Popular humor blog spawns book centering on quirky Christian habits

The lighter side of Christian faith is explored in the new humor book Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff. The book, inspired by the author's popular blog, features essays on the quirky side of all things Christian.

It includes topics such as "Being slightly offended the pastor has a nicer car than you," "Telling testimonies that are exciting right up until the moment you became a Christian" and "Using 'Let me pray about it' as a euphemism for 'no.' "

The book features favorite items from the author's "Stuff Christians Like" Web site along with updated essays and additional content. The blog, which began in March 2008, has amassed more than a million site visits and generated more than 6,000 comments. Acuff began the blog as an illustrative response to how Christians sometimes hijack themes from popular culture, fashioning itself as a takeoff of the successful "Stuff White People Like" blog.

"I thought honestly I would do it for a week or two, but on day eight or nine, 4,300 people came and read the site," he said. "It just went viral."

The popularity caught Acuff off guard, and he was quick to point out that it's "been bigger than any degree of coolness or talent that I possess."

Acuff acknowledged the rarity of Christian humor books in the marketplace, a reason the book concept was initially rejected by publishers.

"There's not a great precedence to lean on," he said. "That's not to say people haven't done it well," he said, noting that Christian humor titles are not as prevalent as general market humor books.

He hopes that Stuff Christians Like can help broaden the humor section of Christian bookstores. Of the comments on the site, he noted that "a lot of those are from humorists. They're out there. My hope is, in addition to the book doing well, that it will help create a shelf that is Christian humor."

Acknowledging the potential for controversy when mixing faith and humor, Acuff said that he did not want to make "any joke to get in the way of the everlasting love of Christ." He did not descend into mockery, he added, trying instead to "write things that are funny without a victim. Mockery usually needs a victim."

Acuff said there was much more material on his blog, but the book has enough new material to attract readers.

"What I think is really neat, (if you read the book), you now have nine times that amount of content online for free," he said. "Readers that didn't know it as a blog will discover that, and blog readers will pick up the book."

Whether or not the additional material will end up in subsequent releases, Acuff joked, "I'd be surprised to see a Stuff Christian Teens Like or Stuff Christian Moms Like, but it's a down economy, so who knows? Difficult choices need to be made."

While Acuff keeps a good sense of humor, his new ministry addressed a serious situation last year. When his 6-year-old daughter raised the issue of starving children overseas, Acuff presented a fund-raising opportunity to his readers to give at his Web site in coordination with Samaritan's Purse, raising more than $60,000 in 25 days for orphanages in Vietnam.

"That's the power of social community and what it can accomplish," Acuff said.

Zondervan will promote the release with a print, broadcast and online advertising campaign and book tour.

For more information or to order, call Zondervan at 800-727-1309, or visit www.zondervan.com.

Click here to listen to the audio interview with Jonathan Acuff.

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