Randall Murphree

AFA Journal editor

September 2013 – Unstoppable, a new documentary produced and hosted by Kirk Cameron, will have a one-night debut in 600-700 theaters on September 24. The film is intended to bring clarity and understanding to the presence of evil and suffering in people’s lives.

Its roots go back to a friendship that Cameron and his wife, actress Chelsea Noble, cultivated with a North Dakota family they had met through Make-A-Wish Foundation. Joel* was the dad, and his young son, Jacob*, had terminal cancer.

Then one day, Cameron had a campus appearance with his evangelism partner, Ray Comfort, where they had addressed the question he said all atheists and agnostics always ask: If God is good, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?

Cameron returned home from that engagement to find a message asking him to call Joel.

“Kirk,” Joel told him, “Jacob has gone home to be with the Lord.”

Camp Firefly
Fast forward from that painful memory, and Cameron told AFA Journal, “This is the most personal project I have ever made concerning my faith. Of course I grieved with Joel and his family. And I confess, I asked that hard question myself: If God is good, why do little kids die of cancer?”

Every time the question arises in his mind, it hits him hard because he and his wife have six children of their own. However, this film is not Cameron’s first response to that question. Cameron and Noble founded Firefly Foundation as a vehicle through which to minister to families such as Joel’s. This summer, they hosted their 24th Camp Firefly, a week-long camp for terminally ill children and their families. The annual event is overseen by the Cameron family themselves.

All expenses are paid for families to come to Camp Firefly for a fun-filled week, to get away from hospitals and financial worries, to spend quality time with one another and to fellowship with other families who have similar challenges. 

Wrecked faith
With Unstoppable, Cameron hopes to lead viewers to a broader perspective than that of their own immediate pain or suffering. “What do you do when the unexpected tragedy hits and your whole world comes crashing down?” He asked. “That is the question that wrecks people’s faith.”

He likens the film to taking viewers up to heaven’s balcony for a look at the entire panorama of Christian faith. He points out that suffering began with Adam and Eve and the sin of eating forbidden fruit, continued through the Old Testament, into the New Testament crucifixion of Christ and on into current times.

“There’s a story being written by God,” Cameron said, “and it’s filled with suffering and tragedy. But God isn’t absent. In fact, he brought healing through the Crucifixion.”

Cameron described the film as a quest to reaffirm his own belief in God’s goodness, even in a broken world.

“I want to settle once and for all that life is stronger than death, good is stronger than evil, and faith is stronger than doubt,” he said. “I want people to come out of this film and say, ‘Yes! God is still good!’”  

*Names changed for privacy.

For more information about Unstoppable, including theater and ticket information, visit www.unstoppablethemovie.com.
After the September 24 theater debut, other avenues of availability will be announced.

____________________
ABOUT
Cameron family May 2005 AFA Journal
Evangelistic ministry March 2005 AFA Journal
2012 documentary Monumental www.afajournal.org
Camp Firefly www.campfirefly.com