“Adopt A Jesus” | Courtesy of Brandt Russo

When I met Brandt Russo, the tattoos visible on his arms, legs and face, and his remarkably large gauges were the first things that caught my attention. Perhaps, this is because I do not often meet other Christians with the same quantity of ink as Russo. Or maybe I was expecting to be greeted by a clean, unmarked, formally dressed Christian. Of course, this is what I might expect from the star of a premiere event associated with the Biola Missions Conference, right?

Russo, 27, graduated from Texas Bible Institute in 2004. The movie he is featured in, “Adopt-a-Jesus,” will be screened Thursday night at 9:15 p.m. in Sutherland Auditorium as one of two films being presented by the Student Missionary Union during Missions Conference.

Helping others means helping Jesus

“Adopt-a-Jesus” was produced by independent filmmaker Bob Wilkinson in 2008 and has grown in popularity since. The title originates from the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew chapter 25 where Jesus tells the righteous, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Russo believes that whatever he does to help the homeless or poor is in no way different from helping Jesus. If he adopts the sojourner, he adopts Jesus.

The synopsis on the movie’s website states: “For 14 days we traveled through the south in a bus that ran on used cooking oil. We picked up hitchhikers and listened to the stories of the homeless and those who devote their time caring for them. This is our story.”

Finding God through homelessness

Although the filming lasted 14 days, only five days are used in the film. In fact, there is much more to Russo’s story than these two weeks out on the road.

Upon graduating college, Russo was ordained for ministry and began searching for church employment. However, Russo was repeatedly rejected because of his tattoos. He explained how churches would tell him, “No tats!” and deny him a position on that basis alone. After struggling with depression and feeling far from God, Russo made a drastic decision that altered the course of his life.

“I just got to the point where I wanted Jesus so badly that I was willing to do what the disciples did to find him,” Russo said. “I literally quit my job [at Half Price Books and as a manager at The Pita Pit], sold my stuff, gave my money away and became homeless for the sake of finding Christ.”

In 2006, Russo gave up everything he owned and sought to live out his faith in complete dependence on God. With the remainder of his money he bought a plane ticket to Seattle and flew to pick up a 1979 Volkswagen Westfalia van to take him wherever God would bring him. Six hours later, Russo’s Volkswagen broke down. He abandoned the van on the side of the road after concluding its condition hopelessly irreparable, and started walking.

Russo recalled smilingly his terror and saying to God, “Are you kidding? I gave up everything for you!” And God responding to him, “And now you’ve given up your Volkswagen.”

Churches reject Russo based on appearance

For about a year and a half, Russo zigzagged throughout the U.S. He walked, hitchhiked and hopped trains wherever God took him. When he slept he tried to stay in church parking lots, thinking this was safe, but was repeatedly kicked out by the church leadership. Russo explained how even when he came on Sundays he faced persecution.

“I would show up to certain churches and because I either had a backpack or my hair was messy or I wasn’t dressed right they would pull me out or try to seat me in the back or try to kick me out or call the cops on me.”

Russo begins mobile ministry

By the middle of 2007, Russo decided to, as he put it, “upgrade his homelessness,” and buy a vehicle. He raised money by playing the banjo or mandolin, and bought 1992 GMC full-size school bus. Russo outfitted the bus with a biodiesel motor and with seats to comfortably carry along hitchhikers in a kind of mobile ministry. From here, Russo began to pick up homeless folk and hitchhikers to hear their stories, but their stories weren’t the only ones being heard.

Word of mouth travelled about Russo’s mobile ministry, and soon people were asking him to speak at different churches. Russo explained how he was perplexed and angered when the same churches that had rejected him invited him to share a homily. As Russo continued to teach at different churches and events to support the impoverished, Charessa Wilkinson bought him a plane ticket to West Virginia to speak in major cities there for the “Rock the Love” homeless awareness tour hosted by her ministry, The Bridge. Once Russo and Bob Wilkinson met, they decided to make a movie and began filming in August 2008.

No regrets about tattoos

Even though Russo’s tattoos prevented him from working at a church, he says he does not regret having them. He believes everything he has done in the past can act as a “catalyst for greater truth in the future.” And Russo is not really worried if his tattoos do not result in leading him toward a more excellent truth.

“If anything, this just maps my maturity as I grow out of this phase of life,” he said, pointing to the artwork strewn over his arms.

Russo explained that some of his tattoos mean nothing, others represent some of the places he has been, another is a reminder to fast, or to pray, or to love, and still another is for a girl he was going to marry who died.

But these tattoos were the very things for which he was rejected. The stories that Russo wished to remember, the truths he sought to keep near, they represent his life. If his life is connected with Christ’s life, were these churches rejecting Christ when they rejected Russo? Is this what the parable of the sheep and the goats means? Is this an example of the church of Laodicea? There are many questions we could ask. Maybe Russo wants us to start asking the right questions.

DVD copies of the movie and T-shirts will be available to buy at Thursday’s showing. The movie is for sale online at adoptajesus.com where you can also view locations and dates for future presentations.