By Stephanie Farr

Philadelphia Daily News

Philadelphia — Philly Jesus has started a digital collection plate for his ministries on GoFundMe.com, with a goal of raising $70,000.

“We chose 70 because the number seven is God’s number,” said Philly Jesus, whose real name is Michael Grant.

Grant, a 29-year-old recovering heroin addict, has been dressing as Jesus and hanging out at LOVE Park since April 2014. He has a large following on Twitter and Instagram and said he dresses as Jesus as a way to get others to approach him so he can share the story of Christ.

After more than a year of “planting seeds for God” in Philadelphia, Philly Jesus said he’s ready to take his PhillyJesusMinistry to “the next level.” But to do that he’ll need a car and a way to pay for his “creative team,” which now consists of two people who currently work “pro bono,” he said.

“The Holy Spirit inside of me, it’s leading me to take it outside of Philadelphia and take it across the nation and do speaking engagements where I can share my story of drug addiction and how Jesus saved me,” he said. “It costs money to do that.”

Philly Jesus said he’s also raising the money to conduct food and clothing drives for the homeless and to develop an office space for PhillyJesusMinistry.

When asked what he’d say to those who question his intentions, Philly Jesus said what he does is “all for the glory of God.”

“We live in a world that involves money. We deal with money . . . on a daily basis,” he said. “God knows that people need money but he doesn’t want it to have you, he wants you to have dominion over it.

“It says in the Bible that the love of money is the root of all evil, not money.”

—Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.