Kirk is best known as the lovable teen heartthrob Mike Seaver, of the award winning series Growing Pains. He entertained audiences worldwide as the charming troublemaker. He is also known to every Christian as “Buck Williams” from Left Behind: The Movie — based on the NY Times runaway best selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

But much more noteworthy than his acting career was his conversion to Christianity. Kirk was not raised in a church-going home and describes himself as a devout atheist from a very young age. By the age of 8 he was so convinced there was no God that he laughed at those who thought there was. But that all changed one afternoon as he sat in his sports car pondering the first Gospel message he had ever heard.

Since becoming a Christian, Kirk has been a dedicated follower of Christ, making the most of every opportunity to further the Gospel. He speaks in churches, and at community events across the country. He is also the producer and host of The Way of the Master television program.

Kirk and his wife, Chelsea, have six children and live in southern California.

Everyday Heroes

March 2004
By Kirk Cameron

My heroes are men and women, young and old, who do more than just think about being great witnesses for the Lord; they find a way to actually be one. Ray Comfort is one of those heroes. That man is an evangelistic freight train. Once he gets moving, you can’t stop him. He has been building up evangelistic inertia for twenty-five years now, and the momentum of his concern for the lost is unstoppable. Behind the scenes, I know that the success of Ray’s ministry is due to God working through a lowly man (barely over five feet tall 🙂 ) who sees the need for the lost to hear the true Gospel and stops at nothing to get it to them.

Others who have done this in the past are men like D.L. Moody who had so much compassion for people that he would befriend perfect strangers and within minutes, ask them if they were a Christian. If they were not, he’d reason and plead with them to think about the inevitability of their death and present them with the good news of the Gospel. People called him “Crazy Moody” but that didn’t stop him and therefore God has used him to reach millions for Christ. Another one of my present day heroes is a man named Larry Lee. He is a Christian friend in Atlanta who consistently makes a way to share the Gospel with unbelievers. He’s not always popular with his intellectual seminary buddies who would rather argue theological issues than reach the lost, but he’s loved by many non-Christians whose lives have been changed because of his ceaseless efforts to bring them to the Savior. Read this email he recently sent to us:

Kirk and Ray,

I just got a telemarketing call. We talked for a minute about his business stuff, then I asked him what he thought was on the other side when people died. He said, “You’re serious?” I said yes. He said he didn’t know- that he’s not a religious person. I asked if he was a good person. He said he had his faults, but yes, he’s a good person. I asked if he had heard of the Ten Commandments, he said yes. Have you ever told a lie? Yeah. So what does that make you? A liar. Have you ever stolen something? (silence…) Then he said, “Sir, I really can’t talk about this, my boss won’t let me.” I said, “No problem, just visit this website – needGod.com.” He said, “Okay sir, bye.” But then, this was amazing, he didn’t cut the line, so I listened to him talk to his boss and coworkers for about 2 minutes and they had no idea that I was listening!!!!!!!! His boss said, “Boy, that was a unique one.” Then my guy said, “Yeah, I was just about to tell him I’m the devil.” The boss lady then said this – “So, Adam how many of the Ten Commandments HAVE you broken?” I couldn’t believe it – she said it! Then there was an uproar [in the guy’s office] – all these people started asking what happened, and he starts saying, “Yeah, this guy was asking me about the Ten Commandments, and he said to go to needGod.com. ; Then you could hear people saying, “NeedGod.com? NeedGod.com?” So all these telemarketers were listening and going to go check it out!!!!!!! It was soooooo funny – and I’m just sitting there on the line listening to the whole thing go down. Then the guy said, “Oh, I’ll probably be drinking poison cool-aid by the end of the week.” I guess referring to the Jim Jones cult back in the 1970s. Then he said this – “Yeah, that was something, I woulda talked to that guy all day if I could.” I bet you a million bucks that this guy is convicted and he’s going to check out the website and who knows, maybe he’ll get saved and tell his boss that she needs to [be saved]!!!!!!! That was truly amazing. You just never know – I think that was God giving me just a glimpse of what can happen with just a very small seed planted – an entire room of telemarketers all getting in an uproar about needGod.com!

Attempting to follow in the footsteps of my evangelistic heroes, I ventured out of my comfort zone the other day while I was on a lunch break from the set of the Growing Pains Movie when I saw about thirty five teenagers gathered together at a park, breaking bottles and shouting obscenities at one another. The police had just finished reprimanding them. I had about fifteen minutes, so I approached a group of seven, and noticing that they were all wearing the same blue pants and white shirt combination, I asked them if they had called each other that morning to agree on what to wear. They didn’t think my corny joke was funny and continued to stare me down. One explained that it was their school uniform and that they were let out of school early and were killing time. I showed them the “Pink and Blue Optical Illusion” trick and they suddenly were interested in the skinny white kid with the bad sense of humor.

Then I showed them how to turn a $1 bill into $20 with a little slight of hand. They thought that was amazing so they called all their friends over to see the trickery again. I offered to give any one of them the $20 if they could pass a simple test. “Who can prove to me that they are a good person?” A young man named Frank gave a valiant effort, but after going through the Commandments, proved to be (by his own admission) a lying thief and a blasphemous adulterer-at-heart. The other listening teenagers agreed that like Frank, they too had sinned against God and were not “good” according to God’s standards. This gave me license to speak of the Day of Judgment, the penalty of sinning against a holy God, and then the message of the Cross, forgiveness, and new life in Christ. It was awesome. I was amazed as they were all listening carefully as I spoke of the absolute necessity of turning from sin and placing their faith in Jesus Christ to save them.

Some told me that they had Bibles at home and were encouraged to read them and get their hearts right with God as soon as possible. As I returned to the set, three members of the crew had been watching me, and wanted to know what I had said to settle all those rambunctious teenagers down. I told them the story and witnessed to them as well. It’s amazing how interested people are in the Gospel when you make the time to talk with them and present the Gospel biblically.

Some Christians love the Lord, but neglect to love the lost. They have forgotten that the reason Jesus came to this earth was to seek and save the lost. If we are sincere about being Christ’s followers, we will be passionate about reaching those for whom He died.

Another hero said this–“I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes…” (Romans 1: 14-16)

For Evangelism Resources, please visit WayOfTheMaster.com.

Commendations regarding Kirk Cameron:

“I have never heard the gospel presented more powerfully, more correctly, or more clearly than when Kirk Cameron shared his message with us at Shadow Mountain Community Church.”
– Dr. David Jeremiah- Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church

“Kirk Cameron gave one of the most sincere, simple, powerful statements of the Gospel I have ever heard.”
– John Piper- Desiring God Ministries

“[Kirk’s teaching] puts a perspective on evangelism that will turn any congregation 180 degrees towards the lost…I highly recommend Kirk Cameron to those pastors who have a heart and desire to see their congregation catch the fire of evangelism through yet another vehicle to reach the world for which Christ died.”
– Bob Coy, Senior Pastor- Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale

“Kirk Cameron is a powerful communicator.”
– Dr. Jack Graham- President of the Southern Baptist Convention and Senior Pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, Dallas, TX