Worship God is the seventh studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Rebecca St. James

Rebecca St. James

Rebecca St. James , is a Christian pop rock singer, songwriter, musician, author, and actor. She began performing in Australia in the late 1980s and released her first full-length studio album in 1991. In 1993 she was signed to the record label ForeFront Records and released her major label debut a...

, released on February 26, 2002. It is her highest charting album to date, peaking at #94 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

. The album produced the hit singles "Song of Love

Wait For Me/Song Of Love

"Wait For Me" and "Song of Love" were two singles from Christian pop rock musician Rebecca St. James. "Wait For Me" is perhaps one of St. James' most famous songs, encouraging sexual abstinence until marriage, from the 2000 album Transform...

" and "Breathe".

Writing and development

Unlike her prior albums, Rebecca only co-wrote four out of the eleven songs. Because of its worship genre, the other seven songs are standard worship cover songs. These songs are Matt Redman

Matt Redman

Matt Redman is an English Christian worship leader, songwriter and author based in Brighton.He has worked with Newfrontiers, Passion Conferences, Hillsong London, Soul Survivor, is an artist for Sixstepsrecords and is a member of Compassionart a charity founded by Martin Smith.He appeared with...

's "Let My Words Be Few" and "Better Is One Day", Marie Barnett's "Breathe", City on a Hill's "God of Wonders", Lenny LeBlanc

Lenny LeBlanc

Lenny LeBlanc is an American musician and songwriter, half of the music duo LeBlanc and Carr.-Early life:...

 and Paul Baloche

Paul Baloche

Paul Baloche is an American Christian music artist, worship leader, and singer-songwriter. A native of Maple Shade, New Jersey, Baloche is currently the worship pastor at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas. Baloche composes on piano and acoustic guitar, favoring guitar when leading...

's "Above All", Jeremy Casella's "More Than the Watchmen", and the hymn "It Is Well

It Is Well with My Soul

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul....

".

Rebecca says "Song of Love" was partly inspired by the lorikeets outside her grandparents' home in Australia. "Lamb of God" was written and vocally recorded in just an hour and a half. Rebecca says of the track, "My favorite moments in songwriting are when God miraculously drops a verse, or a chorus, or even a whole song into my lap. It was definitely that way with this song." The song "You" was written while Rebecca was on vacation in Australia. "It Is Well" was recorded on September 11, 2001. The album also includes a bonus remix of Rebecca's 1998 song "Omega".

The album was solely produced by Matt Bronleewe, except for the "Omega Remix", which was produced by Tedd T. The string arrangements for this album were done by Jeremy Bose.

Music structure and lyrics

Rebecca describes the entire album as "passionate, edgy pop/rock". Lyrical content is mainly worship songs about God's love.

Track listing

1. "Let My Words Be Few" (Redman)
2. "Song of Love" (Ash, Bronleewe, St. James)
3. "Breathe" (Barnett)
4. "God of Wonders" (Byrd, Hindalong)
5. "Lamb of God" (Ash, Bronleewe, St. James)
6. "Above All" (Baloche, LeBlanc)
7. "Better Is One Day" (Redman)
8. "Quiet You With My Love" (Bronleewe, St. James)
9. "More Than The Watchmen" (Casella)
10. "It Is Well
    It Is Well with My Soul
    It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul....
    
    " (Spafford)
11. "You" (St. James)
12. "Omega (PhiPsi Remix)" (St. James)

• Produced by Matt Bronleewe
• "Omega Remix" Produced by Tedd T.

Critical reception

Both Jesusfreakhideout and Allmusic gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars. JFH says, "Rebecca St. James has outdone herself on Worship God. She has set a new standard for modern worship here. Miss out on this project and you may miss out on an incredible worship experience.", while Allmusic wrote "Worship God is not just another album latching onto the [worship] genre's popularity. It is a reflection of Rebecca St. James' lifestyle of worship and one that will not quickly leave CD players."

Chart performance

The album is Rebecca's most successful to date. It is her only album to peak inside the top 100 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, at #94. It also peaked at #5 on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

s Hot Christian Albums

Hot Christian Albums

Christian Albums is a Billboard chart of the best-selling Christian music albums of the week.-1980 number one Christian Albums:-1981 number one Christian Albums:-1982 number one Christian Albums:...

 chart.

