Three Lives Intercept for the Better
She piqued my interest.
Barbara Cameron tells us on her video what it was like to raise Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains) and his sister, Candace Cameron, (Our House) and see them become childhood actors—famous, idolized actors, especially Kirk, with his boyish grin.
Kirk had everything going for him as the main star of the TV sitcom Growing Pains, portraying Mike Seaver. His fame earned him money, prestige, and popularity with girls, although he lacked a “girlfriend.”
But Kirk had inner, gnawing questions he could not answer. He adopted the posture of an atheist since he thought anyone with a brain was an atheist. However, the atheists could not tell him why he was here or who painted the sunset.
One day it all climaxed when Kirk pulled his sports car off the side of the road and prayed to a God he didn’t know, “God, if you’re there, will You please show me? If You’re real, I need to know. And would You please forgive me for the things I’ve done that are wrong? I don’t want to join a religious cult or believe in a fairy tale, l but if You’re there. . . I want You to change me into the person You want me to be.” (p. 134 of Kirk’s book, listed at end of article)
He wondered, what would happen to him when he died? Suppose he died suddenly in a wreck with his flashy sports car. What then?
About the time of that prayer, someone invited him to check out Chuck Swindoll’s church. Swindoll seemed to care about him, not his money, like some TV evangelists seemed to do.
Kirk sometimes left the church with even more questions. Slowly they began to be answered, and he crossed the line from doubt to faith.
At 19 he met a beautiful, glowing Christian, Chelsea Noble, who helped to ground him in faith. She was older and spiritually a mature Christian. Since their marriage, they have served the Lord together.
Enter Ray Comfort. . .
One day at a DVD signing for Left Behind, someone said, “You have to listen to this.” It was a video done by Ray Comfort on his famous theme, Hell’s Best Kept Secret. (p. 192 of Kirk’s book)
Barbara Cameron and Kirk adopted Ray’s now-famous approach to sharing the gospel story, “The Way of the Master.” Candidates for gospel outreach are asked pointedly if (1) they have ever broken the Ten Commandments and (2) do they deserve punishment. Their answers are very revealing of their thoughts on divine justice.
Barbara Cameron’s mastery of the content of “The Way of the Master” is what impressed me most about her on her video. I saw that she could be a TV-star-mom and she could also be an evangelist, capable of answering difficult questions of an inquirer. See her book with Lissa Halls Johnson: A Full House of Growing Pains (Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 2006.)
A hardy Google search is worth the effort to see if you are in the “way of the Master” . . . or not!!
Other reading: Still Growing – An Autobiography by Kirk Cameron with Lissa Halls Johnson. Ventura, CA: Regal, 2008
Internet: Way of the Master.com and Ray Comfort.com. On these sites, you can watch a short video on Ray Comfort when he was at the hospital with a kidney stone, and the gospel is presented. You can also watch a short video on a “divine appointment” in which the gospel is presented.