Revealed: Hobby Lobby founder behind $3 billion effort to 'rebrand Jesus'

A mysterious commercial called "He Gets Us" that is set to air during the Super Bowl and promotes faith in Christ has been linked to the founder of Hobby Lobby — and a three-year-long campaign he has funded to "rebrand Jesus," according to Christianity Today on Friday.

"For the past 10 months, the 'He Gets Us' ads have shown up on billboards, YouTube channels, and television screens — most recently during NFL playoff games — across the country, all spreading the message that Jesus understands the human condition," reported Bob Smietana. The ad shows pictures overlaid with text like "Jesus called huddles, too," and "Jesus confronted racism with love,"; and "Jesus was a refugee."

"The campaign is a project of the Servant Foundation, an Overland Park, Kansas, nonprofit that does business as The Signatry, but the donors backing the campaign have until recently remained anonymous — in early 2022, organizers only told Religion News Service that funding came from 'like-minded families who desire to see the Jesus of the Bible represented in today’s culture with the same relevance and impact He had 2000 years ago,'" said the report. "But in November, David Green, the billionaire co-founder of Hobby Lobby, told talk show host Glenn Beck that his family was helping fund the ads. Green, who was on the program to discuss his new book on leadership, told Beck that his family and other families would be helping fund an effort to spread the word about Jesus."

“You’re going to see it at the Super Bowl — ‘He gets Us,’” Green told Beck. “We are wanting to say — we being a lot of people — that he gets us. He understands us. He loves who we hate. I think we have to let the public know and create a movement."

Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma-based chain of big-box craft stores, is famous for its Christian theming. The chain came under controversy after it refused to provide contraception to its employees, and won the right to opt out of federal health rules at the Supreme Court.

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The chain also came under a strange controversy in 2017 after it was found to be in possession of ancient Iraqi artifacts illegally smuggled out of that country, leading to civil actions by the Justice Department ordering the company to forfeit the treasures.