(upbeat music)

- 41 years,

that's how long Jonathan Cain

has been with the supergroup called Journey.

After being shut down due to COVID,

the band is now back touring,

and Jonathan's solocareer has also taken off.

♪ Oh Lord lead us into every new season ♪

- [Reporter] JonathanCain has been a member

of the enormously successfulrock band Journey since 1980.

He co-wrote many of theirchart topping songs,

including their biggesthit, "Don't stop believin'."

In recent years,

Jonathan has also been using his talents

to express his faith in God.

His newest release is, "Oh Lord lead us."

♪ Face a new freedom without any fear ♪

In addition, Jonathanleads worship at church,

where his wife, Paula White, is pastor.

He loves pointing othersto Christ through music.

- Please welcome back tothe 700 Club, Jonathan Cain.

Jonathan, great to have you with us today.

- Good to be with you, Terry, thank you.

- 41 years with Journey.

Life as a rock star, whenyou look back on all of that,

what's your perspective?

- It's just an honor to have lasted

and to be relevant after all these years.

We just finished playingLollapalooza in Chicago,

for like 50,000 people, and notmuch has changed since 1981.

There are a lot of smalltown girls and city boys

that wanna get on thatmidnight train goin' anywhere.

- As a boy, Jonathan,

you really had a window of time

where you wanted to be a priest,

and then a horrible tragedyhappened in your school

that really turned you away from God.

Tell us about that.

- Well, I kinda, I reallywasn't away from God,

I was just kinda numb.

There was a school firewhen I was eight years old.

I couldn't work it all out bein' so young,

but 92 children perished before my eyes,

on December 1st, 1958,

along with three sistersthat worked at the school,

that taught at the school.

So, you know, there's a bit of distrust

with, you know, things like that.

When you find out it was arson,

and it could have beenprevented in so many ways.

But, what happened,

is it changed the firelaws for the entire nation,

when it comes to school fire safety,

so Our Lady of the Angels isa model for what not to do.

And, I don't think anything like that

will ever happen again,

so, I can feel good about that, you know.

But, I was always with God,

I just sorta was numb about everything,

and church, especially, you know.

So I'm more, I'm very spiritual.

My father covered me.

My father was a prophetic man of prayer

and loved Jesus very much.

- In fact, it was your dad,

who really inspired the hitsong, "Don't Stop Believin'."

Tell us about that.

- That's right.

I was struggling in LA,

trying to make it as asinger-songwriter and needed a loan.

I called him up one night, and I said,

"Should I just give up on this whole thing

"and come back home to Chicago?"

And he said, "Don't you dare,we have a vision together.

"Don't stop believin', John."

And I wrote that down inone of my lyric books,

and when I got to San Francisco,

and Steve Perry was looking

for one more song for the Escape album.

I saw that title my father had,

that sort of advice hehad given me, and I said,

"This is a song, I'm gonna write it,"

and I brought it in,and the rest is history.

We all made somethin' special that day.

- Yeah.

You're now doing worshipmusic, writing amazing songs.

You're working on yoursixth worship album.

What's the message of the newsingle, "Oh Lord lead us?"

- Exactly that.

You know, I was lookingfor a song for New Years,

leading worship.

I wanted a special song

that would sort of lead into a new year.

Coming out of the pandemic,

I felt the only place tolook is the Lord, you know,

and in Second Chronicles it says,

"Look to the Lord for strengthalways, seek his face."

And I thought, yeah.

And then, the opening lineis right out of Isaiah 40,

"Young men get worried, stumble, and fall,

"But those who hope in theLord, will soar like eagles,

"rise above it all."

I mean, that's right out of the scripture,

and I thought, let's startour year out looking to him,

give it all to him.

I feel that's the only way I'mable to live my life anymore

is just let God lead the way.

And I think all of us need it right now.

- How did you go from that season of life,

where you were kind of numb spiritually,

to a place where youreally knew you wanted God

to be an integral part ofevery moment of every day?

- Well, you know what,my kids really sort of,

when they were born,

I felt a real urge to get them to church

and lead them to Jesus,and I was able to do that.

And, I really sort of started coming back.

There was a Lutheran church,

a great pastor,

who, Pastor Clay,

who helped me work out alot of things, you know,

about the fire and about Godand, you know, and just the,

lose the sense of abandonment, you know,

'cause I guess that'swhat little kids feel like

when they see somethingso tragic, you know.

It felt like God hadabandoned us that day.

And, I went back to thechurch, interestingly enough,

60 years later, we honored, you know,

the fire and the victims and stuff.

And the church had amakeover, $2,500,000 makeover.

And I was just driven.

I mean, I was in tears,

I couldn't believe how beautiful it was,

and then the Cardinal gave amessage of umbrella of grace,

and you're all covered inthis umbrella of grace.

And I had to say,

"Wow, this is a fullcircle for me, you know."

Coming back and, of course,

meeting Paula and having her lead me.

I guess I needed to take her hand,

and, you know, and reallyget in back with God.

And I went to Ghana and prayed a lot.

We had many prayers saidover us together, you know,

and then eventually, wegot married in Africa,

and I think Africa really changed me.

I asked to get baptized

by her spiritual father,Archbishop Duncan-Williams,

and it was just an amazingsort of renewal of my faith.

I've always been closeto God, you know, even.

When my father died, it was devastating,

but I heard a voice saying,"No, it's been me, John.

"It's been me.

"I'm your father, through him, it was me."

And so, it's just been fun, you know.

I don't get to sing lead a lot in Journey,

but, I started singingto the Lord, and I just,

it stuck with me andsomething I enjoy doing.

- We've been the recipients ofthe blessing of all of that.

Jonathan, I wanted tolet people know that,

if they'd like moreinformation on your new single,

it's, "Oh Lord lead us,"

and the current tour with Journey,

all they have to do is go to cbn.com.

Great to have you with usagain on today's program,

bless you.

- Thanks, thank you for having me.

Thank you, Terry, God bless.

- You too.