How Actor Kirk Cameron Became a Street Preacher

As a teenager, actor Kirk Cameron made $50,000 a week playing Mike Seaver on the television sitcom, Growing Pains, from 1985 to 1992,as he played the role of a somewhat typical teenage boy. His role might have been that of a somewhat typical teenager, because although teenagers do sometimes pull unusual stunts, his stunts were somewhat a little beyond the norm, although he did not play a juvenile delinquent by any means.

Cameron also received 10,000 letters a day from fans, mostly girls. He appeared on the cover of Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16, and others. He also had to deal with kidnapping threats, as a popular celebrity. He drove sports cars, flew to exotic locations for vacations. He was offered the lead roles in movies without having to audition. Some people might have thought he had an ideal life, at least other than the kidnapping threats. Kirk Cameron might not have seemed the candidate to one day preach the gospel of Jesus Christ on the streets, but he has said his life at that time always seemed to be hallow, seemed to be missing something.

He had been to church few times, because of what he perceived to be hypocrisy and self-righteousness among professed Christians. In fact, he called himself a "devout atheist." He thought the things in the Bible were a fairy tale and thought even the existence of God, let alone His involvement in the daily lives of people, could not be proven. All of that, however, was before an actor on the set invited him to church to hear well known pastor, Chuck Swindoll. What he would hear would one day lead to Kirk Cameron becoming a street preacher.