Jeremy Camp

For Jeremy Camp, it all boils down to loving people well.

As a young boy growing up in small-town Lafayette, Indiana, Camp’s impressionable young heart watched his parents model this behavior on a regular basis. It was not uncommon for Camp to accompany his father to a local prison or boys’ home to minister through words and music, and when his father started a church when Camp was only 14, his eyes were truly opened to the remarkable impact of pastoring and ministering. Between caring and providing for him and his siblings and his father entering full-time ministry, the importance of caring for and loving well the people put in your path was not lost on the blue-eyed boy with an affinity for music.

But like any other adolescent who grew up in the church and acquired the pastor’s kid label, Camp faced his own doubts, temptations and rebellion. As a teen, he found himself living a double life—partying and drinking behind his parents’ back and showing up with his halo seemingly intact on Sunday mornings. But at 16 years old, listening to a pastor at youth camp, Camp heard God say to him, “I want to use you, but you’re on the edge of a cliff. You’re about ready to jump off. You need to run as far away from the cliff as possible.”

That day a switch flipped and Camp submitted his life to the Lord. When he left home for bible college two years later, he was ready for the road that lay ahead.

After Camp graduated bible college and while leading worship at a bible study on campus, he spotted her—a beautiful woman with her hands raised toward heaven. Camp was captivated by Melissa, totally lost in worship and oblivious to the world around her. Their relationship began as a flirtatious friendship but their connection was clear—undeniably magnetic. Caught in somewhat of a love triangle between Camp and the friend who introduced them, Melissa abruptly ended the two’s budding relationship. Camp’s heart was broken.

But when he got word that Melissa had cancer, Camp dropped everything and immediately drove to be by her side. After a God-ordained hospital proposal, chemo treatments during their engagement and a huge joyful wedding once she entered remission, the cancer returned.

As his wife battled cancer, Camp continued performing for audiences in Southern California, sharing their testimony and asking and believing for a miracle. When Melissa lost her battle in 2001, Camp completely lost his desire to continue making music. After meeting with a pastor who had endured much suffering of his own, Camp was encouraged to keep going amidst his grief and pain. Melissa’s immense and unwavering faith that her battle with cancer and ultimate death would be worth it if even only one person came to know the Lord also propelled Camp to continue sharing his testimony after her passing.

Camp was determined to keep sharing God’s faithfulness through his greatest trial, and the Lord continued to use his words and lyrics to minister, touching thousands of lives in attendance.