A famous exchange between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway goes like this:
Fitzgerald: “The rich are different from you and me.”
Hemingway: “Yes. They have more money.”
Fitzgerald, whose books were often about the corrosive effects of wealth, meant that rich people were psychologically different. Hemingway’s glib, smart-alecky response meant that rich people are in fact the same as the rest of us. We are all human. Some of us just have more money than others.
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It is not clear if this exchange between the two great writers took place, but it has persisted in part because of its pithy truth.
I can argue both sides of the equation, depending on the day. One thing I will say, though, is that I am often astonished by the things that the uber-rich support. Between 2001 and 2004, one of the Home Depot founders, Bernie Marcus, gave $255 million to fund the Georgia Aquarium. Joan Kroc gave $200 million to fund National Public Radio in 2003.
Even in the Christian realm, I sometimes scratch my head. Donors to the He Gets Us campaign have spent an estimated $775 million. (From 2021 to 2024, the Signatry/Servant Foundation spent $429.8 million on He Gets Us, according to IRS disclosures. In 2024, the operation moved to Come Near, a separate nonprofit. Come Near projected another $345 million in expenditures from July 2024 to June 2026. That puts the documented and projected spending through June 2026 at roughly $775 million. Organizers have previously talked about a goal of spending $1 billion on the campaign.)
And it is hard to see any tangible results. The organizers do not track conversions. Come Near says it surveys more than 20,000 Americans annually about perceptions of Jesus. Its chief impact officer told Christianity Today in 2026 that, among people who are spiritually curious and aware of the He Gets Us brand, there had been a statistically significant increase over the previous year in the belief that Jesus is relevant to modern life and that they are open to hearing more about Jesus. This is the campaign’s own research, reported by the organization itself. We do not have an independent, randomized evaluation establishing that the advertising caused those changes.
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It is with this context that I offer a modest proposal. I propose that some wealthy Christians step up and create a fully accredited graduate program in journalism at a top-tier Christian college. So far, no such program exists, and the existence of such a program could make a dramatic difference in the journalism landscape of this country.
The last statement in my proposal may not seem obvious, but consider these realities.
Currently, only three Christian colleges have journalism and mass communication programs accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). It is the principal specialized accreditor for professional journalism and mass communication programs in the United States and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
Those three colleges are Abilene Christian University, Baylor University, and Texas Christian University. Of the three, only Baylor offers a graduate degree (an M.A.) in journalism. None of them offer a Ph.D. in journalism or mass communication. Regent University offers a Ph.D. in communications, but it is not ACEJMC accredited.
The “bottom line” here is this: There is a massive gap in the training of Christian journalists in a Christian environment. And the first step in closing that gap would be to create accredited undergraduate and graduate programs (including Ph.D. programs) in journalism at distinctively evangelical Christian colleges.
So, how much money would it take to do that?
Surprisingly little, at least if you start with a Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) school that already has a national reputation, a journalism program and a history of Ph.D. programs in other fields, and then build from there. That list could include Biola, Liberty, Lipscomb, Samford and a few others. To get from where they are to the point that they are fully accredited and have a Ph.D. program would likely take less than five years and between $50 million and $100 million.
How would that money be spent? The first step would be to hire top-tier faculty. That would likely mean creating a dedicated fund or endowment to attract them and assure them that they will get paid into the foreseeable future. That would take $30 million. Scholarships to attract gifted students would take another $20 million.
That is $50 million, about the same amount of money that the He Gets Us campaign has spent on Super Bowl ads.
A list of lesser expenditures would include studios, visiting faculty stipends, the creation of student publications, as well as start-up, accreditation, and legal costs. Another $20 million ought to cover that.
I have no idea if a Christian billionaire is reading this. If so, I would like to make a personal appeal: Would you think and pray about this? Do your own research. See if what I am saying makes sense.
But I also have a word for Christian college presidents. A single Christian billionaire is not the only way to get to the goal. A visionary Christian college president could start a $75 million campaign to build a world-class journalism school. I would give to such a campaign. Not the entire $75 million (sorry about that), but something. I predict others would, too.
Christians have made massive investments in virtually all spheres of public life, but Christian journalism has been generally ignored by Christian philanthropists. Creating a fully accredited journalism school, from undergraduate through the doctoral level, would be a giant first step toward repairing that long overdue neglect.
And a giant step toward repairing a serious tear in our cultural fabric.
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