Being in the spotlight isn't always easy. It tends to be portrayed as constant fun and games, but in reality there can be a draining side to it. And with everything that Rebecca St. James does in her ministry, it's no wonder she feels that side of it now and then.
I got a chance to chat with Rebecca on the phone at one of her stops in Canada and was able to discuss this side of the ministry that tends to be overlooked - among many other things. Talking to her about it, it's clear that though it can be tiresome at times, she doesn't let that stop her. She is still going full-force with many new endeavours; and through it all, continues to show her passion for Christ and the sharing of His message.
Recently, St. James has been on the road on her Worship God and Wait for Me tours; but also in that time she's completed yet another album. March 25th brings a new disc to add to St. James' collection - a greatest hits album entitled Wait for Me: The Best from Rebecca St. James.
She says about the collection, "I've been doing music for about 9 or 10 years, so (the record label) felt like it was the right timing. And I've got enough albums now to pull from." And she laughingly notes, "actually, there's 18 songs on the new album so we almost had too many!"
With the mark of this many albums, and being able to put out a greatest hits record, is an accomplishment not every artist makes it to, and St. James admits she does feel a bit of sentimentality towards this achievement:
"I'm kind of a 'take each day as it comes' kind of person, and so I do feel a bit of sentimentality in that I've been doing this for a long time now and am somewhat of a veteran at 25, which seems really bizarre!"
"It is kind of cool to be able to look over my musical history and see what God's done over that time," she concludes.
Because Wait for Me is a collection of songs recorded in the past, and only includes two new tracks, St. James didn't spend much time in the studio. But she says she didn't miss that process too much and describes this recording as being 'easy;' explaining, "I've worked with Matt Bronlewee for a few albums now and so we just kind of got together a couple of times and finished writing the songs, and then he tracked them while I was on the road and then I came back and did vocals. So it was actually a very easy process." She admits laughing, "if I had of been on the road as much as I was, and then tried to do a full album, it would have been like a nightmare trying to do both. So it was fine!"
As this new album includes songs from all of her previous recordings, the subject of favourites was brought up. So, of all her recordings, which is her favourite?
"I think different ones for different reasons almost. Like, my Christmas one - I really am very happy with that. I think there's a great mix of older songs that have so much history and power that have been around for hundreds of years that we kind of did in a new way and added a Rebecca twist to it. And my God album - I really liked the passion of that album. And then the worship album - I really like that because of the worship element."
She comes to the conclusion saying, somewhat bashfully, "I think the Christmas album is probably my favourite album!"
With this many albums under her belt, and with so much growing success of them all, releasing more albums, for most, can often bring pressures of 'topping' the last in sales and charts. But St. James doesn't seem to feel these pressures or qualms with her recordings, as she confidently remarks, "I think I know really that it's out of my hands; that there's nothing much I can really do about it because I'm not the one that's selling the album in bookstores, and I'm not the one that's a manager trying to get promotion out there. So it's very much out of my hands. And at the end of the day, to get large sales on an album was never why I went into music, so I just have to be faithful to share God's message with the people he's put right in front of me. And if that means a lot of albums sold, that's cool. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Obviously I would like it if my album did do well… but it's not just a be-all and end-all, because I think my main goal is not necessarily to be successful in worldly eyes, but to be faithful to God. And I think somebody said that a while ago - either Billy Graham, or someone like that - that, 'to be successful in life is to be faithful.'"
Definitely a good motto to remember!
Another new project to look forward to with St. James is !Hero - the new Christian rock opera that tells the story of Jesus in a modern-day setting. This new musical seems to have suddenly snuck up, and has already made an exciting splash of news and anticipation in the Christian music industry. But though it's new for us, it's been in the making for quite a while. St. James says she's known about this project for years and "really had a heart for it," and that she'd also heard the music years ago and "just loved it."
!Hero was written and created by Eddie DeGarmo and Bob Farrell, both of whom St. James has worked with in the past. She explains, "I wrote songs with Bob when I was 15. And then Eddie I worked with for about 5 years. He executive produced my albums and worked at my record label. So I've known them very closely."
She explains further how she got involved, and notes her humorously ironic role of playing the character Maggie: "They came to me and said 'we want you to be involved, and we want you to play the part of Mary Magdalene,' which is very interesting considering I talk so much about sexual purity!"
Part of !Hero is also the 2-disc soundtrack (set to release in September of this year), which St. James has already recorded last year - a process she "absolutely enjoyed."
Along with a soundtrack, there is also a novel (done by Stephen Lawhead), a comic book, and of course the tour, which starts this fall.
The tour will have both singing and acting, but St. James notes, "there's not too much spoken word; it's mostly all songs. But there's definitely acting involved."
"I'm so excited! I've always wanted to kind of try my hand at acting and so it's very exciting for me," she enthusiastically adds.
With the tour, she says the thing she's most looking forward to is "just the camaraderie of being in a musical with different people that you respect. Mark Stuart from Audio Adrenaline is going to be involved, and Michael Tait from dcTalk, and T-Bone… I don't know if he'll tour with us but he's involved in the album too. So just people that I think are really cool - and being able to just share the mantle of leadership on a tour. I think that's really cool to feel that camaraderie and enjoy it together."
She concludes; "to do a musical is just a dream come true for me so it's very exciting."
