Photo via eonline.com

Stephen Baldwin: Still pounding the pavement in Hollywood for Jesus

By Dan Wooding

Founder of ASSIST Ministries

He’s the brother of Alec Baldwin and is known for his role as a career criminal in “The Usual Suspects” and, more recently, in NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

But Stephen Baldwin believes his most important role in life now is as a born-again Christian and he says he is “still pounding the pavement in Hollywood” for Jesus Christ.

I caught up with Baldwin on the red carpet at the recent 16th Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Gala, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, where he talked about the head-spinning schedule of his life today.

“It’s harder to hit a moving target,” he laughed, then added, “I’m currently working on The Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump, which is going quite well, and I have just finished my second book and I’m starting on my third one. I am also doing ministry work and I am still pounding the pavement in Hollywood.”

He then talked about his mobile evangelistic vehicle called The Lord’s Lounge, which he uses to spread the Gospel to the youth of America.

Baldwin explained: “The Lord’s Lounge is a mobile lounge that we use to have fun with the kids. It’s quite flamboyant and it’s just my idea about creating an atmosphere that is fun to entertain the kids and talk to them about Jesus.”

I asked Baldwin how the concept came about.

“Well for me, I just really had this vision of like a seventies disco kind of lounge with crazy thick red shag carpeting and it was really just to do something that’s just kind of cool and fun and I’ve been bringing it to the Christian festivals for the last few years and the kids just go nuts for it.”

Baldwin then spoke about how he has been using extreme sports to attract young people to festival sponsored by the Luis Palau Association.

“We utilize extreme sports as a connecting point to try to communicate with kids about God and the Bible and is something that’s really been growing with leaps and bounds in the last few years,” he said.

“I’ve now launched out and started my own ministry called The Global Breakthrough Ministry. We’re doing something called theAsSalt Tour. (www.assalttour.com). We are getting ready to do events in Fresno, California, and Dallas, Texas, and we are just going to create an atmosphere that’s fun and exciting. The kids can come out the events are totally free and we share with them about the Gospel.”

I then asked him how he was getting on with his brother Alec these days.

Stephen Baldwin laughed and replied, “Well so far so good. I’m just being more of a witness than anything else.”

I then asked him what he would like to say to non-believers.

“There’s so much out there culturally that are the different viewpoints and opinions. For me, I stepped into this reality; this experience; really not thinking it was going to make much of a difference in my life. But now, for me God is real, Jesus Christ is Lord, and when I made the decision to pursue this journey according to the way that the Bible says, not the way that Stephen Baldwin thought I was supposed to do it, my faith became very tangible and real.

“So I would just ask people to seek God according to His Word and God likes a good challenge. Go ahead and doubt Him and ask Him to prove Himself to you and you won’t believe what’ll happen.”

I would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.

New iPad POLL! VOTE NOW! Will you buy new iPad?

[02/21/2008]

Print Version