God's Girl Singer is calling teens to stop flirting with premarital sex.

Charisma & Christian Life April 1999

A Saint at Age 21

Somebody forgot to tell Rebecca St.James to act her age. This award-winning recording artist is wowing audiences with her music- and bringing thousands of teen-agers to repentence with her no-nonsense preaching.

BY LINDY WARREN

Finding a seat in the dark auditorium isn't exactly easy. Most of the people in the packed house are on their feet, eyes fixed on the stage where a brilliant lightshow deftly illuminuates 21-year-old Rebecca St.James.

Although the patterned spotlights, smoke, lighting effects and mirrors may not seem like ingredients for what this Christian pop star calls a "worship experience," her concert this Tuesday evening in Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium is clearly not your ordinary music event, either. By the end of the night more then 30 people, mostly teen-agers, will come forward during her altar call to make decisions for Christ or to rededicate their lives to Him.

Judging from the numbers of mouths lip-synching the words to the songs, it's obvious the crowd is well familiar with the Australian native's modern pop music. Her audience tonight is mostly families and youth groups.

And as St.James plops down, feet dangling, on the edge of the stage to openly answer questions from her audience, it's clear the girl who began recording Christian music albums at 16 is known for more then just her voice.

Standing a confident 5 feet 7 inches on stage, Bible in hand, St.James looks more like a youth evangelist than a Christian pop artist. With her fourth album, Pray, sporting a cover version of Keith Green's "O Lord You're Beautiful," St.James and her bold message are drawing comparisions to the late musician-evangelist. At 19 she was named one of the top 50 up-and-coming evangelical leaders under age 40 by Christianity Today magazine.

More Than a Skin-Deep Message

"This is more than just music," her father and manager, David Smallbone, says. "I think people out there see Rebecca almost more as an evangelist than a musician."

"I see Rebecca as willing to articulate biblical values to our generation," says Joshua Harris, author of the best-selling book I Kissed Dating Goodbye (Multnomah). Harris, who has corresponded with St.James for the last two years, asked her to write the foreword to his book.

"A lot of Christian music artists are shying away, not wanting to 'preach' to people. But Rebecca is very vocal and very real," Harris says. "People come to her concerts not just for the music but because they feel connected to her."

St.James, who attended Hills Christian Life Centre in Australia-a bustling charismatic congregation in Sydney- is quick to point out her ability to speak boldly to her generation ins't self-derived. In fact, she says, many times the Holy Spirit has guided her words, especially in sensitive situations.

"One time I was asked in a concert, 'Do Mormons go to heaven?'" she recalls. "It really caught me off guard, but I sensed the Holy Spirit leading me to say, 'Only God can judge a person's heart.' I know that answer didn't come from me.

"Other times, when I've been called upon to speak at various festivals or gatherings, I have kind of mapped out things I wanted to say. But even while I was speaking, just in the flow of words, I just really felt God's Spirit with me, just sensed He was leading. That's a really beautiful thing."

The message St.James espouses at concerts is aimed directly at her generation, a group she believes is growing up too early because it is being driven by a self-centered society.

"I think this me-consciousness is a big problem in my generation," St.James says. "It's like an attack. The fashion industry tells us we have to be skinny as everything and if we don't measure up, then we're nothing. Television wants us to look a certain ways to be accepted. It just leads to pain and hurt."

Offering her realm of experience and self-resolve, St.James launches into countermeasures. She gives teens five tents: dig into the Bible; dig into prayer; become accountable to Christian friends; get rid of the junk in your life; get involved in a Christian church where you can be fed.

"I just want to say: 'Hey, rebel against this selfishness and vanity. Don't go that way,'" she says.

The way to do that, she says, is to live a lifestyle wrapped in consistency.

"You've got to battle it daily. I have to consciously keep myself from getting into this whole self-image-focus thing. It's very, very hard. I constantly say to myself, 'No, I'm not going to give in to this. I'm not going to worry about how I look so much. I know my heart, not this, needs to be my focus.' So I've actually challenged myself not to give in to that."

She recites 1 Peter 3:3-4, commenting on that in the last six months she has relied heavily on this passage, which admonishes women that beauty does not "come from outward adornments" but from the "inner self".

