Journey’s Jonathan Cain Shares How Faith Inspires Music
By Movieguide® Contributor
Journey star Jonathan Cain’s faith and his love for music were intertwined from the beginning. He was musically gifted from a young age and could imitate the popular songs he heard on the radio.
“When I was 8 years old, [my father] said, ‘John, you’re going to write songs and play for 10,000 people a night and they’re going to love it,’” Cain shared. “And he also explained to me in a spiritual way that God had saved my life and there was a greater purpose.”
Cain’s father was referring to a tragic fire at his school that took the lives of 93 children.
“He explain[ed] to me, ‘You were saved by the Lord for a greater purpose, John,’” Cain explained, adding that the purpose was music.
Cain learned how to play the accordion and started playing with a band. In 1969, he went to Roosevelt University, where he studied music, majoring in composition and minoring in piano and voice.
While he was initially unsure about playing rock music, Cain said attending a Chicago concert changed his mind. He began playing with groups in clubs, which led to a solo record. Cain then joined the Babys, who soon scored an opening gig for the rock band Journey.
Cain joined Journey in 1980 and composed the band’s biggest hit, “Don’t Stop Believin.’” He also wrote another hit for the group, “Faithfully.”
As his career took off, Cain said he started to turn away from God and towards “New Age…spiritual hocus pocus.”
“Then I realized…’No, you can’t be that way. You’ve got to give God a chance to get in there,’” Cain explained, adding that he felt he turned away from God because of anger he still felt at Him for the terrifying fire he survived as a child.
“He gently called me, ‘Come back…I didn’t abandon you,’” the musician shared. “So, that was the beginning of melting away what was frozen in my heart. From that point on, I made a pact with the Lord that I would go to church and I would let Him in my heart again.”
Cain soon started leading praise and worship, saying he “found something in me that I hadn’t found before.”
Today, he says leading worship is what makes him happy and that it “gives [him] a lot of joy to be known as Pastor John,” a nickname that has been given to him.
“Music is ministry,” Cain explained. “For me, it’s never too late to return to the Lord. No matter how much of sinner you think you are, He loves you more than you know, and I’m living proof.”
