RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Internationally renowned evangelist, Bible teacher, pastor, radio host and the creator of more than 70 books and films, Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries released his latest title, Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon nationwide on Tuesday, June 13, 2017. The first title from the American Icon Press Imprint created by Laurie, the book debuted on the August’s CBA Bestsellers list at no. 2.
“I’m just very pleased that his story is finally being told to a wider audience,” said Laurie. “Towards the very end of his life, McQueen said that his greatest regret was not being able to tell the world about what Christ had done for him. There’s a sense that through the success of this book, and through the upcoming feature film that comes out on September 28, we’ve helped bring full circle what God started 40 years ago. I’m thrilled to have played a role in that.”
McQueen, who is often referred to as the “King of Cool” and was in his day the number one movie star in the world, is still, nearly 40 years after his untimely death, identified as a point of reference for masculinity and “coolness.”
“This is a powerful story of faith and hope that has obviously resonated with a massive number of people,” added co-author Marshall Terrill. “So many people and well-known Hollywood actors over the years have tried to copy or emulate McQueen – whether that is through the cars they drive or the clothes they wear – but so much of Steve McQueen is impossible to recreate. His story is one of coming to the end of a very long and ultimately empty road, only to realize that there was something bigger than himself worth believing in. It’s the most universal and beautiful of human journeys and that is what McQueen would want us to replicate in our own lives.”
Kept alive in pop culture’s collective consciousness through such films as The Magnificent Seven (re-made in 2016), The Great Escape, and Bullitt, McQueen’s legendary car chases, death-defying stunts, and love for motorcycles, automobiles and airplanes continues to inspire an army of modern day fans. In fact, a recent story about the discovery of one of the Bullitt Mustangs driven by Steve McQueen in the 1968 classic film went viral, picked up by multiple news outlets all over the world.
Steve McQueen was born into the home of an alcoholic mother and a father that left him early in life and he found himself on the wrong side of the law more than once. McQueen chased after every pleasure this planet had to offer. His search led him through Hollywood, the best and fastest cars money could buy, multiple women, including two divorces, well-documented drug and alcohol abuse, and much more.
Laurie continued by adding, “I think this book has inspired many people to take stock of their lives – whether they’re 16 or 76 – and ask the question, ‘What am I living my life for?’ ‘What am I chasing after?’ McQueen was a guy that had everything the world tells us we should want and it wasn’t nearly enough. The peace he found in Christ later in life is a reminder that it’s never too late to believe, to dust off that Bible at home and open its pages to the truth that would ultimately change McQueen’s life. It can do the same for you.”
Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon is written by Greg Laurie with Marshall Terrill – the acclaimed biographer on Steve McQueen – who has written five other books about the American icon who died of malignant mesothelioma in 1980 at the age of 50. Together, Laurie and Terrill traveled the country interviewing many of those who knew McQueen best and were with him in his last days.
Pastor Laurie is also currently in production on a documentary film about McQueen by the same title. The film is directed by filmmaker Jon Erwin (Mom’s Night Out, Woodlawn, October Baby) and includes on-camera interviews with many of the same characters mentioned in the book as well as current Hollywood icon and avid Steve McQueen admirer, Mel Gibson. The film is set to release through a nationwide, one-night Fathom event on Sept. 28, 2017.
Click here to purchase the book, Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon.
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Pastor Greg Laurie serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, one of the largest churches in America; is the author of more than 70 books; is the creator of 3 feature films; hosts the nationally syndicated radio broadcast, A New Beginning; and is the founder of Harvest Crusades, a large-scale evangelistic ministry attended by more than 7.6 million people worldwide, both in-person in stadiums & arenas across the U.S., Canada, Australia & New Zealand, and via live satellite broadcasts. He will host the SoCal Harvest 2017 at Angel Stadium August 18-20.
Website | www.Harvest.org
