Quick Stop with Jeremy Camp at GMA Week

|PIC1|Your songs have topped charts on a worldwide scale. Where do you gain the inspiration to write those hard-hitting lyrics?

The inspiration is my experiences with the Lord. I've been through difficult times in my life, like the loss of my wife Melissa 6 years ago...so there are these challenges. Most of the songs from my first album Stay were birthed out of that time. The song "I Still Believe" was written two weeks after my wife died. And I think the inspiration just comes from the times when I am going through a trial - and God shows me His faithfulness and His love.

There are times when I'll just be reading and God will be teaching me something through Scriptures. And when I'm having an amazing day, there's joy up there and I just write a song about God's joy. It's very personal. I don't think about a good theme to write about. I write when I am pouring out my intimacy with [God]. Just being very transparent of what I've been going through.

Your wife, Adie, has now released an album and you have two daughters. Who watches the kids?

We have our own bus and we have the kids around, obviously there's a nanny that helps. It's a joy to be with my family on the road. To hear my wife share her heart and to hear her music, and to have my children with me. I feel more settled when they're with me. When you're away, you're like calling and asking, 'Are you guys doing OK?'- but when they're here, I feel a lot more settled.

Have your daughters ever tried to get on stage?

My oldest (Isabella) has, and I've actually pulled her up on stage a bunch of times. She always wants to sing. We would always sing "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart". And she goes, "Where?" We play that on stage. We love it.

What's the most exciting part about being a 'touring artist'?

The fun part of it is that you can travel around the world and meet different people. I think the great thing is going around in different areas and hearing testimonies on how their lives have been changed. I think for me, that is why I do what I do. I love to see people's lives being changed and touched for Christ. And it's really humbling that God is even using me, because it's not that I'm a 'great man of God', or that I have so many great words to say. It's God who has done His work in my heart and He is allowing me to be used by Him, not that I have done this great thing. It's an honour. So hearing these stories blows my mind every time.

What was it like to help Adie write songs for her album?

It was great. It was funny because we never crossed that path in our first two years of marriage. We've never tried to do music together. The great thing about our marriage was that, we didn't go, 'You do music, I do music. That's great, let's get married and it's going to be a wonderful, musical family.' It wasn't that. It was just 'I love your heart for Jesus' and we just built our foundation on that. Now it's kind of fun, because when we started writing together, of course there were little differences here and there. But I think my challenges and my ideas, and her challenges and her ideas have been great. I would say, "What do you think about this?" and she would be like, "Um...that's OK," and things like that. I think it's good that she has the understanding of music, which helps me out as well. Her melodies are awesome... I think it was a good collaboration.

How did the two of you meet?

We met on the road. She used to play in a band called Benjamin's Gate, and we were on tour together. Her merch table was by my merch table. And she was right behind me everyday, and we got to talk to each other a lot. I just saw her heart for the Lord during the tour, and we just felt God was putting us together, and we fell in love.

What projects lie ahead of you now?

I think right now, since I've put out five projects in four and a half years, I'm going to take a little break from putting out records. I'll still tour, I'll still play. But now, I think I want to take a bit more time with my family to settle down a bit more there. Nothing big right now on the horizon. Just continuing to do what God is calling me to do: to serve Him.