Keys to the Kingdom: Jonathan Cain’s Journey to Worship

When given the chance to spend time with anyone who carries the title of “Rock & Roll Hall of Famer” I say yes! Jonathan Cain’s music is woven into the DNA of every living American. I dare you to try and go a week without hearing a song he wrote somewhere in your life. Turn on the radio, a fast-food commercial, a television series, when you’re at the grocery store, any high school, college, or professional sporting event. The music of Journey is unescapable for a very good reason.

And yet, here he is sitting in what he calls his “toy room,” nursing a new knee replacement, and talking about his next act. Not another Journey tour. Not another rock anthem. But ministry. “I’m heading to Africa to do ministry with my wife, Paula… [We’re going to] Ghana, Uganda, and I think we actually have a stop in Japan at the end” The schedule is still full, but the center of it is shifting.

 

Headlines recently spun up over Cain ending his decades long run with Journey. He says the viral framing missed the point. “Honestly, it got taken out of context,” when a podcast appearance was recorded. He takes responsibility for that misunderstanding as he was just starting the rehab process on his knee, so I asked him to clarify it: “I’ve been praying about it,” Jonathan told me. “It’s been prophesied over me… ‘You have more music for the Kingdom in you.’ And so, these next two tours will be it for me. My work with Journey has kind of reached where it should be. Two more years and I’ll be seventy-seven. It’s time.”

Though this is far from a morbid conversation, Jonathan seems to look at the reality of the situation. As rock-n-roll fans ourselves we seem to be entering a season where we are losing a lot of our heroes. “I saw the bass player die from the Moody Blues on the road at 80 years old, in a hotel room,” Cain said. “We can’t… we can’t do that. It’s very stressful to do that to your body. I have 60 shows next year.”

Though he seems to have wanted an opener to take some of the load off of his body, he lets us in on that the next tour Journey is planning is “an evening with” that spans the catalog—great for fans, hard on the body— “but it’ll be fun,” he added.

For decades, Jonathan has lived life under arena lights, performing for millions. But he’s also been leading worship with his wife, Pastor Paula White-Cain. What started as a favor for her women’s retreat— “She said, ‘You’ve got a week to learn six worship songs!’”—became something more. “When I played those songs,” he recalled, “Paula said, ‘I’ve never heard you sing like that.’ And something happened. It felt right.”

That spark became a calling. “I thought, maybe I can make my niche by bringing Scripture back into this music,” Jonathan said. “I think God wants to hear a little more of His word in songs.”

His journey of faith runs deep, back to a childhood tragedy that shaped him forever. In 1958, a fire tore through his Chicago school, killing 93 children and three nuns. “I looked through the stained glass and saw flames,” he said. “For years I was haunted by it. It kind of kept me wondering about the abandonment issue.” A pastor later told him, “Sometimes great change requires great sacrifice.” That truth, he says, finally brought peace. “The very next week, my father dragged me to music school to get my brain and my head, my mind, off of the fire, and it became my redemption. You know, music became a way of escaping what I had just seen and a way of, expressing something that I had inside.” That one decision led him all the way to Journey. When he joined in 1980, the band was already ascending, but Jonathan brought the missing piece, a songwriter’s heart. “Steve Perry had such a high moral standard. He wanted to stay away from sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll and go more for hope, love, and Americana,” Jonathan said. “I told him, ‘You’re not including the fans. Write about them—their lives, their dreams.’ And that’s how we got ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.’”

He laughs thinking about it now. “We used to look out at those arenas filled with lighters and think, ‘Here’s our congregation.’” The word “congregation” doesn’t feel accidental. “Music comes from God,” he said. “It’s the vibrations that make music happen. It’s divine. I tell people all the time: you love Journey? Well, do you know Jesus?”

Now, his ministry and worship music carries that same passion. “In Journey, our job is to lead people to the songs they love and take them back to a simpler time,” he said. “In worship, it’s leading them to surrender. One feeds the other. It’s still connection. It’s still freedom.”

That connection shines in his new music. His latest single, “No One Else,” began as a song to honor pastors. “I couldn’t find a pastor appreciation song that felt right,” he explained. “Pastors take on so much—the emotional responsibility, the financial burden, the criticism. They deserve to be lifted up.” But the song evolved after tragedy struck. “When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I went to my piano,” Jonathan said quietly. “I realized the lyrics—‘a few are chosen, few are called to face the enemy and overcome it all’—fit his life. He walked a political road and found that truth lies in the Holy Spirit. I wanted to honor that.”

It’s a song for those who lead and serve, those who are misunderstood or attacked, yet keep showing up. “Where words fail, song prevails,” he said. “Music lives on. I wanted what Charlie did to linger and resonate a little longer.”

Jonathan’s also releasing a new EP, Only a Prayer Away, due later this year. One of its centerpiece tracks, “Amen to the Rescue,” came from an unlikely place—Chimney Rock, North Carolina. “I went there to help clean up after the floods,” he said. “What I saw was the mind of Christ in action. People who’d lost everything helping others. I wrote the song on the plane home—an hour later, it was done. God said, ‘That’s it, John. Amen to the rescue.’”

Cain’s creativity hasn’t dimmed. If anything, it’s shining brighter with purpose. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t questioned whether it’s time to end the “brand new song” portion of his career.  “I thought maybe I was done,” he admitted. “But that song reminded me, God’s not through with me yet. Not by a long shot.”

For the man who gave the world countless classics, this next chapter feels less like a goodbye and more like an encore. “God keeps giving me downloads,” he said with a smile. “I’m writing love letters to the Holy Spirit. I’ve never been more prolific.”

As we wrapped our conversation, he mentioned his hope for what’s ahead. “I make all my Christian music in Nashville, with A-list players who all pray before and after each session,” he said. “It’s the most fulfilling music I’ve ever made.”

While Journey may be going their separate ways, Jonathan Cain’s journey is far from over. For years, his music has invited us in with open arms. He’s never stopped believing, and now it’s time for his beliefs to take center stage, faithfully.