Jake Smith Keeps It Real
07-31-2007
by Kevan Breitinger

It hasn’t been an easy season for Jake Smith, Rocketown’s newest artist and the man behind Real. The New Orleans native endured Hurricane Katrina, being hit by a drunk driver, and having both parents diagnosed with cancer a week apart. So we appreciated his making time to talk with us.

 

CMCentral (Kevan Breitinger): Thanks for calling, how’re you doing?

Jake Smith: I’m great, how are you?

I’m good. I’ve been listening to Real, and enjoying it.  But I wanted to ask you first off how your folks were doing.

They’re doing great, recovering fine. My mom’s hair is growing back and getting long. It’s been good to see that journey.

I’m glad to hear it. I guess that’s what drew you into getting behind cancer research work the way that you have? (Smith sponsors an information campaign online and at his concerts to raise awareness about early detection and treatment of breast cancer). 

Yes. It seemed like something that fit. I’ve seen the effects of cancer on my mother. When I was born she found out she had breast cancer for the first time, so it’s always been something that’s been in her life. So when it came back up again, it was something that hit hard. And I knew I could definitely talk about it from the heart.

I got the sense from listening to the album that you’re very family-oriented.  Is that true?

Definitely. My family has been a huge, huge part of my life. I couldn’t ask for anything more as far as a family. It’s been such a blessing to have a support like that in my life.

You grew up in a Christian family?

Yes, I went to the same church my entire life. Which was good in some ways, and bad in some, but it was a great foundation to have. My family was always seeing that I made it to kid’s choir, or church choir. It was one of those things that was just around me so much, that faith and that influence, that it’s been great.

Do you recall the process in your life when it moved from being your family’s faith to your faith?

"Finding out who Jesus is, is such a dramatic revelation and change."

I was little, and asking my mom all these questions. I really wanted to understand who Jesus was and the whole thing that He did for us, and it was crazy because I would talk about things that a 6-year-old wouldn’t normally talk about. And when I accepted Jesus into my life at that point, it became my own. From then on, it’s become my journey of my faith. I always tell people, I wasn’t doing a whole lot of bad things at the age of five (laughing). I can’t say ‘when I got saved this is the transformation I had.’ But it was something. Even just being a good person, and then finding out who Jesus is, is still such a dramatic revelation, and change.

Sure.

The older I get, and the more I learn and get into it, it’s been neat to see how God has used that season. And now I can minister to my family, to the people who brought me into the church.

Well, it must have been a rock solid commitment that you made because it lasted through what sounds like a really Job-like season in your life.

It was. It was one of those things where you know who God is, you know who you believe in… but for me, there were these deep down connections to material things or whatever… For me, it was even a situation where I had put my family first, before Him, and other fears that had been deep down in me that I didn’t even know were there.

So all these things started happening, and they were really rattling something in me. I was pretty shaken up by it all. I wasn’t at the point of jumping ship but I was scared, and things just kept coming. Next was ‘your parents have cancer. Both of them!’ I was wondering ‘what is this stuff? And why is it all happening at once?’ And yet God has been so great and so faithful, and continues to be so. If anything it just shows His grace and who He is as our God, that He’s never not working on us.

Sometimes you wish He would ease up a little bit though (laughing).

(Laughing) Yeah, the funny thing is that when I started writing music, I said, ‘God, give me things to write about. I don’t want to write about things unless its something you put on my heart.’ My mom was joking with me, saying ‘OK, Jake, I think it’s time to stop praying that prayer.’ (laughing).

Well, you put it to good use on the album. I love the title, and what you have to say about no faking. Is that your approach in relationships as well, pretty straightforward?

Too often people are really afraid to be themselves. Especially as a Christian. We get stuck in this rut of how it’s supposed to be, instead of how it actually is, and it always comes across. I don’t want to dwell on my faults, and I don’t want to continue to do them, but at the same time, I want people to know that I do mess up, that I am a flawed person. The most relevant we can be to the lost is to show them that we still struggle. Christians and the lost, we all struggle, but we know Who to go to. You know what I mean?

Sure, that’s why we needed a Savior.

Right. That’s the thing. We know Who the Savior is, but is our approach going to reach the people who don’t, who still have those struggles?

From reading your blog online, I can see that your brain works like mine (laughing), where sometimes you think too deeply. But ultimately, at the end of all the thinking, and every journey, the only thing left to say is Christ. And it seemed to me that that came across on Real as well.

Definitely. For me, there were a few songs about relationships, and a few songs about the cancer, and the hurricane, and a few about just getting up and living your life. To me, Christ is so much a part of all of that, I couldn’t help but write about it. As an artist, writing about my life, I must point to Him because He's all over it. That’s what the last track is about, the little “Outro,” to say, ‘OK, if somehow you missed it, this is exactly what I’m talking about.’ And I want people to know that.

Yeah, I like the way you laid it out so plainly at the end. Jake, is there anything else you want to make sure to communicate today?

I just want to see us express ourselves clearly as Christian musicians. Jesus should be a part of our expression. I was talking to a guy in Florida recently in a camp, and we were talking about heaven, saying that there anything we do will be connected with Jesus, will be a form of worship. Me and you hanging out somewhere talking will be a form of worship, because Jesus will be so intertwined in everything we are, even in the grass moving, the scenery. If we grasp that, and bring it down to earth, our worship becomes so much more than just saying ‘holy, holy, holy.’

Yeah, it’s the message of Romans 12:1; it’s all worship.

Yeah, we like to put a cap on art, but God has designed us to worship Him. But if in everything we do, we can remember Who we’re doing it for, the sky’s the limit.

Amen, what a great note to go out on. Thanks for your time, Jake, I really enjoyed talking with you.

Thanks so much, I enjoyed it too.