The He Gets Us website offers articles, videos, and resources to help people learn more about Jesus. It also provides a way for visitors to connect with local groups so that they can learn about Jesus with other people, and website visitors have the option to text a number in order to receive prayer or encouragement.
HeGetsUsPartners.com says that over 113,000 people have been connected to local churches through the campaign. At that link, church leaders and individuals can access resources to equip them to have conversations about Jesus.
The He Gets Us campaign launched in 2022 and has been featured on billboards and TV ads all across the country. The Super Bowl ads reportedly cost $20 million. Jason Vanderground, president of a branding firm working with the campaign, said that there are plans to spend a billion dollars over the next three years, “and that is just the first phase.” Many of the donors funding the campaign are anonymous, although Hobby Lobby co-founder David Green recently confirmed that his family is among those financially supporting He Gets Us.
Some Christians found He Gets Us controversial prior to the airing of the Super Bowl ads, with the controversy centering on the question of who is funding He Gets Us and whether it is a doctrinally sound movement. On Oct. 14, Pastor Tom Buck of First Baptist Church Lindale in Lindale, Texas, criticized He Gets Us for accommodating him when he reached out to the campaign asking if it could connect him to a “transgender friendly church.”
At the time, Buck had been questioning the partnership between He Gets Us and the SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB). On Oct. 13, the day after NAMB president Kevin Ezell participated in an online forum to discuss He Gets Us with Wheaton College Billy Graham Center president Ed Stetzer, Ezell apologized and said NAMB would no longer be partnering with the campaign.
Among the criticisms of the He Gets Us Super Bowl ads are the fact that so much money was spent in the name of Jesus when it could have gone to helping people in need. Satirical site Babylon Bee posted an article titled, “God Hopeful The Millions Spent On ‘He Gets Us’ Super Bowl Ad Will Finally Give Him Some Exposure.”
“You know what would be better ‘branding’ for Jesus?” said user Carlos A. Rodríguez. “Using those 100 million dollars on the priorities of Jesus: Feed the hungry. Welcome the stranger. Care for the sick. Liberate the oppressed. Love our neighbors. Yes, He gets us. We don’t seem to get him.”
Comedian and influencer Kristina Hart tweeted, “Am certain that a paid commercial about Jesus will not be more impactful than, I don’t know, people’s actions.”
The ads even got the attention of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who tweeted, “Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign.”
Charlie Kirk, whose political views are quite different from Ocasio-Cortez’s, agrees with her in thinking that the campaign is a bad idea. “The marketing group behind ‘He Gets Us’ has done one of the worst services to Christianity in the modern era,” he said. “The Green family are decent wonderful people who have been taken for a ride by these woke tricksters. So sad!”
