“Pregnancy care workers are the frontline soldiers making a difference for life. They are the reformers of our time.”, Kirk Cameron said when asked by Roland Warren what motivated him to serve as the keynote for Care Net’s annual conference Welcome to a special episode of CareCast, Care Net’s podcast about family, faith, and life, with Roland Warren, President and CEO of Care Net.
This special episode of CareCast was recorded live at Care Net’s 2023 National Conference in Mobile, Alabama. The theme of the conference was “Abundantly More” based on Ephesians 3:20, and true to our theme, this was Care Net’s largest conference ever. More than 1,600 Pregnancy Center staff and volunteers gathered to sharpen their skills to reach the compassion of Christ to women and men considering abortion.
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Kirk Cameron is known to millions as Mike Seaver from the 1980s hit sitcom Growing Pains. Since then, he has poured his time and energy into faith and family-oriented films, television programs, and live events, including Will not burnthe wedding-centric movie that became the year’s number one inspirational movie, while inspiring a best-selling book, The Love Dare. He has also starred in other films, including Left behind and Monumental. He was also featured in the The Way of the Teacher television series, plus hundreds of live events dedicated to marriage, family, and parenting. Roland sat with Kirk during the Care Net National Conference 2023 to chat about his work and his keynote with our attendees. Listen to the conversation between Roland and Kirk.
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 have you here again at the Care Net conference in Mobile, Alabama. It’s been an amazing week. You are actually our last keynote on Friday. We’ve saved the best for last. We have 1,600 people here. This is the biggest conference we have ever had. It’s just amazing how God works and the messages that are 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’s great to just help our listeners understand a little bit more about that, why you have a passion for this issue, and why it’s so important to your heart.
KC: Yes. Well, first, Roland, I want to say that it’s great to see so many of these pregnancy care center directors coming together. This is something, as you know, it is very important to them. And when I was making coffee this morning, I ran into a few people and you could see how grateful they were to be with other tribal members across the country coming together and encouraging each other, hearing ideas of things that work for other people in other places. So thank you for all you do to bring it all together.
And for me, the issue of life is important to me. I think it hits home for me personally, not only because I believe in it as a concept, but because my husband was adopted as a baby and his birth mother had a choice to make. She can either abort her child or give him a chance to live. And because of what she did, I got to marry her.
And then we adopted four beautiful children who could have ended up in the trash but not for pro-life workers and pregnancy care centers like the one here today. And we have four beautiful children, and if my husband hadn’t been born, our two natural-born children wouldn’t have lived either. So my whole family is here as a result of the pro-life movement.
And of course, life is better than death. And all we want is a good life and a good life for our children. And what kills me is to think that even the pro-choice or the pro-abortion folks, don’t want to die either. They are really pro-life. They’re more like pro-their-own-life-and-their-own-living. So they are very pro-their-own-life. They just think that others don’t deserve the same value.
RW: Yes. No, I agree with you a thousand percent. And you know, you and I had some work together on LifeMark movie, which talks 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. did and even now, it is still, he is really here, by the way. He and his wife are here today. And the legacy of that, and how many people are blessed by that.
KC: That’s right, that little boy has grown up to be this 19-year-old man who’s also here, David Scott, who’s a real man, and he’s an adopted lawyer. Yes. And you just think of all the family trees that have been changed, all 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 in all the scriptures with us as Christians, we are adopted into God’s family. So it’s wonderful when you understand the power and the value of adoption and life.
RW: Well, you have been an amazing advocate for this cause, in word and deed. I really want to thank you for that because I know there are slings and arrows. I’ve seen a few shots of you over the years, before I even met you. And now I have a deep respect for you. You stood in the middle of that, both with your career and the projects that you work on that are so life-affirming. And I’m really committed to bringing abundant life and the show that you do on TBN as well, and other things that you do I thank you for that.
So just to transition a little bit, let’s talk a little bit about what you’re going to cover for our audience. I know they are excited to see you.
KC: You know what I would do? I just thought I’d just get up there and lead us all in a rendition of Growing Pains theme song. That’s all we’ll do. Show me that smile. No no No. That would be fun because this is the demographic. I look around, and I say these are all 45 to 55 year old women who grew up watching Growing Pains. So they will probably sing it.
But what I really hope to do, because all the directors who have been here have heard from so many great sources of information and encouragement and inspiration, like yourself, like Dr. Kathy Cook, like the doctor you just talked to. to me. And they learn a lot. What I really want to do, at the end of the conference, is to end it with a bow and remind them of the importance of what they are doing.
I want to share with them why life is so important to me, how their work is, and how those involved in the same type of work have affected my life, to remind them that God works in them and through them and can bring about revival and great awakenings and when the light shines, the darkness cannot overcome it. And they are the frontline soldiers who will really make a difference in lives. They are the reformers of our time.
RW: I know that encouragement is something that is much needed. As I’m sure you know, there is a huge challenge in this work, their attacks. And certainly, since then Roe was withdrawn, that escalated on all different levels.
And actually, I mean, one of the things I talked about yesterday in my keynote was actually this need to even reach out to Christians who claim to be pro-choice, which is a huge Christian population, unfortunately, and the challenge is there.
And I know when Roe was reversed, I know I felt I got that. And I know that people here have gotten some of that, you know, some of that vitriol from even people who are Christians who were upset by that decision. So it’s really a task that really challenges you on so many different levels, and so encouragement is incredibly important. So I know they will be glad to hear what you have to say.
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