Let’s Make the Gospel Go Viral

When Entrepreneur magazine heard about our new video website, ChristianLife.com, they interviewed the director, David DeVore, the man who shot the video of his son that went viral as “David After Dentist.” So far, that video has been seen 123.4 million times. Earlier this month on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Joseph Gordon-Levitt re-enacted what Entrepreneur called “David’s loopy soliloquy.”

The magazine’s headline shouted “‘David After Dentist’ Dad Now Wants Christianity to Go Viral.”

It’s true. The goal of the site is like its tagline: “Like the gospel, things you should share.”

Hundreds of millions of people exercise the power of sharing each day online by passing along yet another inane grumpy cat meme or music video parody. But what if what was being shared could instead lead people closer to God?

Now we need your help to make this site go viral by going to the site and sharing it with your friends.

Launched this week by our company, Charisma Media, the site features a daily stream of videos, images and memes that are not only funny, but also inspirational, encouraging, worshipful and even evangelistic. With 7 out of 10 adult Internet users engaging daily with a video-sharing website and 500 million photos shared each day, videos and photos have quickly become the dominant online vehicles for user engagement. ChristianLife.com will serve this rapidly growing audience with content that’s intentionally uplifting and always shareable—everything from awkward church signs to inspirational testimonies to hilarious conversations with children.

“Humor is part of the heart of God, and whether it’s a funny video or picture, our natural instinct is to share it with others,” DeVore says. “I think that’s why we’re seeing such a massive surge of sites built around sharing content.

“But while other sites tend to highlight the completely pointless and often trashy, we believe there are countless uplifting, godly messages out there worth sharing. It’s just a matter of helping people find them—which is where Christian Life comes in.”

DeVore is better known as the voice behind the camera of “David After Dentist,” one of YouTube’s most-watched videos of all time and Time magazine’s No. 3 greatest viral video ever. Recorded in 2008 when his son, David Jr., returned medicated from a dental procedure, the video quickly became a pop-culture icon. Since 2008, DeVore and his son have appeared on virtually every major TV news, talk or late-night show and have leveraged the global spotlight to raise money for Operation Smile.

In joining with Charisma Media, one of the leading publishers of Christian resources, DeVore hopes to bring about the same good by encouraging believers around the world with shareable content. ChristianLife.com not only helps Christians avoid the questionable content that dominates most content-sharing sites, but it’s also a resource churches and individual believers can use to share biblical messages with others.

We’re excited about helping Christians engage more with others through a site like this. I believe we can not only encourage believers through ChristianLife.com, but we can also reach those who need hope through simple yet profound, uplifting messages.

Interestingly, I did my own market research when DeVore first did a mockup of the site to show the staff. I invited people on my Steve Strang Facebook page to give me their reaction to the site if they agreed to nondisclosure because it was so early in development. When we got a lot of responses and almost all were very positive, I knew we were on to something.

Please check out the site and give us your opinion. Tell your friends to tell their friends about ChristianLife.com. Remember, it’s things like the gospel that are worth sharing.

Steve Strang is the founder and publisher of Charisma. Follow him on Twitter at @sstrang or Facebook (stephenestrang).