Jonathan Acuff is the author of the satirical blog Stuff Christians Like and a new book by the same title published by Zondervan this spring. In a little over two years, Acuff has taken a start-up blog from obscurity to over 1.5 million readers, many of whom interact loyally with his site every week.
We recently sat down with Jon to learn more about Stuff Christians Like and the guy behind the stuff. The entire interview is provided in the 12:00 video but if you’re one of our more literate followers or you don’t think “ambient noise” creates a cool, unrehearsed feel, then here’s the whole conversation below.
Jon, so tell us about Stuff Christians Like. Is this a blog about Bibles and where to find the best Lord’s Supper wafers, or what?
Hah, well it’s really an exploration of the entire culture of faith from a Christian perspective. So it’s everything from how to raise your hand in church when you worship to silly things we do on the road, like driving like we’re not Christians. I wish there was a bumper sticker that said, “I’m sorry I cut you off but I’m a Christian that drives like an Agnostic.” People have this idea that “I don’t have to have faith when I’m in the car.” We’ll have it when we get to church but on the way there we might need to run somebody off the road. My grandmother actually took her ichthus off her car because she didn’t want to make the Lord look bad by her driving.
That sounds like a conversation my family has in the car on lots of Sundays.
Sure. Sure.
Every time I post something about you on Facebook or Twitter, I get lots of “I love that guy” responses. How’d this crazy love fest for Jon Acuff get started?
We’ll, first I did a year of a blog that nobody read. Maybe fifteen people. So, part of it started with just trying to get better at the voice. I started Stuff Christians Like as a version of Stuff White People Like, which is another popular blog by a talented writer named Christian Lander, and then it took off. So, I can’t talk about how to grow a blog quickly, or how to be original, clearly, but it’s just been a slow process. And I think part of the reason it took off is that I’ve written 750,000 words. Stuff White People Like has maybe 200 posts and we’re at #823 on Stuff Christians Like. So, I think maybe one of the reasons people read it is because I’m faithful to it. One of the rules of blogging is that “if you don’t faithfully write, why should I faithfully read?” So consistency has been key.
Well, your writing is awesome and so is the level of engagement on your site.
Yeah, I feel really blessed in that in two years we had over 120,000 comments, so it’s an act of community. And I don’t associate that with any degree of talent I have. It’s just God starting a conversation and we get to be a part.
You’ve coined observations like “the side hug” and the “metrosexual worship leader.” You find a lot of funny stuff in evangelical church life?
Sure, I think we’re just like any group. There are funny, quirky things we do. I try to never make fun of the church. I try to laugh with it. The only finger I point is the one at me. So, if I’ve done something silly I’ll be honest about it. It’s not like I’m not dressed like a metrosexual worship leader. I mean, I used gel today. I packed gel for my trip, that’s pretty “metro.”
How else do I know if I have a metrosexual worship leader?
Well, I mean, you can know by the depth of their V-neck t-shirt, if they’re wearing a scarf in the summer, the ironic winter hat in July, white shoes, white belt, a watch that looks like it’s a belt. Some guys are wearing eyeliner and tight-legged jeans on men. There are probably a hundred different things that are actually pretty funny.
Jon, one of the things I see in your work is this kind of ambivalence about pop-culture. You’ll talk a lot about Lil Wayne and Prince, and then you talk about the church being obsessed with being relevant and post-modern. What’s the challenge of the church to navigate that tension, to speak the language of the culture but not worship the culture?
I think it’s a fine line. I think there has been a time when we went from being irrelevant to being obsessed. There’s a pendulum. I think now maybe we are swinging back toward the middle. But somebody asked me, “Do you ever think we’ll be as cool as the world?” And I said, “I hope not.” We’re not held to that standard. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s not a coolness contest. For me, I use pop-culture references because it’s a common language. When you, in the midst of a big “Jon and Kate” celebrity blow-up, mention them, everyone knows what you’re talking about so it gives you a chance to use a shared language to jump off of. For me, that’s why I use pop-culture. There’s stuff I don’t really care about and think it’s silly, but I know I’ll connect with a larger group of people if I can reflect that but not be obsessed with it, because ultimately, I don’t write a gossip column. I’m not writing TMZ for Christians.
I remember from your book that you grew up as the son of a church planter in the Boston area. How did that whole experience shape your humor and observations about the church?
It definitely did. Massachusetts at that time was very focused on Catholicism so with my dad being a Southern Baptist minister it was difficult getting a foothold. So, I watched him creatively approach people, creatively approach community, and that shaped how I looked at faith. It wasn’t cookie-cutter. He didn’t have an easy job, so I saw him apply creativity and honesty and these are things that are important to me now. So, I definitely think it shaped me.
So, is your dad down with your blog?
Yeah, he just keeps saying that if I ever go on The Daily Show he wants to sit in the crowd. I keep telling him that Christian bloggers don’t often get invited to The Daily Show, but parents have to think the best.
That’s great. So, if there were three values that you would say guide your work, what would that constellation of values look like? What’s underneath there?
Well, I guess, honesty is one. Kindness. Mockery just tries to wound. Satire is not mockery. I hate it when people confuse the two. Satire is just humor with a purpose. So, I guess kindness, honesty, and maybe accessibility. I don’t want ivory tower ideas and I don’t want complicated ideas.
