Mother of Australian Singing Sensations on her Journey of Faith

GROWING PAINS

Helen grew up in a small town in Sydney, Australia with three older brothers. She was the daughter of a Methodist Pastor and gave her life to Christ at 13 years old while attending a Billy Graham crusade. Helen wanted to be like her brothers and became more of a tomboy. Her mother wanted a cute little girl to dress up and play with dolls. This caused tension in their relationship. 

Her father began experiencing ministry burnout and then her mom hurt her back and was ordered to bed rest for three months. Someone told them about a faith healer coming to town. They were desperate for relief for her mother so they attended and her mom immediately got better. This opened their hearts to the charismatic movement and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Helen experienced the power of the Holy Spirit too.

This helped them grow closer and also relieved the tension between Helen and her mother. In addition, her father had a renewed passion to serve the Lord. The Holy Spirit was moving and people were getting saved. 

During one of her father’s church services, Helen’s mom met a nice young man named David. She introduced him to Helen. They were young and found out they have a lot in common and became great friends. The only thing that held Helen back from having a serious relationship with him was that he wasn’t serious enough about his relationship with Jesus at the time.

Eventually, Helen began dating a youth pastor named Bob. But when David became passionate about the Lord, Helen broke up with Bob and decided she liked David more. They eventually married and started a family.  

David got his start in the music industry. He started playing double bass and singing harmonies with friends at 16. It didn’t take him long to realize he really loved booking gigs, organizing equipment, etc. David’s passion became booking and promoting Christian music artists. So, he started his own companies and booked Christian artists like Carmen, his brother’s Christian band called Family, Keith Green, Leon Patillow, Phil Keaggy, Andrae Crouch, Stryper, Whiteheart, Petra, Bryan Duncan, and many more.

His businesses were successful but they required long hours and Helen found herself raising their growing family pretty much on her own. The tension grew between her and David as they both experienced exhaustion. In 1988, David booked a band to come to Australia. Helen explains, “In preparing for a tour David would project concert attendance numbers to previous concerts but due to unforeseen circumstances the Australian audience did not show support as they had in the past. Attendance came in 40 percent lower. This meant a devastating loss of about $250,000.”

During this time, baby #7 was on the way. David tried to make things better for them in Australia but the doors kept shutting. David flew to Nashville and got interviewed with David Meece, whom he worked with in the past. Meece hired him as an associate manager. On August 24, 1991, they flew to America with only two suitcases for each of them.

When they came to Nashville they had no car, no furniture, and no house. Helen shares, “To survive the coming weeks and months, David and I treated our circumstances with gratitude and as though everything was normal. We all began praying together each day for God to provide and leaning on our trust in Him that He would come through.”

Everyone in the family chipped in to help pay bills and put food on the table. Rebecca, was only 14 when she started babysitting and cleaning. The eldest son, Daniel, was mowing and raking lawns as well as working in flea markets at 12 years old. When the kids brought home the money, they put it all on the kitchen table. Those hard times taught the kids how it felt to be doing something important and purposeful, and also taught the family to navigate their challenges together. 

THE TURNAROUND

Helen’s dad noticed how beautiful Rebecca’s voice was and she had a passion to sing for the Lord. When he marketed her music to Eddie DeGarmo at Forefront Records, they signed Rebecca when she was 16 years old. They wanted to give her some anonymity and protection since she was a young female performer.

So, she went by a different last name. Instead of Rebecca Smallbone, her stage name was Rebecca St. James. They chose the last name James in honor of her grandfather who had passed away. When Rebecca started touring, they all went on the road with her and Helen homeschooled all the kids. The children took on roles as part of the crew. The entire Smallbone family became involved in touring, set up, tear down, lighting, camera work, fog machines, sound, selling merchandise, etc. 

Joel really wanted to start a singing career and wanted to be a solo act. While he had a good voice his father knew that something was missing. Luke was that something. He had an amazing voice and the two of them together have become for KING & Country. 

Today, all of the Smallbone children are grown and are following God’s call upon their lives. In appreciation for their mothers' love and sacrifice, Joel and Luke wrote a song dedicated to Helen called “Unsung Hero.” It is a tribute to not only her but to mothers around the world that sacrificially give to their families. Ben Smallbone of Radiate Films is also working on two documentaries; one about For KING & Countries journey and the other about the Smallbone family. There is no release date yet.

MUMLIFE COMMUNITY

Today, Helen’s passion is to encourage mothers. She and Heather Houle began their involvement in a mother’s ministry in 2008, where they served on the leadership team. Helen as a mentor mum and Heather as a planning team member. 

MUMlife Community (Mothers Uplifting Mothers) exists to love, encourage, equip and disciple mothers of all ages by infiltrating homes with bible-based principles and a life-giving community. Thus, they began writing a biblically-based curriculum to serve mothers. They also have the MUMlife Community podcast on AccessMore.