Danny Gokey on What Really Makes His Heart Beat Again

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- His powerful vocals launched him into the top three of "American Idol" season eight, and most recently Danny Gokey performed during the show's finale.

CBN News spoke with Gokey via Skype about his performance and success.

"The biggest thing for me was just being able to see all the previous Idols and be able to hang out with them," Gokey said. "The performance -- that was a lot of fun in itself -- but it was the behind-the-scenes interaction that was the best for me."

"I love being able to just connect and share experiences and just being able to share what we're doing now," he continued.

Today, Gokey is a successful contemporary Christian artist. His single,"Tell Your Heart to Beat Again," is now a top five song in Christian radio, with an audience of more than 8 million and growing.

"What I love about this song is that it relates with so many people in the sense that God has fixed our problem over 2,000 years ago on the cross with Jesus Christ, but yet, the enemy's whispers get in there. And he begins to say that the mistakes and the failures and what that person did to us we'll never get over," Gokey shared.

"Well, God through this song and through his Son mostly -- through his Son's death on the cross -- is making a plea with mankind, saying, 'Listen, I have fixed the problem,'" he continued.

"'No matter what you think you've done or what you haven't done or what someone's done to you, Jesus has paid the price. Come into agreement with me and begin to hope again, begin to believe again, get up again -- tell your heart to beat again,'" he explained.           

"Tell Your Heart To Beat Again" is from Gokey's No. 1 sophomore album Hope In Front Of Me.

Gokey has been on the road for more than a year, promoting the record, and he recently wrapped up a 28-city tour, performing in front of nearly 200,000 people.

"It's an album that's very honest," he told CBN News. "There are songs of hope... there are songs of healing even on there. I really feel like God wants to release healing, and that's what He's done through this project into people's lives."

"But there's definitely those entertaining, funky, soulful songs," he continued. "I'm a soulful singer; I like to put on a great live show, and we capture that in the album."

Gokey says his faith in Jesus Christ means everything to him.

"I remember I used to just deal with all this... just a lot of depression, a lot of oppressive thoughts as a young child, and I didn't sleep a lot," he shared. "And so even as 11 and 12, I'd push in to God, and I started learning about God's character."

"And it was his character, and it was his kindness and it was goodness that kept leading me to want to come back to Him," he explained.

"I just love how Jesus has completely influenced my life, and now I get to share with other people his influence in my life," he said.

Gokey is no stranger to giving back. In fact, he launched Sophia's Heart, an organization that carries on the legacy of giving started by his first wife, who passed away during a routine heart surgery.

The mission of Sophia's heart is to provide hope and help to homeless families in crisis.

"We have rescued over 125 homeless families off the street, and now we have just purchased 60 acres of land in Nashville," he said. "And we are looking forward to building a new facility that can expand our mission and can grow our mission with homeless families."    

Gokey is a busy guy. He's currently on tour and will be a part of another tour in the summer. He plans to start working on his next album in the coming months.