“Pregnancy care workers are the frontline soldiers making the difference for life. They are the reformers of our day.”, said Kirk Cameron when asked by Roland Warren what motivated him to serve as keynote for Care Net’s annual conference. Welcome to the special episode of CareCast, Care Net's podcast on family, faith, and life, with Roland Warren, Care Net's President and CEO.
This special episode of CareCast was recorded live at Care Net's 2023 National Conference in Mobile, Alabama. The conference theme was “Abundantly More” based on Ephesians 3:20, and true to our theme, it was Care Net's biggest conference ever. More than 1,600 Pregnancy Center staff and volunteers gathered to sharpen their skills to reach out with Christ's compassion to women and men considering abortion.
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Kirk Cameron is known by millions as Mike Seaver from the 1980s hit sitcom Growing Pains. Since then, he's invested his time and energy into faith and family-focused films, television programs, and live events, including Fireproof, the marriage-centered film that became the number one inspirational movie of the year, while inspiring the best-selling book, The Love Dare. He has also starred in other movies, including Left Behind and Monumental. He was also featured in The Way of the Master television series, along with hundreds of live events focused on marriage, family, and parenting. Roland sat down with Kirk during the Care Net National Conference 2023 to chat about his work and his keynote address to our attendees. Listen in on Roland and Kirk's conversation.
The following is a portion of the transcript from the CareCast recording with Roland Warren (RW) and Kirk Cameron (KC).
RW: Kirk, it's a blessing to be with you again here at Care Net's conference in Mobile, Alabama. It's been an amazing week. You're actually our last keynote on Friday. We saved the best for last. We've had 1,600 folks here. It's the biggest conference we've ever had. It's been just amazing how God's worked and the messages that have been delivered. So what I want to do just in the time that we have is maybe talk a little bit about, you know, your commitment to the life issue. That'd be great to just help our listeners understand a bit more about that, why you have such a passion for this issue, and why it's so important to your heart.
KC: Yeah. Well, first, Roland, I'd like to say that it's so cool to see so many of these pregnancy care center directors come together. This is something, as you know, it's so important to them. And as I was going to get coffee this morning, I bumped into a few people and you could just see how grateful they were to be able to get together with the other members of the tribe all over the nation coming together and encouraging each other, hearing ideas of things that are working for other people in other areas. So thank you for all that you do to bring everybody together.
And for me, the issue of life is important to me. I think it hits home personally for me, not only because I believe in it as the concept, but because my wife was adopted as an infant and her birth mother had a choice to make. She could have aborted her child or given her a chance to live. And because she did, I got to marry her.
And then we adopted four beautiful children who could have ended up in a garbage can but didn't because of pro-life workers and pregnancy care centers like are here today. And we've got four beautiful kids, and if my wife had not been born, our two natural-born children wouldn't be alive either. So my whole family is here as a result of the pro-life movement.
And of course, life is better than death. And the whole thing we want is a great life and a great life for our kids. And what kills me is to think that even the pro-choice or the pro-abortion folks, don't want to die either. They're really pro-life. They're just more like pro-their-own-life-and-their-own-lifestyle. So they're very much pro-their-own life. It's just that they think others are not worthy of the same value.
RW: Yeah. No, I agree with you a thousand percent. And you know, you and I had some work together on the LifeMark movie, which talked about the whole adoption thing. And there's that whole kind of scene where the main character, which is a real person, goes to the abortion clinic, it's going to have the abortion, it makes the decision not to, and then you just see the legacy of that decision that she made and even today, it's still being, she's actually here, by the way. She was her and her husband were here today. And the legacy of that, and how many people are being blessed through that.
KC: That's right, that little child grows up to be this 19-year-old young man who is actually here as well, David Scott, who's the real guy, and he's now an adoption lawyer. Yeah. And you just think of all of the family trees that have been changed, all of the incredible blessings from one life, the value of one person being born.
And think of Jesus who was adopted by Joseph. Absolutely. Moses was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, you have adoption throughout all the scriptures with us as Christians, we're adopted into the family of God. So it's awesome when you grasp the power and the value of adoption and life.
RW: Well, you've been just an amazing advocate for this work, both in word and in deeds. I really want to thank you for that because I know there are slings and arrows. I've seen a few shots at you over the years, even before I knew you. And I've just had a tremendous amount of respect for you. You stood tall in the midst of that, both with your career and the projects that you work on that are so life-affirming. And I really focus on bringing abundant life and the show that you do as well on TBN, and just other things that you do I thank you for that.
So to transition just a little bit, let's talk a little bit about what you're going to cover with our audience. I know they're very excited to see you.
KC: You know what I'm going to do? I just figured I would just get up there and lead us all in a rendition of the Growing Pains theme song. That's all we're going to do. Show me that smile again. No, no, no. That would be fun because this is the demographic. I'm looking around, and I'm saying these are all 45 to 55-year-old women who grew up watching Growing Pains. So they could probably sing it.
But what I really was hoping to do, because all the directors who have been here have heard from so many great sources of information and encouragement and inspiration, such as yourself, such as Dr. Kathy Cook, such as the doctor that you just talked to me. And they're learning so much. What I really want to do, as the conference comes to a close, is to wrap it up with a bow and to remind them of the importance of what they're doing.
I want to share with them why life is so important to me, how their work has, and how those who are involved in the same kind of work have impacted my life, to remind them that God is working in them and through them and is able to bring about revival and great awakenings and that when the light shines, darkness is not able to overcome it. And they are the frontline soldiers who are actually going to be making a difference for life. They are the reformers of our day.
RW: I know that encouragement is something that's sorely needed. As I'm sure you know, there are tremendous challenges to this work, their attacks. And certainly, since Roe was overturned, that's intensified at all the different levels.
And frankly, I mean, one of the things I talked about yesterday in my keynote was actually just this need even to reach out to Christians who profess to be pro-choice, which is an enormous population of Christians, unfortunately, and the challenge is there.
And I know when Roe was overturned, I know I felt got some of that. And I know that folks that here got some of that, you know, some of that vitriol from even people who were Christians who were upset with that decision. So it is really a work that can really challenge you on so many different levels, and so encouragement is incredibly important. So I know they're going to be delighted to hear what you have to say.
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