Rebecca St. James on What Christians Must ’Say to Hollywood’ Right Now

Rebecca St. James, who has long dominated Christian music, believes there's a powerful "momentum in the arts" right now when it comes to transformational Christian content. "[There is a] kind of ground that's being regained, I would say, when it comes to faith ... leading in culture," St. James told CBN News, going on to reference the success of films like "Jesus Revolution," "I Can Only Imagine," and "Unsung Hero," a movie in theaters now that tells her family's story.

 

More specifically, "Unsung Hero" recounts the rags-to-riches story surrounding St. James and her family, the Smallbones, (brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone are members of KING & COUNTRY), showcasing the tough, overcomer events in their lives preceding the artists' meteoric rise to fame. "Unsung Hero" pays homage to the incredible ways God worked in the family's life after they came to America with nothing, worked hard cleaning homes and doing yard work, and eventually landed record deals. The film has thus far been widely well-received.

 

St. James believes faith-based movies like "Unsung Hero" are attracting big audiences for a reason. "People are hungry for these messages," the singer said. "And when we show up in the theater, we say to Hollywood, 'We need more of this. We need more family content. We need more clean content. We need more God-honoring content.'" St. James said she's proud of the impact "Unsung Hero" is having, and reiterated her belief Christians need to show up and support projects like it.

 

"Where there's a call to action with us is, we have to vote, go on these weekends to the theater, bring your family, celebrate your moms," she said. "It's this moment in time where we can kind of say to Hollywood with our vote, with our movie ticket, 'We want more of this.'" The performer believes this is just the beginning of faith surging in Hollywood. "I feel this sense of anticipation of what God's doing and about to do, because I think there's this wave that we're going to ride," she said. "And that's very exciting to me."