A New Stage
Since Cameron disclosed his faith in Christ, the Hollywood establishment has criticized him often, but he’s found his best role as a believer who takes his faith seriously.
“I get mocked, I get slandered, I get blacklisted; but that really shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus said all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,” Cameron says.
Since Growing Pains ended in 1992, Cameron has appeared in dozens of television shows and movies. From 2000 to 2005, he played reporter Buck Williams in three Left Behind movies, which chronicle events after God removes Christians from Earth in the rapture. The movies have helped inspire people to share their faith because no one has “forever here on this Earth,” Cameron says.
While attending a book convention in 2000 to promote the movie, a fan handed Cameron a training CD by Comfort that demonstrates how Christians can share their faith using the Ten Commandments. Describing the teaching’s effect on him as “foundation-shaking,” Cameron later called Comfort—whom he calls the “funny little character” who reminds him of the apostle Paul.
Comfort sent him a copy of his book God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life: The Myth of the Modern Message, which features prominently on the cover a picture of Stephen the martyr being stoned to death. The book had a profound impact on Cameron, and he rededicated his life to the Lord. Not long afterward, he watched a video of Comfort publicly preaching outside a Hare Krishna convention in New York City.
“I was just stunned,” Cameron says. “Here he was, in the middle of a Hare Krishna convention, preaching to a crowd of people at a mock funeral he had staged—a guy was underneath a sheet with a bunch of pall bearers—and he’s talking about the fact that every one of us has an appointment with death.
“I was just riveted to the screen, watching him as he intelligently reasoned with people. I was so intrigued by it, I thought to myself, We’ve got to get this message out to the church somehow.”
Later, the two men had lunch together and decided to create The Way of the Master program to teach Christians how to share the gospel. Today the show is seen in 70 countries.
In 2008, Cameron played Caleb Holt, a firefighter struggling to save his marriage, in the independent Fireproof movie. The film and the accompanying book—The Love Dare—have helped save numerous marriages.
As he travels the country speaking on the subject of marriage, Cameron notes that many people get counseling or read a book and try to use its techniques to fix their marriage, but often wind up divorced anyway.
“The real problem lies in the heart—as long as you have two people who are selfish, all the different techniques are not going to help,” Cameron says.
“Only God can change a sinful heart and cause a person to deny themselves, surrender to the Lord and love their spouse unconditionally; and that’s what is necessary to make a marriage healthy.”
Today Cameron and Chelsea have been married 18 years and have six children, four of them adopted.
“We love kids,” he says. “I come from a family of four children, and my wife is an adopted child herself, and she always wanted to adopt children. It’s kind of like the Brady Bunch. We have three boys and three girls.”
Cameron will share the stage with singer-songwriter Warren Barfield for the Love Worth Fighting For tour scheduled in March and April in Lexington, Kentucky, and Atlanta.
The nonprofit events bring Christian speakers, authors and performing artists together to raise money for the needy. The two men previously worked together on Fireproof, which featured Barfield’s song “Love Is Not a Fight.”
Meanwhile, Cameron wants to see Christians equipped and awakened to go into the harvest and share the gospel with the lost. Churches are full of laborers who have been given the secret of eternal life, he says, yet they aren’t sharing it because they fear what other people will think.
“We’ve found the cure to death,” Cameron says. “We’ve found the one thing that can wash away our sin, shame, guilt and pain and that will give us joy, hope and eternal life.
“The question is why we aren’t telling people about this. Why don’t we have an excitement for evangelism?
“When you really think about it, we’ve found the fountain of youth. At least you’d tell your friends. If they didn’t want to go, fine, but at least you’d tell them.”
Troy Anderson is a reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News.
KIRK CAMERON VIDEO
Watch Kirk Cameron share how God miraculously transformed his life at a point when he was rich, famous—and an atheist. Go to cameron.charismamag.com.
