After spending the last couple of years pursuing an acting career, Rebecca St. James returns to music this month with the release of I Will Praise You on Beach Street Records (Provident-Integrity Distribution). We asked her:

This new release marks a change in label for you. How did that come about?

Mark Miller, who is the head of Beach Street Records and also my producer with this album, he produced Casting Crowns—just an amazing Christian man—we had lunch and talked about doing this album, and he said, 'Rebecca, I'm just praying that if I could be a good steward of your ministry, that God would show me that and show us that we'll (get a) green light to work together.' So I just loved that this producer was just going to God about this opportunity for us to work together, and both of us had such a sense of peace with the whole team. I really saw God's hands on the process of this album.

Is there a theme or thread throughout the recording?

Some of the themes are the kindness of God, because that's really what draws us to Him, His gentleness and love. Then there is the act of surrender, just how important letting go is, and that's something God has been doing in my life. We even talk about beauty and self-image, God redeeming our pain. We talk about fear.

You are known for speaking out on pro-life issues and for being a model and champion of abstinence. Has all that ever been a burden?

The purity message has been the mainstay of my ministry. The only way that had become at certain points a little bit of a heavy message to share was when I was feeling kind of lonely in the single department. I got engaged on Christmas Day, so just very recently. Now being in the engagement period, preparing for marriage, it's a real fulfillment of a lot of dreams. It's a lot easier to talk about that and not feel a bit of the sting of 'I'm still single and I don't necessarily want to be.' But the purity message, in essence I really have enjoyed sharing about because I think it's a need-driven message.

Does this new release mean that your movie 'detour' is over?

That's yet to be determined really, by God. I'm open to doing more acting. We've even got two different films that are on the table right now that we are talking about me doing roles in. We'll just kind of see and play it by ear. I've probably been involved in five or six films since I moved to Los Angeles a couple of years ago.

How has acting enriched or changed your music?

In some ways, being away from the music scene for a little while has made me appreciate the gift of it even more.

Listen to the complete conversation at rebeccastjames.christianretailing.com.

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