Another part of St. James' ministry that she is very well known for is her immense passion and fervour for sharing the importance of sexual abstinence before marriage. In this area she has written her best-selling book, Wait for Me, and continually speaks out about this in her concerts and various other events. She explains how it all started.
"I went to a True Love Waits rally when I was 16 and made that commitment to wait myself, and was just really inspired by seeing hundreds of other people taking the stand. And I think I'd always known that's what I wanted to do, but I had just never come out and said, 'this is what I'm gonna do - I'm gonna wait.' Ever since then I just started sharing about it from the stage and would be involved with True Love Waits rallies or different events, so I would be called upon to speak about it. So then I got such response to that - being a teenager talking to other teenagers about waiting - that I just included it in every concert. So that's kind of how I got into it, and just continue to see such response; like people saying, 'thank you for talking about purity, someone's talking about it'… and people responding to my song, and now I have my book that has been translated into Norwegian and French."
She adds, "I think the need is just really massive for this subject to be spoken about, so that's why I continue, and also talk about forgiveness. A lot of people haven't waited, and so I just encourage them to go to God and give that sin to Him and just wait from now on."
Recently, St. James had the honour of being invited to the White House to speak with members of the Faith-based Initiatives team about her ministry and about the message of sexual abstinence before marriage.
"It was just a real uniting of people with a like-minded vision, and to really encourage this generation in morals and standards and to really point them to the right way," she says.
"I met with a lot of Christians that day that were either involved directly with the President, or were Senators aids, or policy advisors, and these are people that are passionate about God and about encouraging people to live His way. So they really wanted to meet and partner with us, and discuss how to kind of get that message out there in a stronger way because they know the power of entertainment on society today."
As a result, "we're just kind of praying and asking God to show us how we might be able to partner together. I think there might be different political events that I might be able to perform at or things like that. So we'll just see."
With all of these new undertakings, and with all that has been achieved in the past, the response to St. James' ministry has been massive, and continues to grow at a fast pace. With a career sale of almost 2 million, a top selling book, garnering numerous awards, having been voted 'Best Female Artist' and 'Favourite Female Artist' by various publications and radio stations, it's safe to say that St. James has grown to be one of the most prominent and recognized artists in the Christian music industry.
But with all of this success and reaction to her, St. James remains grounded and humble. "I suppose I don't really feel that well known. I mean, I hear things like that - that I've been nominated 'favourite singer' and stuff - and that makes me feel really loved and I love that, it's awesome; I get very encouraged by that. But at the same time I can walk around almost any street anywhere, and for the most part not be recognized."
"Every now and then someone might come up to me at an airport or the mall or that kind of thing and say, 'aren't you…' But it doesn't happen that often so I don't suppose I really feel like I'm this real famous person."
She goes on, modestly noting, "one of the things that helps me stay grounded I suppose is knowing that anything good that comes from my music and my life is God. I can't force anything good to happen that just comes from me. Anything truly life changing, truly powerful, or truly good, is Him. And so I have that reality. And then I also have mentors and people in my life that help remind me of that. So that's really cool."
Although she may not necessarily feel like a famous person, she is indeed often in the spotlight and is looked on as a role-model for many people today - especially teenagers - through her music and her voice about True Love Waits. However, with that extra attention, she still doesn't feel pressures when it comes to her own faith or example. She says she doesn't feel a pressure of compromising or falling, because, as she explains, ""I believe in God's power to keep me from evil. But I also have great accountability in my life - friends and family that are on fire for God that are watching my life, living with me, that I'm very honest with. And if they saw me starting down a wrong path they would really speak into my life and I would listen. So I'm not really scared of that or feel pressure about that. Although I mean, anything could happen to any of us. But I just have really strong accountability. And also, I have my own daily quiet time with God. So I'm seeking Him and I'm not wanting to do anything that would displease Him."
She does admit however, "the thing that I do feel pressure about is being a young woman in leadership, and the drain of that sometimes. Having been in that for so long now I think that's something that's harder. I think the constant pressure to be 'on' emotionally, spiritually, physically… you have to be 'on.' If I go to a concert and I'm backstage hanging out, I can't be in a grumpy mood or not feeling well because if people see me for one minute they're going to think, 'she's not living what she's talking about on stage.' So there is a lot of emotional to be 'on' that sometimes is a bit draining."
So with that, what keeps her going?
She says a major part of her is her devotions; "Spiritually, that's what really keeps me going; is that daily time, asking God to speak into my life."
She continues, openly sharing, "when you're on the road you're doing so much travelling and concerts and interviews, and then when you're home you're in the studio or you're writing songs or writing a book - there's so much going on - it's easy to let it get to you physically and emotionally because it's not the routine of 'ok, I go to work and I come home and I leave it and I'm home.' When you're on the road and doing this, you don't have that. And so I've definitely felt very physically and emotionally taxed before and I think I'm still, nine years into it, just learning to try to balance all that. So, I'm slowly getting better at it I think."
With all of her new projects and plans, it may be hard to balance. But that doesn't take away from the passion and yearning to share Christ's message, and the encouragement and inspiration that St. James so evidently brings in every element of her career.
Fans all over can look forward to these new projects in St. James' ministry, and look forward to many more in the future. With the heart and zeal she contains in her life, and the hope and strength she unquestionably finds in the Lord, we can be sure of that.
