When a teenage Kirk Cameron decided to follow Jesus, he found himself in a pretty unique position.
As the star of one of the most popular television shows in America, he had a national audience for the opening steps of his journey of faith. He reflects on the challenges and the opportunities that came along that path.
“I think wisdom tells us not to take a new believer and put the spotlight on him. Scripture tells us you don’t make them leaders right away because – well, you don’t know if the roots are going to go down into the soil. You wait a while and see.”
“I’m just thankful that God did a work in my heart and has been completing it for a few decades now. I’m still thankful for that. It wasn’t just up like a rocket and down like a rock six months later.”
He says that he didn’t necessarily set out to live a life of faith in public. He just did what he thought was right.
“My desire was never to to be public and vocal and bold about my faith, as much as it was – I was just a guy in a fishbowl. When I became a Christian I understood that meant that you need to have integrity. All the parts of your life need to touch. You can’t be a Christian on Sunday and then act like the devil on Monday, just because you’re a Hollywood actor.”
“I took it as, you need to be true blue all the way through. So as I began to make different decisions as a teenager about relationships, professional decisions and wanting to honor God in what I was doing, people took notice. Some people thought it makes for a good story, a good controversy, and so then it would show up in the news or in the tabloids. But it was never something that I sought out.”
“Even in recent weeks with things that have been news – I don’t walk around with a stick looking for the next hornet’s nest. I’m just somebody who’s trying to live out my honest and sincere love for God and for other people. When you do that, not everyone is going to be down with that strategy.”
