”
Ed Stetzer, a prominent evangelical Christian who advises “He Gets Us,” said he understood concerns that the money for this campaign could be used elsewhere. But “if millions of people are touched and maybe even impacted by this and become more like Christ,” he said, “there’s actually a lot of resources that will flow from their changed hearts.”
Most of the money comes from the Green Family, which owns Hobby Lobby.
If they want to spend their money that way, okay.
But, while I appreciate the sentiment of “if even one person is saved,” that reminds me of the Christian missional organization that used to pay hikers to walk the Appalachian Trail hoping they might encounter hikers curious about Jesus. That was actually a thing.
As an aside, I actually really liked the “Love Your Enemies” ad.
That was well done.
But that single ad could have funded scholarships for a lot of kids to go to Christian schools to get better, Christ-centered educations. It could have gone to feed many hungry people in Christian food banks and soup kitchens, many of which are currently struggling.
If a donor wants to spend his money this way, who are we to say they shouldn’t?
I just think a lot of rich people are rarely challenged on how they could better spend their money to advance the kingdom. After all, they could meet that one hiker on the Appalachian Trial who could become a Christian. So they spend their money on Jesus ads between beer ads hoping an unsaved millennial isn’t watching on a ten-second delay to be able to skip through to the commercials he wants to see or might accidentally see that ad and find it more memorable than the Breaking Bad commercial.
Lastly, it is notable the political left had a meltdown over these ads. As my friend Casey Mattox pointed out:
I liked it. The images were powerful and very reflective of our national state of dysfunctional tribalism. The message was simple. I thought it was effective. But my opinion - and literally everyone else with an opinion on the topic - doesn't matter. If the Green family truly felt led by God to create and fund this commercial, who are we to say they were wrong or that they could've spent their money more wisely? It's arrogant to believe we know better.
Erick, I am a fairly recent fan of yours listening to you over the last couple of years and appreciating your fair mindedness and wisdom. I am glad to see you tone down the criticism on the He Gets Us campaign today.
I have been in ministry for 35 of my 58 years, 18 of which were as a self-supported missionary. There were many times when people I was sure would give to my ministry didn’t, and many times people I thought wouldn’t give were eager and generous to.
One thing I learned is that God is fully capable of providing for many strategies to reach those who are far away. He is not on His last dime to provide for the poor, homeless, orphan or widow. He is more than able to fund all the scholarships, camps and pantries out there.
Perhaps the people who are funding He Gets Us are also involved in other kinds of ministry funding. I bet they are. But they also have a passion to reach the tens of millions of people who are far from God who may not be homeless, orphaned or widowed and may encounter Jesus through media when they wouldn’t otherwise notice Him. God places different passions on peoples’ hearts and gives them different means to participate in giving.
I think we might want to be careful to criticize others to avoid being like the disciples who complained against the woman’s lavish anointing of Jesus, saying the perfume could have been sold and given to the poor. Perhaps we can err on the side of letting Jesus orchestrate His mission through His people and encourage all of us to be generous in giving to the things we are passionate about as God directs us. Thanks.