Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – International recording artist Rebecca St. James will be in Aroostook County next week thanks to the efforts of the Pregnancy Care Center. According to Christie Corey, the center’s executive director, St. James’ performances will coincide with the showing of her most recent movie, “Sarah’s Choice,” which was released last November.
“Rebecca St. James is very involved in pregnancy care centers as a banquet speaker and she recently starred in the movie ‘Sarah’s Choice,’ which we’ve been promoting,” said Corey. “Our board and myself have been looking to be more proactive instead of taking care of the needs after a young lady gets pregnant … to reach them before with a positive message of abstinence.
“Rebecca has advocated a ‘true love waits’ campaign since she was 16. She’s traveled all over and challenged young people to wait, to believe in themselves, and to wait for that one person that they’re ready to make that lifelong commitment with,” she said. “We wanted to bring her up here to share that message. In the last month, I’ve been bombarded with information from our young people who are looking for answers; they want to talk about this stuff, and they’re looking in the wrong places. We want to give our young people an alternative to what they call ‘safe sex’ and that’s abstinence.”
Australian-born St. James is both a Grammy Award winner and multiple Dove Award recipient. With international success that has driven her record sales into the multi-millions globally, she has been tireless on the concert/live performance front since breaking as a major artist in the Christian music industry while still in her teens. In 2008, for the seventh consecutive year, St. James was named “Favorite Female Artist” in Contemporary Christian Music by readers of CCM Magazine.
She has received RIAA-certified gold album awards for her groundbreaking album “God” and her Grammy Award-winning project, “Pray,” which was certified gold in 2006. A gifted songwriter, St. James’ signature blend of modern pop/rock sensibilities and lyrics of unwavering devotion have blazed the way to 17 Top 10 singles – nine of which have reached the number-one spot on the charts to date.
In addition to music, St. James is a best-selling author, with more than a half dozen books to her credit including “Wait For Me,” which has sold more than 100,000 units. Her 2008 book, “Pure,” reached the Top 10 on the CBA Bestseller List in February 2009.
“Rebecca has written some incredible songs that she’s going to be singing, and she’ll share a message with our young people,” said Corey. “It should be a great time.
“We wanted to do this before proms, so I contacted Rebecca in February and I was so pleased that she had an opening,” she said. “Rebecca has an incredible voice, the movie was very well done, and it’s neat when you can meet the lead actress in a movie. The want to raise the message of abstinence up high, and that will be the highlight of the evening. I can talk about it, but when she’s there talking from the heart, that’s what will make the difference.”
St. James will be at the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Fox Auditorium from 6:30-9 p.m. Wednesday, April 14; 10:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 15 at the Houlton Wesleyan Church (live performance only); and from 7-9:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15 at the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Wieden Hall.
For more information, call the Pregnancy Care Center at 764-0022 or 554-8396.
