Adam Cappa

For Adam Cappa, the phrase “putting one foot in front of the other” has become second nature. A vocalist, guitarist, performer, young songwriter and communicator through and through, Adam responded with a hesitant “yes” to an invitation to lead worship at a youth camp, an experience that turned into another “yes” followed by another “ok.” Only a few years later, his calendar is busy; he’s completing his third record; and he’s touring alongside Christian music sensation Jeremy Camp--all this from a 25-year-old young man who seems to daily “just do the next right thing” with joy and a good dose of faith along the way.

It all started when Adam, reared Catholic with no knowledge of Christian music, got very involved with Young Life after accepting Christ as a sophomore in high school. He met two leaders there who took the time to invest in him and showed him Christ’s love by how they lived their lives. It just so happens one of them also played guitar and sang.

“I bought a little Austin guitar for $180,” recalls the enthusiastic Richmond, Indiana, native. “I watched and played literally ‘UNPLUGGED’ behind the band. I tried to copy them. Then I started to write some songs. They were horrible!”

While lifeguarding during his senior year, Adam’s neighbor introduced him to youth pastor Greg Boyce. “Greg saw something in me that I hadn’t recognized yet. He pushed me to be a leader and understand God’s gifting in my life, gave me opportunities to lead and introduced me to the music of Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman. I had no idea this existed."

Finally Greg surprised Adam by telling he had booked him to lead worship at a youth camp. Without knowing how to handle a week like that, Adam, wanting to share his passion for Christ, grabbed his rhythm guitar, and said "yes."

"I didn’t know anything else to do but be completely honest about where I was with Christ and what I was struggling with as I led the camp. I wasn’t much older than the kids, and I think I was able to relate to them and communicate in an authentic way."

That first camp led to a second, and the invitations began to pour in. Adam began to work alongside Greg in church ministry. “I felt called to pursue this full-time; I sold my car, bought a van and took it step by step,” he recalls.

As Adam walked through one door, another would open. Eventually he opened the door to a studio where he began his first recording alongside a recent friend he had made through his travels--recording icon Jeremy Camp.

"I learned from that first album with Jeremy," Adam explains. "He began to sow into me. We stayed in touch and built this relationship over the last four years. After I started working with a booking agency, I opened one night for Jeremy. After the set, he and his guys embraced me; and I found out he had been praying about my ministry. So we prayed about it together and felt like God was saying 'go.' That’s when we started writing together for this new album."

That yet-to-be-titled release finds Adam defining who he is as an artist and writer. The full-on Christian pop album, which has a "Top 40" feel complete with loops and back tracking, was produced by Camp and Andy Dodd who spent three months praying, writing and recording with Adam.

“I feel like the messages on this recording reflect who I am as a person,” Adam reflects. “I’m just a messed up dude and sinner coming to terms with my own brokenness and repenting from that. When you write, you kind of search your own heart. Each of these songs kind of searched a different depth of my heart. The process was super-fast to me, but it was a great experience to write alongside guys who blow my mind when they write. They are so accomplished, and I want to learn."

One of those learning moments for Adam was when Jeremy brought the idea for the song "What's at Stake" to the studio. "It grabbed my heart immediately,” he describes, “challenging me to think about the people whom we surround ourselves with daily--friends, family, people we pass. We know something is going on with them. Maybe they are hurting. Maybe their eternity is at stake. We know something's going on, but we don’t say anything. Do we not care enough? It’s their lives. That’s what’s at stake. When I think about the people I love the most, I wanna take every opportunity I have to speak the love of Christ to them and not miss the chance to show His love."

One of the melodic ideas that Adam had is a song called "The Rescue,” a soul-searching tune. "It reminds me of moments when I am drowning in my life, crying, 'Jesus, rescue me from this,' but I'm afraid to step out and trust God. I often think I can make it on my own strength. I am desperate to be rescued by a Savior. I remember thinking about Peter when Jesus asked him to walk on water. He took his eyes off Jesus and started to sink and cried to be rescued. It’s that desperation when we cry to be rescued, ‘We need you so much, God, we don’t wanna lost sight but we do. Help us not to do that.’”

“Ministry is my heartbeat,” defines Adam, who travels with a band these days. ”Whatever that looks like, that’s my heartbeat. My life was changed in high school. I wanna see others’ lives changed, and I pray that God expands my opportunity to do ministry.”

And that seems to be happening as he prepares to go back on the road with Camp off and on throughout 2011, in addition to doing his own dates which vary from churches and camps to clubs, sports events and outreaches, allowing him to communicate with a wide audience including many teenagers, families, pop lovers, young adults and middle-school kids.

“Above all, I want to communicate with people,” says Adam. “I’m more of a communicator than I am anything else, and I wanna communicate Christ’s love the best that I possibly can through the life that I live.”