That’s interesting because humor is such a dangerous thing sometimes. It can be filled with landmines. For you, where is the line between satire, sarcasm and maybe cynicism?
For me, the difference between satire and mockery is “is there a victim?” I ask, “If I write this, does somebody get hurt?” And the other distinction is that satire addresses issues where mockery addresses individuals. If I can stay away from making it personal, all the better. It’s so much better to me to get people to talk about an issue. Who cares about one particular celebrity? If I can talk about divorce, for instance, then people can relate to that and engage with it.
One of the things I have heard people praise about your work is that underneath the humor is a profound caring for people that comes through, a great deal of grace and compassion. Do you see the church missing the boat sometimes?
I think we do sometimes. I mean, I write about Christian hate mail. That doesn’t even make sense. We should be the most loving people. We should be the ones who have the most grace because we have been forgiven the most. So, it’s weird that we’ll give grace to everyone that’s named ourselves, and then won’t give grace to other people, so yeah I think that’s just weird.
One of my favorite pieces is on “how to break up with your small group.”
How do you do that?
Well for me, there have been times when you have a small group and it just doesn’t fit, it’s just not right. It doesn’t mean they’re jerks or not good Christians. And so for me, I came up with some things to do, like you just make gross desserts so they’ll leave. You just tell horrible stories about bathroom issues you’re having. Or you make a run for the border and just find another group and start going to that group as you start “small grouping around” and get a reputation. Or, you can just be honest, that’s always a possibility.
The nuclear option.
Right, right.
So there are all these awkward moments that you do such a good job of exposing. What else do you see?
Well, today, I wrote about how Christians don’t casually recommend books. They say, “Read this book, it changed my soul.” Or, “Read this book, it taught me how to be a man.” That’s? A one hundred and fifty page book by a thirty-four year old you never met taught you how to be a man? So, it’s awkward when you don’t have the same experience and you give it back to them and they ask, “Did it change your heart?” and you say, “uhhhh, it was okaay.” People take that personally. If you recommend Twilight and someone says, “You know, I don’t like Twilight,” you don’t say, “But that book changed my life!”
Any crises in the church that you think we need to urgently address?
I’m always concerned about “deep v-neck syndrome.” We’ve got plunging necklines for our men that are disturbing. And iPads. We have people reading sermon notes from iPads for a sermon about homelessness. That doesn’t make sense.
Tell us a little bit about your process. You appear to have this enormous work ethic with over 750,000 words written in two years. How do you do what you do?
The big part is collecting, capturing the ideas. Some many people have ideas but they don’t ever capture them and they disappear. I initially capture an idea and write it down on my iPhone. And then sometime later I’ll go back and look at whether it’s a good idea, does it fit the site, does it make sense, has it been done before? Then I’ll write a draft, and then wait a week because you need a week from your work to get objective about it. If I post it that day, I’m too close to it. I won’t see some of the errors in it. SO, I wait a week, and then I’ll edit it and post it. I usually try to stay about three weeks ahead of y site so I have three weeks written and posted at any given time. That gives me the chance to having a bigger look, so I can say, “Wow, I have two marriage posts in the same week, let me move that and split it up.” Because if you are a single reader, that’s kind of frustrating.
You write every day? Up at 5:00 a.m. ?
Usually. It will fluctuate depending on what we did the night before. But, it’ll usually be anywhere between 5-6:00 a.m. I’m pretty much an early morning guy.
So you write in the morning before your day job.
Yeah, I usually try to do a quiet time and then do my writing. It’s a great way to force your job become something where you don’t have to get your need for creative writing done there. I’ve already done my writing. I’m good (for the day). I don’t need my job to be my creative outlet. It might be some days, but some days it won’t.
And you have a family.
Two little girls, six and four.
Do they know what you’re doing? Do they get into it?
They will say things when someone does something funny. They will say, “You should tweet that.” So that’s funny, but I told them that a movie company had called me about making a movie of Stuff Christians Like, and they said, “Okay, so can we go outside now?” Kids keep you humble. They don’t care, and rightfully so. It’s a blog. I’m not curing cancer. Perspective helps.
I should say my 13 year-old just started reading your book and he really likes it. I think it’s a great way for him to hear some things that maybe he couldn’t hear in a straight up way.
Sure, sure, that’s great.
So, cliché question time. What’s the last book you read?
I’m reading right now, A Single Insight is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas. It’s about the creative process, the difference between your insight and your ideas. I like stuff like that.
If stranded on a desert island, who would you take with you?
My wife, of course. I mean you have to say that. “Yeah, I’d take my Bible and my wife.”
Very good. And if you could be any animal what would you be?
Ooo, some sort of bird of flight, I don’t know, maybe an eagle, something that can fly.
That’s pretty biblical.
That wouldn’t be bad.
So what’s next for Jon Acuff?
Figure out the next book. Working on that, spending more time on the site. Being a dad, being a husband, being an employee. We’ll see.
Great, well we really enjoy your work and wish you well.
This was fun, thanks for having me.
NOTE: Following this interview, Jon Acuff announced on August 2 that he has moved from Atlanta to Nashville where he has joined the Dave Ramsey team. Jon will continue writing Stuff Christians Like and develop other social media projects. Special thanks to Daniel Burke for shooting video on-site at Echo 2010.
