If Kirk Cameron is an unfamiliar name, Google him! He is best known as the troublemaker teenager on the award-winning TV series Growing Pains.
His testimony of how we came to know Jesus is amazing. He had everything the world describes as happiness: money, fame, fortune and the ability to get any girl. He grew up in a world where he was given whatever he wanted. He was the center of the universe. It was when he found faith that he learned that everything in this life is temporary.
“Faith shows me better things than the world has to offer and gives me a view of my Savior and His eternal value.” said Kirk Cameron, “Faith lets me climb up above the platform of worldly popularity into heaven to see the priceless treasure of Christ Himself – and now that I’ve seen Him, I’m uninterested in living for anything else.”
Cameron called himself a teen atheist. He thought the idea of a god was silly. Despite his atheist beliefs there were some big questions that he did not have the answers to like “How did we get here?\” and \”Could there be a god?”
Then he met a very pretty girl on one of his sets and she invited him to attend church with her family. He went, but he had no interest in learning about religion but, from then on his life was changed and he began to lose faith in atheism.
Usually he did whatever the producers asked of him on the set of Growing Pains. But after his life changing choice he began to have convictions. If he was scripted to act in a scene that made him feel uncomfortable, he spoke up. If girls were wearing inappropriate clothes on a family program, he would speak up. This caused tension between him and the producers, but he had to stand for truth.
Growing Pains ended in 1992, but Cameron’s fire for God was only starting. He went on to play Buck in the Left Behind film series and Caleb Hill in the movie Fireproof. Cameron is an active Christian evangelist and is currently working alongside Ray Comfort in the evangelical ministry called The Way of the Master. He also co-founded The Firefly Foundation with his wife Chelsea Noble.
His testimony is amazing in the fact that he had the good life that Americans only dream of, yet something was missing. Christ was the only thing that could satisfy him and he chose to follow Christ instead of his own worldly desires. Cameron knew that once he accepted the Lord as his personal savior his life had to change and he couldn’t continue living as if the world revolved around him.
Cameron risked his reputation and it was worth it, through his example, people who have considered themselves lost have been introduced to Jesus. He went from being known as the teenage heartthrob to the Christian nutcase. He has realized this is not his life to live and God has used him in so many big ways. Being in the media is extremely powerful because so many people know who you are and he has used this privilege to bring God glory.
Cameron’s testimony is a reminder that there is a huge need for Christian influence in the media.
“Christians need to be everywhere, even in the dark twisted media,” Cameron said.
Millions of Americans go to the movies and TV. And only rarely do they see anything that points them to Christ. Cameron is one of the few real Christians in the industry.
It has not been easy for Cameron, just as was not easy to take the gospel to other countries and cultures around the globe. Men and woman of great skill and dedication have traveled the world translating the Bible into the most difficult of languages. Christians need to be in Hollywood and the media just as much as they do overseas to be a bright light for God. And Cameron has definitely been a bright light.
“The high cost of following Jesus on the narrow road may look totally backwards to some,” Cameron said. “But the infinite value and adventure has been thrilling beyond my wildest dreams.”
