Most of us know Jon Acuff as the super-blogger and writer behind Stuff Christians Like, a daily send-up of Christian culture on the Web (www.stuffchristianslike.net) and a new book published by Zondervan. But long before Stuff Christians Like became a certified hit—one million unique visitors in less than two years makes you a hit in my book—Acuff was just a regular guy raising a family, working in advertising, and writing a personal blog for an audience of 100. In early 2008, things changed.
“I saw Stuff White People Like (www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com) blow up, and I thought, ‘We always steal from secular media and just put a God-spin on it. What if I talked about that issue by committing that issue?’” Acuff told me. He adds that he wishes there was a nobler reason than “I thought it would be fun” for starting his blog, but eventually the motivation become noble. “Somewhere along the line it changed into more of a ministry than an exploration of sarcasm,” he observes happily.
It’s interesting that Acuff didn’t know he had a hit in the making when he first launched the site. “I thought five people would read it and it’d be like a million other bad ideas I had.” Obviously, he was wrong. Acuff recalls, “On day eight or nine, 4,300 people showed up.” When he says this, it’s as if he still can’t believe it happened despite the fact that readers have continued to flock to the site in droves.
And it seems Acuff felt the same way about reaching the one million visitors milestone. “It felt surreal just like everything else has. I remember thinking a year and a half ago, when we hit 100,000 unique readers, “God, it would be so cool to tell a million people that you love them.” He confesses that he thought it would be 10 years before he accumulated that many visitors, and yet, it happened so quickly.
“It feels so big that I can’t take credit, which I feel thankful for. I can’t say, ‘Look at the 500 people from Morocco that came to the site. I sure do know a lot of people in Morocco that think I’m neat,” he jokes. “I don’t know those people. I didn’t do that, so I feel very fortunate.”
And while Acuff remains humble about the growth of the Stuff Christians Like site, to his credit, there’s no denying the overwhelming amount of effort Acuff has invested in the site’s content. He has written hundreds of thousands of words comprising hundreds of individual posts. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more prolific blogger, especially given Acuff’s aforementioned family and full-time job. Oh, and he spent a good portion of 2009 writing 50,000 more words for the Stuff Christians Like book, which hits stores April 2010.
Of course, it’s Acuff’s content that keeps people coming back. I asked him why Stuff Christians Like resonates with so many people. “I think humor is kind of a universal language. The example I always use is that when you go on a mission trip, regardless of the country, you can laugh with the little kids. Those are the pictures and experiences you always remember. Regardless of their language, their religion, their socioeconomic background, you’re able to laugh with them.” If you need an example of Acuff’s humor, simply visit stuffchristianslike.net and search “Booty, God, Booty” or “metrosexual worship leader.” Trust me.
The second key to the site’s appeal, Acuff says, is its honesty. “Beyond humor I try to have a current or a thread of honesty through all the posts. I think people come initially for the humor, and they stay for the honesty.” When he said this, I realized he was right; Stuff Christians Like embodies honesty. Acuff consistently portrays himself as part of the Christian culture he’s satirizing. He hasn’t let the size of his audience deter him from sharing personal experiences that range from getting stuck in a coat closet to struggling with pornography to going on a date with a girl who insisted on reading to him from her journal. Acuff never paints himself as a hero or as superior to Christians who like stuff. He’s real, and his readers appreciate it.
Perhaps the best testament to the bonds formed between the blogger and his readers is the Vietnam Kindergarten project. On November 9, 2009—after 19 months of sharing laughs and stories—Jon Acuff announced an ambitious goal to the Stuff Christians Like crowd. He wanted to raise $30,000 by the end of the year (about seven weeks) in order to build a kindergarten in Vietnam in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse. The entire sum was raised in just 18 hours. Less than a month later, a total of $60,000 was donated so that two kindergartens could be built. It was an inspiring picture of what God can do through a funny and honest blog and hundreds of cheerful givers. Still, the ever-honest Acuff admits he was nervous about making the initial ask. “I’d never done anything where I asked for money,” he says. “This wasn’t like the fourth project we did and the other three were quiet but this one got loud. This is the only one.”
Looking back, he has an idea about why people responded to his invitation to give. “I think the misconception is that we raised $30,000 in just 18 hours. That’s technically true, but the reality is we raised $30,000 in 18 months. By that I mean every day that I’ve been writing I’ve put a drop into that bucket of trust and relationship.” When, after a year and a half of investing in Stuff Christians Like, Acuff challenged his readers, they answered the call. Understandably, the story of the Vietnam Kindergarten project caught the attention of many bloggers (including yours truly), as well as Acuff’s hometown newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The project serves as the ultimate reminder of the power of social media to tell stories, build trust, do good, and change lives. Anyone who wants to use social media to do those same things would do well to learn from Acuff’s example.
Beyond his methodology, there’s a lot we can learn from Acuff’s writing. He has done such a thorough job cataloging the idiosyncrasies of Christian culture that broader themes have emerged. Unfortunately, the most prevalent of these themes isn’t positive. Acuff finds himself constantly returning to the reality that many of us don’t believe in the full extent of God’s love. He says we have a hard time accepting the Parable of the Prodigal Son and its depiction of a loving, forgiving father. As a result, we do weird things like judge others, harbor guilt, and live legalistically. Thus, the enduring love of God is a frequent topic when things get serious at Stuff Christians Like. In fact, Acuff has taken care to protect his standing as someone who can share a message of love amid all of the jokes.
“I’ve tried to shape my language and how I write because I don’t want to be a mocker,” he says. “The Bible is clear about how much God despises mockers. I feel like mockery is a great shortcut to laughter, but it removes your ability to speak love later. For me, the love later matters more than the immediacy of the laugh.” This perspective, combined with all the honesty and the Vietnam Kindergarten project, suggests a blogger who sees himself more as a minister than an entertainer. And given the state of the world today, that’s probably a good thing.
As I surveyed Acuff’s body of work, which includes a book and the identification of more than 700 things Christ-followers find agreeable, I couldn’t help but wonder where Stuff Christians Like goes from here. He gets excited as he answers: “I want to see us do bigger projects. I want to figure a way to do a bigger community. I’m at the end of my individual talent, so I’m trying to partner with people that are smart and can show me how to take this thing to the next level.”
Finally, I wonder if he thinks he’ll ever run out of ideas (perhaps a question that should be off limits when interviewing bloggers). “The way I look at it, Christianity is too big for that,” he answers nonchalantly. “We keep adding new stuff to the list.”
To keep up with Jon Acuff, visit www.stuffchristianslike.net or follow him on Twitter (@prodigaljohn). Also, buy the Stuff Christians Like book wherever hilarious books are sold.