M

isty Graves sits two rows back from the stage. She’s fortunate to be this close. Stage one is covered by a large, open air tent that shields a thousand or more seats from the summer sun. Jesus Northwest, a Christian music festival, is swarming with sweaty people trying to find solace in bottled spring water and snow cones. The aisles are packed. More people push from the outskirts of the tent, trying to get inside. They’re here to see Rebecca St. James.

“I can’t imagine getting up and doing what she does,” says Misty, a home schooler from nearby Sultan, Washington. At age 15, Misty is terrified by the thought of getting up and singing in front of so many people. “She’s so young,” Misty says shaking her head. “It must take a lot of guts.”

It certainly must take a lot of some-thing. Rebecca St. James has already made waves in the Christian music industry. At sixteen she recorded her first album. It received extensive airplay and accolades from young and old alike. At seventeen she crisscrossed the U.S., win-fling over audiences wherever she went, and was nominated by the Dove Awards for artist of the year. And now only five days away from her eighteenth birthday, she’s preparing to headline a 40-city national tour. Record number two is in the works.

It must take a lot of something.

THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH

A small golf cart pulls up behind the tent. Rebecca sits patiently in the passenger seat. In a moment the crowd will erupt to welcome her; every eye will be on this young import from Australia, but for now she goes unnoticed.

It’s in this quiet moment you can get a glimpse of what it is that sets her apart. It isn’t “guts” that allow her to stand in front of this huge audience of her peers and communicate her convictions.

A friend runs over to the cart; they join hands, bow their heads and begin to pray. You realize that this moment of communion with her Lord is the “some-thing” that Rebecca St. James has learned to rely on. Her strength comes from God.

“Lord,” her friend prays, “take the people’s focus off of Rebecca and put it on You. Jesus, we ask that Rebecca’s message would penetrate hearts today for your glory. In your name, Amen. Rebecca tacks an emphatic “Amen!” on to the the prayer. The familiar nervous energy builds; she gives her friend’s hand a parting squeeze and smiles. She’s ready.

JUST A STAGE

Seconds later it all comes together. She bursts onto the stage, music rising, her hands clapping in the air. She takes her responsibility to minister to the audience very seriously. She doesn’t have any delusions about the glamour of performing. “It’s just a stage to communicate a message,” she says matter-of-factly. “The message is pre-eminent. And that will always be strong, and that will always be Biblical.”

“If the people don’t walk away with more of God, worshipping Him, and praising Him, it’s not even worth gathering together. That is a real priority for me—that what is spoken and what is sung is totally what God wants to be said.”

MORE THAN TALENT

You realize as you watch her that more than mere talent is at work. Stage presence is one thing, but Rebecca has a “mightiness of spirit” that not only cap-tures the attention of her listeners but also challenges them on a spiritual level. That includes not only audiences, but the people in the music industry as well. “With most artists, we have to try to challenge them to live by higher standards, but Rebecca challenges us,” says Greg Ham the vice-president of her record label Forefront.

Between songs she takes the opportunity to challenge fellow teens. Without sounding preachy or judgmental, Rebecca addresses the real issues her peers face. She encourages them to guard what they allow into their minds. “Once an image enters your mind, you can never get it out,” she says as she pleads with the audience to be willing to turn off negative programming and reading material.

For many people, Rebecca’s ability and willingness to stand up and speak to teens is more impressive than her musical talent. “ Of all the artists we represent, she’s my favorite,” said one salesman who works to distribute Rebecca’s album to Christian bookstores. “She’s a teenager, and she gets up and talks like Chuck Swindoll. She wants the kids who come to her concerts to be radical for God. And as she grows up, they’re going to grow with her—she’ll have an army.”

DON’T BOW

Whether or not Rebecca views her mission in those terms, she is intent on helping her generation see the need to be bold for Christ. During the course of a con-cert, she touches on the need to remain pure until marriage and live a lifestyle that proclaims Christ’s love. But the highlight of her concert comes when she shares a personal vision God gave her while reading Daniel, chapter three. She believes her generation of Christians has a chance, like the three children of Israel who braved the fiery furnace, to stand for Christ when the rest of the world is bowing to the influence of a sinful culture.

“Can you picture this with me?” she asks the crowd. “The rest of the world is bowing down, and you and I are like this. . .” She throws her head back and stretches her hands up to the sky in a posture of worship and resolution.” The crowd goes wild.

Hands are raised throughout the audience in praise to God. And you think to yourself, “By God’s grace we really could do it.”

“I think this country is getting ready for something really massive,” Rebecca says. “Everybody is watching to see what’s going to happen with this generation. This is where Christians come in, and we say ‘Jesus is the answer.”

What’s holding back so many Christian teens from making this kind of total commitment to God? “If I can put it bluntly,” Rebecca says, “I would probably say our own selfishness. I think this is a pretty selfish generation. We have everything at our fingertips. Life is so convenient. We have so much money here. It’s very, very, very easy to get wrapped up in all that and get our priorities on ourselves and not on God.”

IT STARTS AT HOME

Rebecca realizes, however, that many of the teens she talks to don’t have the same solid foundation she has been blessed with. Her strong family is the foundation for everything she does. She has five younger brothers and a two-year-old baby sister.

She and her siblings have home schooled ever since they came to America four years ago. “Home schooling is the only way I can do what I do. We love it.”

For Rebecca the hardest part of home schooling is being on the road. Traveling in excess of 100,000 miles this year makes it difficult to stay on top of her schoolwork.

“I went back to Australia, and I saw all my friends graduate; it was really weird,” she says. “Mum and I talked about it. She said, ‘Your peers are just starting out in life. They don’t know what they want to do. But you’ve already had several years of actually pursuing your calling.’ And home schooling has allowed me to do that.”

WORKING AS A TEAM

The great thing about Rebecca’s family is that they view themselves as a team. Her dad who acts as her manager, travel companion and sound man looks out for her on the road and protects her from the harsher side of the music industry. He refuses to let the “way things are” in Christian music dictate how Rebecca will operate.

This fall when they head out for the “Side by Side Tour” that will emphasize accountability among Christians, the whole family will go. “Everybody is going out together,” Rebecca says. “And everyone is going to have their own job.” Her brothers will play key roles in lighting and sound and help sell t-shirts and tapes afterwards. “This is breaking all the rules of the professional industry,” Rebecca says happily.

“We’re going to run everything.” This effort to keep the family together reflects the importance they place on being tight-knit. And they won’t let a busy schedule jeopardize that. “Rebecca’s faith is so well rooted,” says Bruno Pirecki, an executive at Forefront. “And I feel that has everything to do with her upbringing and family.”

In the midst of all the hype of a rocketing career, Rebecca wants to stay close to the people who know her and love her the most. “My mum is my accountability partner,” Rebecca says. “She notices everything. If I’m ‘believing my publicity’ as Dad would say, or thinking too much of myself, she will say something.”

Between a busy schedule of touring, Rebecca treasures the “normal” moments she can grab with her mother to talk and learn.

“The other day we were talking about our prayer life. I was asking her how she kept her prayer life strong when she was my age. She challenged me to focus on having an hour of quiet time. Just sitting before God like Mary did when Martha was busy doing all the work. I just want to sit like that—like a little kid and say, “Lord, what do you want to say to me?”

As long as Rebecca’s willing to do that, she’ll have something good to say and sing.