‘Jesus Makes Me Holy … And Hot’: What Christian Influencers Say About Their Relationship With Christ
A recent article in Christianity Today featured Christian influencers who claim that Jesus makes them both holy and … hot.
These so-called “Jesus glow-up” posts, and their influencer authors, communicate a message that a relationship with Christ provides a “blessing of heightened physical beauty.”
Some of the influencers downplay the physical nature of the “glow-ups,” instead pointing to them as an indication of the process of sanctification and growth in the “fruits of the Spirit” that appears physically.
READ: Martin Marty Was The Original ‘Faith Influencer’
Others indicate that lifestyle changes more in line with biblical values produce improved physical appearance. Some of these Christian influencers are selling products to help viewers make these lifestyle changes.
These Jesus glow-up influencers are a subset a growing number of Christian celebrity influencers who draw attention and support for their causes.
Ministries Using Celebrities
Phil Cooke, who has helped Christian ministries with their media productions for decades, says using celebrities to draw attention to Christian ministries is not a new practice.
Billy Graham used to invite celebrities such as Johnny Cash and Roy Rogers to his evangelistic crusades.
Cooke sees it as a way to bring attention to the ministry by connecting with people “who can bring influence.”
Social media stars are adding a new dimension because they are often more popular than traditional celebrities, but the idea is the same, Cooke said.
World Vision has a Celebrity Ambassador Network that it hopes will “raise awareness, funds, and additional support for its work serving the poor in nearly 100 countries worldwide.” Patricia Heaton from “Everybody Loves Raymond” was the first celebrity to join World Vision’s Celebrity Ambassador Network.
Compassion International has a list of well-known Christian speakers who are available to speak at events and share about the ministry and “the opportunity to sponsor children.”
For example, in August 2020, Sadie Robertson Huff, a member of the famous “Duck Dynasty” family, a social media influencer, and host of Whoa That’s Good Podcast, emceed the Unite to Fight Poverty virtual concert that was produced by Compassion International, Food for the Hungry, and World Vision.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has produced a commercial featuring Ambassador to Israel and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. (A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State clarified that the IFCJ video spot was produced before Huckabee was appointed as a U.S. ambassador, and he is not identified as the Ambassador to Israel in the ad.)
Questions arise about how celebrity ambassadors are chosen, their connection to the ministries they represent, and whether and how much they are compensated.
MinistryWatch reached out to World Vision and Compassion International to ask those questions, but did not receive a reply.
The Compassion speaker page shows as no longer accessible on the ministry’s website. We inquired about the unavailability of the webpage, and Compassion said its website is undergoing a major overhaul and pages will be coming and going over the next couple of months.
Samaritan’s Purse, one of the nation’s largest relief and development ministries, does not use celebrity ambassadors.
“While many well-known individuals speak out in support of the ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, we do not have paid celebrity ambassadors or contractual agreements directly with individuals for this,” Kaitlyn Josten of Samaritan’s Purse told MinistryWatch. “We are grateful for the many Christian figures who have chosen to use their platforms to share publicly about the work of Samaritan’s Purse.”
Advice About Choosing A Spokesperson
When looking for an influencer to help promote a ministry’s cause, Cooke suggests looking for someone who can survive scrutiny. He says ideally it is best to get to know the potential spokesperson through a personal relationship. And if the influencer already supports and believes in the ministry and is passionate about it, that’s even better.
“Vetting is very important. Be very careful because you don’t want to discover something in the person’s past that can be a black mark on the ministry,” Cooke advised.
When the term social media influencer is used, many people may envision someone like Kim Kardashian, but according to Cooke, there are “sincere Godly people with millions of followers who would love to connect to a Christian ministry and use their influence to get the [ministry’s] message in front of more people.”
About new Christian converts, Cooke suggested care and waiting to give the person time to be a seasoned and mature Christian.
Cooke’s firm helps find influencers that are a good match for the ministry. Their sphere of influence needs to cross over and be in line with the ministry, he said.
In his years of experience, Cooke has seen influencers used in a variety of ways. Ministries may make a deal so that the influencer talks about the ministry on their own platform, but in a way that sounds natural and not “hokey.” The influencer may appear as a guest on the ministry’s podcast or may appear as a host in a short film or television program.
When it comes to paying influencers to speak on behalf of a ministry, Cooke has seen a variety of relationships. He doesn’t see anything wrong with paying an influencer as part of a ministry’s marketing budget. But he also said there are many influencers who will spread the message for free because they love the ministry’s work.
In her book “Celebrities For Jesus,” Katelyn Beaty wrote about her concerns with connecting the Gospel to celebrities.
She acknowledges that many Christians have “used their fame, passion, and tech savvy for good kingdom purposes, sharing the gospel via mass media culture with a global reach Paul could only have dreamed of.”
However, she also cautions about the use of celebrity for Christian purposes, noting that icons can become idols, giving their followers the “illusion of intimacy” without proximity or physical community.
This social power can be misused and abused, Beaty warns, and can lead to an institution being built around a personality.
When MinistryWatch reached out to her, Beaty agreed that her cautions in the book about advancing the Gospel would apply similarly to using celebrities to advance the cause of a ministry.
“There’s the risk that a celebrity figure could have a moral failing and thus tarnish the reputation of the ministry,” Beaty said. “If you’re a global ministry, this can have global fallout and harm your reputation among the people you’re trying to serve.”
“It also strikes me that there’s a dissonance between asking a wealthy American celebrity to be the spokesperson for non-Western people who are often on the bottom rung of society,” she added. “As Christians we are called to value the people the world discards; it would be better to hear from a local person who has been helped by a particular ministry, thus elevating their status and story on a broader stage.”
In her book, Beaty also points out that the use of celebrities can sometimes be assessed based on their revenue-generating potential — not the best motive for choosing a ministry spokesperson.
About the question of paying celebrities to speak on behalf of a ministry, Beaty said, “If a particular Christian celebrity feels strongly about supporting a cause, they should be tithing to support the ministry, not asking the ministry to pay them.”
This article was originally published at MinistryWatch.
Kim Roberts is a freelance writer who holds a Juris Doctorate with honors from Baylor University and an undergraduate degree in government from Angelo State University. She has three young adult children who were home schooled and is happily married to her husband of 28 years.