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Christian foundation spends $100 million to show Jesus understands human suffering

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian foundation based in Kansas has launched a $100 million media campaign in an effort to draw people to Jesus by showing that He suffered like we do because He was fully man as well as fully God, Church Leaders reports.

The “He Gets Us” campaign was launched in March by The Signatry foundation.
The campaign features a blitz of advertisements on TV, radio, billboard and social media, Church Leaders said. One spot called “Anxiety” shows pictures of people in distress before the words “Jesus suffered anxiety, too” appear.

Jason Vanderground, the president of Haven, an organization that is working on the campaign with The Signatry, told Religion News Service: “We talked to thousands of people who, while of course they have heard of Jesus, they don’t know the full extent of His ministry. We see a light go on for them when they begin to recognize that Jesus was fully human — and that carries them forward in being able to take in and understand that He was fully God, too.”

The ‘He Gets Us’ website offers visitors an opportunity to chat online, or have a trained volunteer pray with, or access Bible reading plans, Church Leaders said. During a two-month preview in the US, the campaign attracted over 30 million views on YouTube.

Moreover, 3,000 people engaged in a live chat, and 1,000 asked for prayer.

Praising the campaign, Ed Stetzer, who is the executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois, said during an online briefing about the project: “We want people to be talking about Jesus and the gospel, and Christians having the opportunity to start conversations with people who’ve seen ads. At a time when everyone seems to want to talk about everything but evangelism, this is going to be a kind of tool that helps us.”