Sydney's Red Dawn Heralds Jesus? Special

On Sept. 23, Sydney woke to a lurid red sky that was almost apocalyptic. It was also the day that hosted the launch of “Jesus – All About Life” (JAAL).

The JAAL media campaign was designed to promote discussion about the person of Jesus and why Sydneysiders should pay attention. The storm itself began as a major pressure system over Western Australia driving red dust half way across a continent. At the launch of “Jesus – All About Life”, Steve Chong MC for the launch and Pastor of RICE, a multicultural ministry based in Sydney, said:

“Today everyone is talking about the dust storm, we want them talking about Jesus the same way.”

The campaign has already stirred controversy with one challenge going to court in an attempt to stop it. Daniel Willis, CEO of the Bible Society and campaign manager, said:

“Someone believes that putting Jesus in the media is an affront to their rights however the campaign will be almost over by the time the complaint is heard should they go ahead with it.”

Ramon A Williams

Daniel Willis

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Without a doubt, Sydney will comment, complain and discuss why churches are doing this. At the launch, every speaker commented that this was the whole purpose. One young person who has seen some of the posters, 14-year-old Brianna, wasn’t sure how this would help her talk to her friends about Jesus. Her brother Tim, 17, said their church was actively involved in the campaign. Jesus – All About Life is remarkable in bringing Australia’s 15 major Christian denominational groups together in one project.

Ramon A Williams

Taken at Launch

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, Five denominational and organisation leaders climbed their “Stairway to Heaven” by taking the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb as an opportunity to pray for Sydney and the campaign.

Bible Society NSW

Stairway to heaven

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They included Phil Pringle from C3, Daniel Willis - Bible Society, Norm Nix - , Niall Read - Uniting Church and George Aghajanian - Hillsong. There are over 1800 individual churches involved across New South Wales with more joining the campaign each week. The campaign press release has letters of endorsement from the Anglican Church, Hilllsong, C3 Churches, the Salvation Army, Baptist Church and others. It is also endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church. Pastor Phil Pringle from C3 Churches said,

“Not since the opening of this country’s New Parliament House in 1988 when thousands of Christians from all over Australia ringed the building in prayer, has anything of this magnitude happened.

"This is a once in a generation thing," said Daniel Willis, CEO of the Bible Society, is managing the JAAL campaign. "It has not been easy to get this organised. There has been some criticism and in the next few weeks there will be more to come.” The Archbishop of the Sydney Anglican Church, Peter Jensen appeared on the “Sunrise” programme on Channel 7 to answer the question “Why does God need an Ad? The campaign was developed to raise awareness of the person and message of Jesus in Sydney and across New South Wales It has run successfully in other Australian states but has been significantly updated for the Sydney launch. When asked about how success would be measured Mr Willis said that it had already been fairly successful. “The Facebook site, Twitter, Blogs are already full of comments, the fact that over 15 denominations are actively involved is a measure of success.” Data from Google show that the JAAL website has been accessed from over 70 countries and that in the last 2 weeks there have been over 15 million hits. At A$5 million it has been an expensive project and the Bible Society currently has a A$2 million shortfall to make up. Daniel Willis, from the Bible Society, said some expected funds hadn’t arrived and the Bible Society had to dig deep for the campaign to go ahead. JAAL is a non-denominational media campaign which mixes traditional and contemporary methods of communication. Mr. Willis said:

“In the first century AD, the gospel spread because of the Roman roads, and in Reformation times it was the advent of the printing press that allowed the word of God to spread further. Using TV is this generations’ opportunity”

The aim is to reach more than 90 per cent of the people of New South Wales and engage them in conversations about Jesus. Dominic Steele from Christians in the Media, said:

“Sydney is cynical, hard and busy. It is difficult for a message to cut through. These ads are a really good opportunity to start a conversation.”

. Pastor Phil Pringle from C3 Churches said that the idea is to stimulate public debate and private conversations. He went on to say that the Church has been such a turn off but the person of Jesus is still attractive to people and is what unites Christians. “We need to be the message," he said. Churches and organisations across the State are taking the opportunity to host events, concerts and meetings to invite people to further explore the questions raised by the campaign. Andrew Fisher, V8 supercar driver, has branded both of his racing cars with “Jesus All About Life”.

Jesus Racing

Jesus Racing Team

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He has appeared on Australia’s “Top Gear” TV programme. The campaign will encompass the online medium, outdoor banners, print and radio advertisements, and a TV commercial. Beginning on Sept. 7with the internet campaign, the outdoor advertising will appear on 14 September and the TV commercial on Sept. 27. The campaign will conclude at the end of October.