A Conversation With Jeremy Camp
By Jim Mueller
An interview with best-selling artist, Jeremy
Camp.
Jeremy
Camp just returned from Europe...
Yes, it's been
amazing. We toured Germany, Holland, Scotland, Ireland, and the Faro
Islands — next year we're hitting 15 countries. My heart is here in the
states, but I've seen doors open. God has expanded our ministry
globally.
There's an excitement overseas
where people don't have access to Christian concerts. I share the Gospel
and I share my life and share about my kids. There is such an
excitement and a hunger for that.
What about
language barriers?
There is definitely
a culture barrier and sometimes I have a translator. But we're one
Body. No matter where I go around the world we're one Body. There are
different cultures and languages, but sharing what God has done
transcends all that. It's amazing.
How does Jeremy Camp manage the
work-family balance?
We never go more than a week
without seeing each other. This fall tour I'll be gone four days, home
for three. It's still hard. If I'm gone too often we try to get the kids
and Adie to visit for a weekend. When we tour to the West
Coast, we're going to be gone for a little over two weeks, so they're
coming the whole time with me.
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Your girls aren't in school, yet, right?
No. It's been in Adie's heart to
homeschool so we can have the freedom to go with each other whenever,
wherever. So this fall when we go to the West Coast they'll be with me
for two weeks straight, Adie will school them on the bus. Adie is
amazing.
What
are you teaching your family?
Music is not my life. Christ is my life and if I'm
not putting Him at the head of everything — then everything is going to
suffer. It's important that Adie and the girls know that.
If I invest time in the Word of God, and spend time
in prayer and love God with all my heart, mind and soul — I'll love my
family better and I'll be able to do this more effectively. Music does
not take the place of family.
My heart would be as
God called David, that when I leave people will say,
He was a man after God's own
heart, and that my children will see that as well.
What legacy
are you leaving for your girls?
The examples we
set, the things that we allow in the home — the music we listen to, the
things that we watch — is very much black and white. And
outside the home there are influences we can't control. But you can't
isolate; you can't put them in a bubble. We try to be the example of
Christ. You're to love. You're to forgive. You're to share. If they're
never learning those attributes, then when they get older it's going to
be tough.
In essence
we're saying,
Hey, this is what you're going
to be up against. Hey, this is what you're going to deal with. So you be
an example. You learn to share. You learn to forgive. You learn to be
patient.
How do you and Adie connect spiritually?
Every morning she wakes up at six in the morning.
Adie will open the Bible and she'll send me a Scripture, a nugget.
She's like,
Oh, check this out.
And we'll discuss it. What we ask each other is,
Hey, so what did you read. Or
how are doing? What's God teaching you? That's how we
connect.
I love hearing her heart and hearing her
talk about things that she's read or things that God is showing her. And
if one of us is slipping, we can encourage one another in that aspect.
Hey, let's get up tomorrow and
take time out and make sure that we get back on
track.
We're (as husbands) called to be
the head of the household. I need to be able to spur her along or be an
example or ask,
How are you doing? How was your
time in the Word? It says to "wash your wives in
the water of the Word."
Hey, honey, this is the
Scripture I read today. Isn't that awesome? That's a way
to wash our spouses in the water of the Word.
Communication is so important. We really need to
connect on how each other is doing. You have to be able to explain how
you're feeling; many couples don't do that. We've come to the
conclusion that no matter how small it is — if it's a hurt or
disappointment — we need to talk about it.
Copyright
© 2009 by Jim Mueller, President and co-founder of Growthtrac
Ministries.
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