Jason Mitchell’s "Father Fearless" character on YouTube shows how Christians can engage the culture with love and without rancor and scoldings. It’s a message that could make a huge difference in the American Culture. TAC correspondent Dean Abbott reports.

The digital media age is opening new avenues for Christians to seek influence in the culture, but speaking as a Christian, I think it’s important that we become smarter in how we go about it. To make the most of these opportunities we must think carefully about how we craft our message. One young filmmaker offers us a lesson in how effective a winsome reply to serious opposition can be.

In late 2006 a group of atheists calling themselves The Rational Response Squad decided to promote director Brian Flemming’s film “The God Movie” by issuing a challenge, a blasphemy challenge, to be exact.

Participation in the project required only a video camera, a few minutes uploading video to YouTube, and a willingness to risk eternal damnation. In exchange for their blasphemous efforts, the Rational Response Squad promised to send the first 1001 people posting video of themselves saying they deny the Holy Spirit, something they believe to be the “unforgivable sin,” a DVD of Flemming’s movie.

Thousands responded. A simple YouTube search for “blasphemy challenge” will bring up countless videos. Some are clever, some bitter, but most just consist of people spouting nonsense in somber tones. About all they share is their authors’ eagerness to deny the Holy Spirit’s existence.

It wasn’t just unbelievers who responded. Believers and even the undecided decided to chime in. One of the best responses came from Jason “Molotov” Mitchell, actor and founder of Burn Film School.

In the video, Mitchell portrays Father Fearless, a priest who repeatedly declares in a thick Scottish brogue [or is it Irish?—ed.], “I love the Holy Spirit!”  Mitchell’s use of humor expressed through a likeable, compelling character like Father Fearless represents a step forward in Christian cultural engagement and a step away from the antagonistic tone of much of what has come from Christian quarters in recent years.

Mitchell said he was “floored” when he first encountered the blasphemy challenge videos. In his quest for a lighthearted means of countering them, Mitchell came up with Father Fearless and his "Servant’s Challenge."

Humor is an essential ingredient when trying to develop a winning approach to engage an issue such as this, Mitchell said. “Humor’s a big key to disarming people so we can actually communicate with each other,” he said. “People who charge in with nothing but a Bible may be noble, but less strategic. Life is supposed to be a mission to advance God’s Kingdom, that’s true, but we’re also supposed to live life more abundantly. And for me, that means balancing righteousness and kindness. Live, laugh, love . . . and tear down every idol you come across.”

In the video, Father Fearless not only asks people to say they love the Holy Spirit but also to show it, and he shows viewers how by performing some acts of service himself. We see him, for example, go up to a homeless person on the street and say, with great enthusiasm in a Scottish brogue, "I’m lookin’ for someone to give some food to! Are you hungry?" He then gives him a bag of food, including a footlong hot dog, one of the funniest foods there is.

If it was conversation Mitchell was hoping to spark, his hopes were more than fulfilled. The video’s YouTube page carries more than 700 comments. The video has been viewed more than 15,000 times since it was posted a little more than a year ago. Still more have posted their own video responses to Mitchell’s work.  

Mitchell has been pleased by the response, especially since part of his goal is to offer his audience an example of what effective Christian cultural engagement might look like. “That’s important,” Mitchell said, “because if the Church gets its act together, we’ll win. Win everything, you know? So part of Father Fearless’ mission is to get Christians thinking indirectly, when it comes to reaching the world around us. Strategy. That’s the million dollar word.”

—Dean Abbott