ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997 TAG: 9703130010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG THE ROANOKE TIMES
Rebecca St. James is a "normalbody."
Webster's would probably define that as something akin to a homebody; a person who, instead of entrenching herself in her family's farmhouse, just wants to maintain some semblance of normalcy in her life.
That's not an easy thing to achieve for an up-and-coming Christian rock singer on a nationwide tour with a Grammy nomination under her belt.
"I even mop the floor on the [tour] bus - while it's going," said St. James, who will perform tonight at Lakeside Baptist Church in Salem. "I find it really refreshing to do normal stuff."
St. James, 19, has been touring since she was 13 when she opened for Carman in her native Australia. "All I wanted to do was get back with my family and clean house," she remembered recently. Now the members of her family - Dad, Mum, five brothers and one sister - travel with her from church to theater to arena.
They load in the equipment and load it out. One brother works the lights. The chores, at home and on the road, they all share.
St. James, whose CD "God" is still enjoying rave reviews from critics, is no stranger to chores, cleaning included.
Her family moved to America in 1991, after her father, a Christian music promoter, lost money on a major tour. The job he had lined up in this country fell through, and Rebecca and her family found themselves cleaning houses to make money. "We raked lawns as a family," she said. "That just taught us so much. Even though it was painful at times, I wouldn't trade that for anything. I'll never forget it - cleaning people's toilets and learning to find joy in it."
Joy? In cleaning toilets?
"When you think about it, you're seeing what you've done, seeing it cleaned and serving God through it all - it's pretty exciting," St. James said. There is a smile in her voice but a seriousness as well.
She is not afraid to talk about God, was not afraid to name her CD after him, though some have criticized the move, saying God should not be used as the name of a product.
"I hope my dedication to God comes through," she said. "I think I'm more passionate as I get older, more excited about God and talking about him, and that passion's going to come through."
She is confident in her beliefs, and begins her telephone interview with a prayer for God's guidance.
"I just really and truly believe God's way of living is the only way to go, to really follow the biblical way and not even mess with the alternatives," she said. "Who can decide how best to live our lives, ourselves or our creator? I think he sees the big picture."
For St. James, that picture focuses on singing, for now. Though she says she could give it up if that is God's will.
That picture also focuses on opening her family's farmhouse in Franklin, Tenn., just outside Nashville, to friends who need a place to stay. It focuses on speaking to a generation - her own - that she believes can be selfish and spoiled.
"I think we've had everything handed to us on a plate," she said, and she includes herself in that description, despite the tough years. "I think one way we can counter that is by serving other people ... that we should say, `It doesn't matter how I feel, I'm doing what I was created to do, serving God and serving other people.'''
There is a sense of hopelessness to her generation, she said, and a lack of respect. Peer influence seems to win out over all things. That, in part, is why she spends so much time spreading a message of abstinence until marriage.
"The whole waiting thing, that's a real big thing with me, especially to share with teen-agers," she said. "Or, if you have made a mistake, become a recycled virgin."
St. James does not date and prefers to go out with a group of friends, male and female. "There's less pressure involved and you see people for who they really are. My parents have been married 22 years and they are so in love. They founded their relationship on friendship and on God. Right now I don't feel it's God's timing for me to meet someone. Now I can be completely focused on what I'm doing."
These days, she's promoting her album, a new devotional book, "40 Days with God," and a CD ROM. She's also in and out of the studio.
She's working on a Christmas album, she said, which will be a "very unique, kind of creative kind of Christmas album. There will be some traditional songs and some nontraditional."
Rebecca St. James will perform tonight at Lakeside Baptist Church in Salem. Tickets are $14, $10 and $8. Call 774-9748.
To hear St. James' title track from "God," dial 981-0100 in Roanoke, 382-0200 in the New River Valley, category 7814.
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