By Michaela Gordoni
GOD’S NOT DEAD actor Kevin Sorbo shared that he got “goosebumps” when he met evangelist Billy Graham.
“In later teenage years, in my 20s, I did a lot of stupid things,” he recently told CBN News. “But I never went away from my faith. I never had that crisis where I didn’t believe in God or believe in Jesus.”
Part of that is because his parents were devoted believers. Another part is because he heard Billy Graham speak at the age of 13.
“We took a field trip to the St. Paul fairgrounds with the Rev. Billy Graham,” Sorbo said. “It was a hot August night. There [were], like, 300,000 people there outside.”
“It was amazing — full moon was out and Billy Graham’s, like, incredible, even though he’s a mile away on the stage,” he recalled.
When Sorbo was sitting on the ground and talking to someone during the event, he suddenly felt a hand on his head.
“I turned around, and it was Billy Graham,” Sorbo said. “And he had his security guys with him, of course.”
“But his head was perfectly behind the full moon. It’s like these rays coming out of his head. And I…got goosebumps.”
Later in life, he became friends with Graham’s son, Franklin Graham.
Sorbo also realized at a young age that he wanted to be an actor after he went on a field trip to see a Shakespeare play.
“I was blown away by the actors on stage,” Sorbo said. “And I told my mom, who was one of the chaperones, on the way home [I] was sitting next to her on the bus, and she said, ‘So, what do you think?’”
He told her he wanted to be an actor. She said, “That’s nice,” and didn’t take him seriously. In college, he showed her how serious he was.
“I started doing a lot of commercial work,” he recalled. After he spent a summer in Italy at 22, Gianni Versace discovered him and helped launch his career. Throughout his Hollywood roles, he’s always made his faith important and is a recipient of the Movieguide® Grace Award®.
Related: How Kevin Sorbo Wants to Prove Religion, Science Go Hand in Hand
He’s stuck to his faith even when the entertainment industry has made it hard.
“Hollywood booted me out about ten years ago,” he told Premier Christianity in 2023. “My agent and manager said: ‘We can’t work with you anymore because of your conservative and Christian views.’ I said: ‘But you’re the industry screaming for tolerance!’
He told Fox News Digital he thought it was “sad” that his long-time agent would tell him that.
Recently, he’s focused on making uplifting family movies, like MIRACLE IN EAST TEXAS.
“People want me to talk about the culture war between what Hollywood’s doing and the kind of movies I’m doing because, obviously, we’re doing quite different movies,” he said. “I don’t think I’m doing something that different. I’m doing the movies Hollywood used to do.”
At 66, Kevin Sorbo is still embracing those important times in his childhood that impacted who he is today — moments that not only fueled his passion for acting but shaped his faith.
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