"I just want to have that- the kind of beauty that glows," St.James says intently. "I hope encourage other girls and teens to focus on that."

She admits the images she portrays on her album covers, on stage and in videos are not necessarily "natural" or internally driven.

The Family That Prays Together

The oldest of five brothers and one sister, Rebecca St.James goes by her actual name, Rebecca Smallbone, off-stage. She recognizes that the Smallbone family is atypical, primarily because it is framed by a solid marriage- that of her parents, David and Helen. And in a culture that equates dating with premarital sex, St.James herself could be considered atypical, being an admitted 21-year-old virgin.

"It's just so accepted, it seems, that unmarried people are having sex. Church youth groups are not much better than the others," she says.

That's why she talks openly to her audiences of peers, most of them Christians, and reads letters she receives. On this particular night in Nashville, she is poring over a letter from a girl telling St.James about premarital sex that ended with an abortion.

"I use that letter [in my concerts] to encourage people, peer talking to peer," St.James explains. "I tell them I'm a virgin and that I'm going to stay that way until I'm married, that I'm stnading with them. If they've made a mistake, I tell them to become a 'recycled' virgin. I always want to leave people with the truth that there is hope in Jesus.

"One of the big things young people say to me is that they really appreciate me just encouraging them to stand and to wait and be strong. I get the feeling these teens- the bulk of them Christians- are not getting encouragement elsewhere. Young people need hope. They're needing to know that there is a different way than what TV, magazines and MTV are advocating.

She's often asked her take on dating during the Q&A portion of her concerts. This seems a somewhat ironic quest for answers, considering St.James has no first-hand experience with the topic. Nevertheless, her audience, especially the female half, wants to know about this part of her life. St.James offers a somewhat radical response.

"I believe friendship, not dating, is the way to go," she says. "Why shop if you aren't going to buy? Why date if you can't marry yet? Most times, I get applauded for that."

Even the blatant "How far is too far?" questions don't seem to phase her.

"If something you're doing feels ugly and you know it isn't right, get away from it," she answers. "God is watching us all the time. How would He feel about the things you're doing?"

Perhaps it's St.James' ability to trust God that affords her the boldness she exhibits to her generation. At age 14 she witnessed firsthand the tangible results of prayer and persistent faith.

Her family's journey to the United States seven years ago was instigated by financial ruin when her father, a Christian music concert promoter and record-label owner in Australia, lost $250,000 on an Amy Grant concert.

"The big one brought us down," David says.

The family lost their house, car, everything. With nothing left in Australia and a job lined up for David in America, the family packed up what little belongings they had and moved. St.James describes the next two years as the "highest spiritual mountains" she and her family have ever crossed.

"Sometimes we didn't know where the next meal was coming from," she recalls. "We'd just pray as a family and have devotions, and people would drop groceries on our doorstep, give us furniture or send us checks in the mail that would just cover out bills. I can say to my peers, 'I've seen God at work.' It made me want to spend time in the Bible."

The lean years, smack-dab in the middle of St.James' early teens, allowed her to sidestep the somewhat selfishness she says is plaguing her generation. To help pay the bills, she worked full-time cleaning houses and baby-sitting.

"I think that probably waylaid some of that 'me' focus. You can't really be selfish when you're cleaning people's toilets."

Dana Barac, St.James's roommate on the road for five months last fall, daily saw vulnerable faith in action.

"Every day I saw Becca spending time with God. I watched her surrender even the smallest obstacles to Him," she says. "She has really shown me what it means to make Christ the Lord of my life."

Helen Smallbone, St.James' mother, adds: "I think those years helped Rebecca go from a childhood faith of believing in God, with Him being sort of unreal, to an adult faith of knowing that God is real. In a sense, God laid that strong foundation for Rebecca ministry in those two years."

St.James agrees, adding that the hard times prepared the family, which travels with her on the road, for the years ahead. A Rebecca St.James concert is definitely a family affair- with some brothers on stage singing back-up vocals and others running lighting. Helen and 7-year-old Libby manning the merchandise table, and David overseeing the whole event.

"Those years solidified the family relationship so much so that we can work together out on the road and have functional relationships," St.James observes.

