Kirk Cameron is a massive tool!

I have a new hobby. I’ve started to listen and watch those in the media that I can’t stand. My wife and kids get kind of annoyed with me from time to time when I do this. If I’m in the car it’s not uncommon for me to listen to Sean Hannity or Rush “I’m a big fat liar” Limbaugh. Or if I’m flipping through channels I’ll stop on TBN to see what the heck the guy with both big hair and a reseeding hairline is jumping up and down screaming about. I do this so that I know what these people are saying. So many times no matter which side of an argument you find yourself on, you tend to rapidly discard and not listen to those screaming the loudest on the other side. If I think Bill O’Reily is a raving lunatic and I want to argue that point with my mom, I better know what the idiot is saying, so I can debunk it.

Tonight was one such occasion. Most “Christian” programs fly way under my radar these days. But I had heard that Kirk Cameron was touting some 22 disc DVD evangelism training series. So when I was surfing through channels and came across Kirk and his British friend Ray, I thought I would stop for a minute to hear what they had to say. I was so outraged at what I was hearing I began to take notes. You know it's gotta be bad if I take notes.

The most ironic thing about the program I watched tonight was in its name, “The Way of the Master.” As I break down the show I hope you see how far away from “the Way” Kirk and his friend really are.

Episode – “Witnessing to Loved Ones”

Six keys

1) Pray – Kirk and Ray went out of their way to make sure that the viewer knew that if you have a real passion to see your loved one in heaven that you need to pray for them and for God to intervene. Besides flying in the face of our God given free will, I do not prescribe to the notion that my requests alter God’s plan. I doubt there has been a single instance that after I was done praying God said, “Hey Roger, that’s a great idea! I never thought about doing that.” If God is mutable it is through the obedient act of praying and not the prayers themselves.
2) Be blameless – At this point Kirk went into a whole spiel about not being a hypocrite. His short diatribe about how we need to be careful about the language we use, the jokes we tell and the movies we watch was laughable. His philosophy was based on making the appearance of your life seem blameless. I guess what he forgot was we “all fall short of the glory of God” and therefore are full of blame. So trying to hide that fact with the appearance of righteousness is in and of it’s self is being hypocritical. People will be more attracted to what you have to offer when you, get this, be yourself. Being real is just that. When you try to be something your not people can see through that and will not trust you. Jesus went about his day, doing ordinary things (sure there were a couple of miracles), with ordinary people.
3) Confront – Now this one really confused me. On the one hand they want me to give my testimony (evidence that a witness gives to a court of law) and on the other they want me to confront. In a trial the witness doesn’t do the confronting, they do the testifying. And when you are a witness on the witness stand you aren’t allowed to give any testimony until you are asked a question. Yet Kirk and his friend want me to confront (to come face to face with somebody, especially in a challenge, and usually with hostility, criticism, or defiance) my family and loved ones. That doesn’t sound too much like “the Way” I know. If Jesus was ever confrontational it was with the religious leaders of his time, not with loved ones or people he met on the street.
4) Share Witnessing – This one just blows me away. Their strategy centers on sharing the “witnessing” opportunity with a loved one with a friend. So instead of me sharing my personal faith in Jesus with those in my life that really matter to me, Kirk suggest that I go do it with his dad and then he would come do that same thing for me with my brother. I’m not going to go into great detail on this one. Let’s just say there is no biblical precedence for this at all.
5) Good Works – These guys wanted to make sure that as a strategy you remember to do nice things for people, because once again that will make a good impression on others. WHAT! Your motivation for doing good works should be the pure fact that this is who Jesus calls you to be. If your motivation is to impress or influence others, it will never work. Jesus' own words, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1 NIV)
6) Be Faithful – This is the Christian equivalent of Nike’s “Just Do It”. If you are “faithful” enough and “witness” to those God puts in your path, God will reward you. How wrong is that, let me count the ways. Oh wait, I think I already have in this post. Not everyone is a reaper, some were made to sow and some to plant. And all of these are equally important parts of the process of others seeing God in you.

Kirk and his friend Ray are the summation of everything wrong in the evangelical world today. If you want to “reach” people for Jesus you need to gain their trust by listening to their story, so that they will ask you to tell them your story, so that you can figure out together where God’s story overlaps with the other two. And in that tiny space you will have the chance to share your witness.

I’m sure that most of the people that read this blog entry won’t know the name Eddie Guerrero. Eddie was one of the most talented pro-wrestlers in recent history. Sunday morning Eddie was found dead in his hotel room in Wisconsin. Mondays wrestling show, Raw, was completely dedicated to the memory of Eddie. Besides clips from some of Eddie’s most memorable matches and special one time only live matches, wrestlers and crewmembers dropped their characters for the night to give “testimony” about their friend. We heard stories of how humble Eddie was, how he loved to make people laugh, how he would lite up when he talked about his family and how he took younger wrestlers under his wing to mentor them with their careers. At the end of the show I found myself envious of these witnesses relationship with Eddie. All I have ever known of him was his in-ring persona. I found myself wishing that I could have known Eddie like they did. That is what a great witness of Jesus should look like. After your testimony people should be jealous about the fact they don't have the kind of relationship with Jesus you do. Not feeling like they have been talked down to, because you have something they don't. In my fifteen years of youth ministry the one of things that would grate on me was when students would say, “My witness is boring, and I don’t have a good story.” Your story is effected by others and by God’s. If you look at others as projects, like Kirk and Ray do, when sharing your faith, I ascertain you neither know “the way” or “the Master.”