Steve Camp could write a song that sounded like a pastor sitting beside someone in pain. He could also write one that made a congregation uncomfortable. Both instincts shaped the music of the Christian singer, songwriter and pastor, who died Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 71 after a battle with heart failure. In announcing his death, Camp's family spoke of their grief and their hope in Christ. JubileeCast's original report.
Camp made his recording debut in 1978 with Sayin' It with Love. By the time he released One on One in 1986, he was writing with equal candor about failure and grace. On "He Covers Me," he sings as someone who has run out of excuses and still believes he can come to God. A few years later, on Justice, he turned that candor toward the church. "Don't Tell Them Jesus Loves Them" asked Christians what they were willing to do for the people they said Jesus loved.
That concern also shaped his work offstage. Camp supported relief organizations and helped lead an outreach to people living with AIDS. He eventually moved into pastoral ministry and was ordained as senior pastor of The Cross in Palm City, Florida, in 2009. The singer who had spent years addressing listeners through their radios was now preaching week after week to a local congregation.
Five Steve Camp songs worth hearing again
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"He's All You Need" - Camp sings directly to people worn down by loneliness and disappointment. The ballad's simple refrain gives them something to hold on to. Listen on YouTube
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"Run to the Battle" - This early rocker pairs its battle imagery with a call to pray and share the gospel beyond the familiar walls of a church. Listen on YouTube
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"He Covers Me" - One of Camp's most vulnerable performances begins with confession and finds its assurance in God's mercy amid troubles that have yet to pass. Listen on YouTube
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"Don't Tell Them Jesus Loves Them" - Camp puts a deliberately jarring title to work. As the song turns to people facing hunger and exploitation, he asks what it would cost the church to show them compassion. Listen on YouTube
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"Love That Will Not Let Me Go" - This ballad from Justice traces the journey of a weary person who has chased one promise after another and finally discovers a love that holds. Listen on YouTube
In the days after Camp's death, "He Covers Me" may be the hardest of these songs to hear and the one worth returning to first. Camp gives voice to the hope his family expressed in announcing his death: a person can feel the full weight of sorrow and still trust that God will hold them.