School's Out, Ministry's In

It's a rare day at the Smallbones' two story farm house in Franklin, Tennessee. The whole family, including dogs Kimba and Duke, is here- an infrequent occurrence since the family is home an average of four to five days a month.

Libby, who has recently learned to stand on her head and is not shy about showing her new feat to anyone, is fidgeting at the 11-seat table. As Helen vehemently instructs her youngest to finish her math pages, it's clear school is not Libby's focus. But Helen should be familiar with the routine by now, having homeschooled all seven children, Rebecca being the first.

The oldest Smallbone son, Daniel (the article actually says Joel but Daniel is the oldest son not Joel, who would have been only 14 when this article was published.), has his GED, but St.James has worked only through grade 10. Yet in her mind, she says, she has completed her education.

"I was close to burnout." Rebecca recalls. "We had to make a decision that I would pull back on either my school-work or the music."

The decision came surprisingly easy for Helen, considering that two of her brothers are teachers.

"Here I am trying to get her to focus on her schoolwork when she's on the road," Helen says. "I'm just about to make my argument when I distinctly heard God's voice say to me: 'Shut up. I don't want her to do it.'"

"I can always go back to school," St.James reasons. "I can't go back to this point in my life and speak into the lives of my peers. I really don't care what I'm giving up now."

With her aspirations set on beng a wife and mother or perhaps running an orphanage- nothing scholastic she says- she won't need 'amazing knowledge' as she calls it. Decisions about education for the other six kids, also out on the road touring, were a little more difficult.

"I had to really seek God very strongly to feel comfortable with taking them on the road so much," Helen says. "I really felt Him come back and say, 'I'll teach them what they need to know.'" Consequently, Helen focuses her children on reading, writing, and math.

"It's an unusual way, I suppose, of doing it. But if you see them working as a team and the things they're achieving, in terms of life education, it's actually very outstanding. I feel education is preparing for life more then earning pieces of paper. A lot of people have those papers and don't have a clue on how to apply them."

St.James adds: "I think that's one thing homeschooling instills in people- self-motivation."

Few could argue that St.James is a go-getter. Her first self-titled album on ForeFront Records bowed into the Christian market when being a 16-year-old Christian music artist was not broadly accepted.

And five years ago, most new Christian artists were evaluating their songwriting, hoping to ride on the coattails of Amy Grant's and Michael W.Smith's general-market crossover successes. A good handful of artists and labels were experimenting with ways to appeal to a secular audience, as well as core Christian music buyers, by submitting broader-based lyrics and signing modern rock bands.

But St.James, who got her kick-start touring with Carman in Australia, came onto the scene with blatent lyrics for the church and straight-ahead pop music. Five years later, she still has no aspirations of crossing over to encompass a different audience.

"We're committed to a ministry philosophy," David says. "We're committed to serving the church and its people. We're not trying to water down out lyrics so that other people can maybe suddenly be interested in our message. At the end of the day, I don't think that formula works. It's almost like when we're called to do music ministry, it's a higher calling. And if we fiddle with that calling, trouble's going to be around the corner."

It's that calling that ultimately places St.James in the contemporary Christian music scene- where she looks more like a fish out of water then a thriving, in-demand artist. She is well- aware of the celebrityism that comes with being known.

"I really fight against it," she say. "It's not necessarily against someone or the industry, but against myself. It's easy to get swept up in the lights. That's why I'm so glad my family travels with me for accountability."

She is tentative when commenting on the Christian music industry. "I think, like anywhere, balance is so important. I see Christian artists getting carried away with the glitz, and I fear for them. It's easy to turn our attention to the money and business side of it.

"As in industry, we have to be careful to not let the bottom line or money be the goal. The Bible says it over and over- you cannot serve both God and men, and we've got to be focusing more on Him than money."

After St.James' concert in Nashville, people file out of the Ryman Auditorium. "Rebecca is my favorite artist!" exclaims one excited, blond- haired teen- ager who walks with what is obviously her church youth group.

"I like her music," she adds, "but I like who she is and what she stand for even better. My boyfriend and I have really been struggling with whether or not to have sex, with 'how far is too far.' I feel pretty encouraged now that that isn't the right thing to do. I really want to be strong and live my life for God like she does."

Rebecca St.James, it seems, has hit her target tonight.

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