‘I…Got Goosebumps’: Actor Kevin Sorbo’s Childhood Encounter With Billy Graham, His Journey to Jesus

Actor Kevin Sorbo has had a storied Hollywood career, but despite fame, money, and the wild success of TV shows and movies like “Hercules” and “God’s Not Dead,” he’s never strayed from his childhood faith.

“In later teenage years in my 20s, I did a lot of stupid things,” he recently told CBN News during a wide-ranging interview. “But I never went away from my faith. I never had that crisis where I didn’t believe in God or believe in Jesus.”

Sorbo, a second-generation Norwegian, described growing up near Lake Minnetonka, in a small town about 20 miles outside of Minneapolis to loving parents who were “very devoted Christians.”

“My mom’s still alive at 92,” Sorbo said. “My father passed 12 years ago. My best friend, he’s the best man at my wedding. My dad, I miss him every day.”

As a teen, Sorbo was part of a youth group, listening to sermons that made the Bible applicable to his young life and experience.

Meeting Billy Graham

And when he was just 13, an event unfolded that only added to that powerful faith rooting. Watch him explain:

“When I was 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.”

Little did Sorbo know, but he’d end up meeting Graham that night. As he was sitting and talking with someone during the gathering, he 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.”

The encounter stuck with Sorbo. Years later, the actor made it big and then publicly recounted the story to the late TV host Larry King. That’s when Graham’s publicist reached out to tell Sorbo that Graham’s team was looking to do a “Chicken Soup” book based.

Sorbo’s story was included in the book, and he even ended up helping with publicity for the project.

“It was really cool,” Sorbo said, describing the full-circle moment. “I’ve become good friends with [Graham’s son] Franklin Graham ever since then. … That was kind of an important time in my life.”

A Journey Into Hollywood

Sorbo’s journey into acting also came with an interesting trajectory. At age 11, Sorbo took a field trip to see a stage show that changed everything.

Despite being unable to understand the Shakespearean language being uttered, he was captivated.

“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?'”

Sorbo recalled offering up a surprising response. He proclaimed, “So, I’m gonna be an actor!” His mother said, “That’s nice dear,” likely assuming his resolute reaction was one of the typical follies of a boy his age. But that formative moment changed everything for Sorbo, as his path was being paved.

“It was there the seed [was planted],” he said. “But I was a jock, and all through junior high, high school, college … you don’t tell your buddies that you want to be in a theater, because those were the wussy guys.”

But, as time went on, the call grew louder and Sorbo ended up minoring in drama in college. Soon, he found himself taking on professional jobs.

“I started doing a lot of commercial work,” he said, noting the presence of corporations in Minneapolis and St. Paul opened up a lot of opportunities.

Sorbo landed a commercial agent and, at one point, joined a theater group in Dallas, Texas, where he further honed his craft. It was during a summer in Italy before heading to Hollywood when Sorbo was 22 years old that he was discovered by fashion icon Gianni Versace.

This ramped up his commercial work and further catapulted his career. After some other moves, he eventually landed “Hercules” and the rest is, well, history.

Despite Sorbo’s success, he said he never felt a pull away from his faith while working in Hollywood. Watch him share his faith journey here.

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