‘Seaver’ inspires at Chapel

AARON SCHRANK
Staff Writer

Hundreds of students scanned in and out to hear teen heartthrob-turned-evangelist Kirk Cameron speak in Wednesday morning’s Chapel program.

Cameron, who became a household name as “Mike Seaver” in the 1990s sitcom “Growing Pains,” shared with the Pepperdine crowd how his life has changed since his conversion to Christianity. The focus of Cameron’s message was that Christians must “go against the flow” if they desire to live fully for Christ.   

As Cameron came to the stage, he was met with loud cheers, particularly from the young women in the audience. Doing his best to transfer the spotlight away from his celebrity persona, he satisfied the audience’s “Mike Seaver fix” by lightheartedly performing a few “Growing Pains” sketches. He did this as he led the audience in a cheerful rendition of “As Long as We Got Each Other,” the show’s theme song. With homage to Cameron’s past out of the way, he focused on preaching the gospel message, presenting the changes he had made in his life and encouraging Pepperdine students to make similar changes. 

Cameron’s life change was a dramatic one. At the height of the show’s popularity, Cameron, a former atheist, dedicated his life to Christ. This conversion set Cameron’s life and career in a new direction, turning down roles that conflicted with his faith, and starring in the “Left Behind” movies, a series of apocalyptic thrillers based on the best selling novels.

Cameron’s current focus is on his evangelism ministry. He co-hosts a spiritually-based reality television program, “The Way of the Master,” with fellow evangelist Ray Comfort. His entire ministry is in opposition of the way many of today’s churches present the Christian faith. Cameron explained the difference between the way the churches generally present the Christian faith, and how he presents it.

“If someone comes to a church and is involved in all kinds of social programs, that is great, but until they are soundly saved by turning from sin and putting their faith firmly in Christ, they are eternally doomed without the shed blood of Christ covering them from their sin,” Cameron said. “That would be the major difference.”

His style of evangelism is something many Pepperdine students may not be accustomed to. 

“It will be interesting to see if he is the kind of speaker who really appeals to the student audience,” said Convocation Coordinator Christopher Collins a few days before the event.  “Apparently he has a pretty intense view about conversion. We want someone to talk about faith, but honestly our whole goal is to have someone who can do it in a way that won’t make everyone mad, because students are required to go. It’s like, can we be more seeker-friendly? That’s how I tried to pitch it to him.” 

Cameron said he agrees with those who call his evangelism methods unapologetic and confrontational. 

“There is no need to apologize for sharing the truth with people as long as you share it in the right spirit of love and compassion,” Cameron said shortly before going onstage. “If someone was walking toward a 1,000-foot cliff, I would unapologetically warn them about the cliff, and compassionately do everything I can to turn them away from the cliff. If there is confrontation involved in that, then I have to suck it up and deal with that if I really care about the person’s welfare.”

Cameron said he is often asked to speak at universities, high schools, churches and community events. With the array of stars living in the Malibu area, Collins said it seems appropriate to have a celebrity speak at Chapel. 

“It’s actually quite difficult to find someone who has enough sense or is a person of faith that would fit all the chapel requirements,” Collins said. “Someone mentioned Kirk Cameron, we did some checking, and he seemed like a reasonable person who lived locally and was willing to come do it.”

Students had mixed reactions to Cameron’s message. While many were excited to see a famous face, some students supported Cameron’s theological stance and others did not.

“I respect his conviction, but I believe his abrasive attitude toward witnessing loses some of the finer aspects of Christianity that make it so appealing to so many people,” said freshman Jeff Loveness. 

Freshman Mike Evans, however, took Cameron’s message differently.

“I appreciate that the only book he recommended was the Bible,” Evans said. “I also like that he didn’t fight the fact that he was a sitcom character, but embraced it.”

Cameron ended his message with some poignant words. Reminding students that death could come at any moment, Cameron said, “If you think there is even a one in a million chance that this Jesus stuff is real, you owe it to your own good senses to check it out.”

01-24-2008