Singer Adam Cappa's "The Rescue"

CBN.com - Mentored by award-winning Christian music artist Jeremy Camp, Indiana native Adam Cappa is poised to become a popular voice on CCM radio. Cappa’s debut album, The Rescue, released this spring in the top 10 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart.

CBN.com's Hannah Goodwyn spoke with Adam Cappa about what inspired this new record, his connection to Jeremy Camp and what it means to worship God.

Hannah Goodwyn: What inspired you write your new album, The Rescue?

Adam Cappa: As far as I have been walking with the Lord these past years, there's been a lot of stuff in my life that He's been teaching me. A lot of that is just in understanding His love for me, and the situations that He has brought me through in my own life. [No matter] what struggles there may be, His love has always shown through. He's shown himself faithful time and time again.

I started honestly looking at the song “The Rescue”, and saying OK, the Lord has totally rescued me. That's something to rejoice about, and to share that. So the whole record is themed around the idea that Jesus is the rescuer. He is our hope.

HG: The song itself is based on Matthew 14, correct?

Cappa: Yeah, exactly, the story of Peter.

HG: Were you reading that at the time?

AC: Actually, I totally was. I was looking at the story, and it says when Peter took his eyes off of Christ that’s when he began to fall away. He noticed how strong the wind was that was blowing against him, and he lost the sight of Christ. I started to go, OK, what were the moments when I actually have done that, taken my eyes off of Christ and have fallen away.

Then, I started digging further into that story and saying OK, we look at it and we say this is the moment that Peter lost his faith. [But] this is the moment that Peter had the greatest faith, because he didn’t turn to the world. He didn’t turn to the guys in the boat and say, “Hey, can you help me out here?” He cried out to be rescued by Christ, and so that really inspired me to say that’s the kind of faith I want to have, knowing that in my moment of need, and even in the moments I don’t need anything at all that I’m going to turn to Christ. I’m going to have my eyes fixed in Him, knowing that He’s my rescuer.

HG: Is there a particular moment you think about when you’re singing the song?

Cappa: A particular moment? No, not really. I think for me there wasn’t like a huge moment of that, just a sense of just understanding God’s freedom through the sacrifice and the grace and the mercy that there is and of forgiveness. For me, even coming to know the Lord, it wasn’t like this huge, long drawn out thing. It was just like, “I did it!” You know what I mean? For me, there was just that rescue of living a life of sin, and then finding my life with Him. So really that’s my rescue.

HG: So it’s been a process.

Cappa: Absolutely, yeah, just coming to know the Lord…. I grew up in the church and heard about the Lord every week, but it was something that was like, ‘I don’t get it, I don’t know who we’re talking about. I don’t know Him.’ When I was a sophomore in high school, I got really involved in an organization called Young Life. That’s where I met the Lord, and I fell in love with Him. From then on, He’s been changing my heart continually, every day.

HG: Describe to me what you felt in that moment when you first called out to God.

Cappa: There was just so much joy and relief. I think that’s why I keep relating back to that rescue, just that sense of that deep breath you can take, just like ‘Ahh’, just so much joy and peace in that moment.

HG: “Washed Over Me” and “How Worthy” seem like very worshipful songs on this new record. What’s the story behind “Washed Over Me”?

Cappa: We sat down, Jeremy Camp, myself, and the managing producer Andy Dodd, and we were saying, ‘OK, we’re going to write this record together.’ I remember us praying, just going, ‘OK, Lord, we just want this to be a time that can honor you and that you’re just going to be glorified through it, and that’s it.

Jeremy says, ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea that says I’ve been washed, I’ve been cleansed, and I have been made free.’ And I just remember us, Andy and I going, “Oh, my gosh. That is so powerful.” Just the truth behind that. So we just started digging into it.

It’s talking about the victory that’s found through Christ, and the sacrifice that He made for us, and we’re able to find that freedom. For me, it automatically turned into this song of just such a powerful moment in writing it, just overwhelming thought of how powerful our Lord is and the victory and freedom we find in Him and His blood and only Him. I’m just so thankful that He’s forgiven me and the sacrifice that He made for me. So when I sing that song live, every night it really just affects my own heart like you wouldn’t believe, just the chill factor.

HG: What about the song, “How Worthy”?

Cappa: Yeah. “How Worthy” is probably my favorite song on the record, and it’s been a process of kind of writing it over the last eight years [chuckles]. It simply boils down to a song about the Savior that I know and just how worthy to be praised He is.

I started thinking about lately, just the moments that I’ve been in awe of who God is, and then relating that back to like, ‘Oh, my gosh! God, you are unbelievable, and you deserve so much praise, more than I give you.’ I had moments, recently. We were in the Philippines and it was like 7, 8 o’clock at night there, and I should have been sleeping in the states, completely flipped. So I’m just like exhausted from jet lag, and so many emotions already, but then there’s this 80,000 people … and they’re just worshipping the Lord. We did three nights like this and 20,000 ended up coming out; and they said 2,200 of them gave their life to Christ. It was just that moment of just going, ‘Oh, my goodness! I’m on the other side of the world, and worshipping the Lord with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I’m in complete awe of what’s happening. It’s like who you are and what you’re doing and what you’ve done. For me, this relates back to how worthy He is to be praised. It’s a really simple song that just has so much depth and power behind it for me.

HG: You taught yourself the guitar, right?

Cappa: I did, yeah.

HG: Then ended up leading worship. What did you learn about worshipping God during those years?

Cappa: Honestly, in the morning I would dig into Scripture. I saw the Word calls us to worship Him. In Psalms, it says shout my praises, to bow before Me, spin in circles. So immediately when I would adapt that to my own life, and say, ‘OK, I’m going to worship the Lord the way that He calls me to worship Him, get excited and rejoice about that’. But at the same time, I’m going to be sensitive to the moments where I just need to be quiet and get on my face.

The main thing that He’s taught me about worship is that the worship is not just about song. It’s not just the songs we sing. It’s the life that we live. When we say yes to Christ and no to the sin of the world, that’s worship. We need to look past the idea of singing corporate songs together and look and say, ‘OK, how can a life be a song of worship to the Lord? Where does that stand?’ That’s something that nature really taught me and that’s amazing for me to understand and to turn everything that I view into praise, into worshipping Him.

HG: Your music career started with help from Jeremy Camp. Even Jeremy’s dad encouraged him to take an interest in you because he said you had the same heart. What do you think he meant by that?

Cappa: I don’t really know. [Laughing] I think the more that I spend around, the time I spend around Jeremy and the time I spend around his dad, we both just really have a heart for worship, and we both really have a heart for people, and the Lord and seeing people coming to the Lord. So I think being able to do ministry side by side with him, it’s just such an incredible experience. He’s able to encourage me, and I’m able to encourage him, and we’re both driven the same way.

It doesn’t matter, like, in the world’s eyes of success, what we’re doing. For me the whole experience has been really crazy, because my album just came out, and it’s really easy to get caught up in that… ‘OK, like how are sales, and what’s going on.’ Honestly, we’re just like, “This is amazing.” We’re playing every night, and people are coming to the Lord, and we’re sharing the Gospel. That’s what it’s about. So, I think when his dad says that, I think he just meant that we’re just passionate about people coming to the Lord. We’re driven to do that and be focused on that and not how we’re doing in the industry.