Singles and popular songs

• "Song of Love
  Wait For Me/Song Of Love
  "Wait For Me" and "Song of Love" were two singles from Christian pop rock musician Rebecca St. James. "Wait For Me" is perhaps one of St. James' most famous songs, encouraging sexual abstinence until marriage, from the 2000 album Transform...
  
  " was released to Christian radio in 2002, as well as a physical double-A side single with "Wait for Me" (from Transform) on April 8, 2003. The song proved to be extremely successful in Rebecca's home country of Australia, where it charted at #3 on Australian Christian radio's 2002 Year-End Charts, and #1 on the Australasian 2002 Year-End Charts. The song has also been featured on every Rebecca St. James compilation to date, and was included on WOW Hits 2003
  WOW Hits 2003
  WOW Hits 2003 is a compilation album featuring the best in Contemporary Christian music from 2002. It included thirty songs plus three bonus tracks on two CDs. The album peaked at #34 on the Billboard 200 chart...
  
  .
• "Breathe" was released as the first radio single in the United States. It was well received and was featured on WOW Worship: Yellow, Wait for Me: The Best from Rebecca St. James
  Wait For Me: The Best From Rebecca St. James
  Wait for Me: The Best from Rebecca St. James is the first compilation album by Christian pop and rock artist Rebecca St. James.-Track listing:#"I Thank You" ' – 3:45...
  
  , The Ultimate Collection
  The Ultimate Collection (Rebecca St. James album)
  'The Ultimate Collection is a 2-disc compilation by Christian artist Rebecca St. James released on March 11, 2008.-Disc 1:#God Help Me#Reborn#God#Lion#Yes, I Believe In God#Go and Sin No More#I Thank You#Better Is One Day#Wait For Me...
  
  , and GreatestHits
  Greatest Hits (Rebecca St. James album)
  Greatest Hits is a compilation by Christian artist Rebecca St. James released on October 28, 2008.-Tracklist:# "God" - # "I Thank You" Greatest Hits is a compilation by Christian artist Rebecca St. James released on October 28, 2008.-Tracklist:# "God" (from God) - (4:10)# "I Thank You" Greatest...
  
  . The song also fared well in Australia where it charted at #22 on their 2002 Year-End chart, and #5 on the Australasian 2002 Year-End chart.
• "God of Wonders" and "Let My Words Be Few" peaked at #19 and #35 respectively on Billboards Hot Christian Songs chart. The former was also included on The Ultimate Collection. The latter was released as a single in Australia, where it peaked at #41 on their 2003 Year-End chart. It also charted at #16 on the Australasian 2003 Year-End chart.
• "Quiet You With My Love" was released as a single in the UK where it peaked at #12 on their 2003 Year-End Charts.

Promotion

Rebecca embarked on a Worship God Tour in 2003. The set list consisted mainly of songs from Worship God, but also featured some earlier songs.

• Set List:

1. Reborn
2. I Thank You
3. Song of Love
4. Go and Sin No More
5. Wait for Me
6. You
7. Quiet You With My Love
8. Let My Words Be Few
9. Lamb of God
10. Breathe
11. Above All
12. Awesome God
13. Yes, I Believe In God
14. God
15. Awesome God (reprise)

Songs from Worship God have also been performed on her Adoration Tour, the If I Had One Chance To Tell You Something Tour, and the Worship Revolution Tour. An entire taped concert from the If I Had One Chance... Tour can be found on her 2007 CD/DVD release aLIVE in Florida

ALIVE in Florida

aLIVE in Florida is the second live album by Rebecca St. James. It was released on March 20, 2007 as a CD/DVD combination, and features live versions of fan favorites.- Track listing :# Intro# God Help Me# Lamb of God# Wait For Me...

.

Chart performance

Album - Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

(North America)

Year	Chart	Position
2002	The Billboard 200	94
2002	Top Contemporary Christian	5

Compilation Contributions

Songs from Worship God have been released on many compilations over the years. Here is a complete list of songs from the album featured on other releases.

• WOW Hits 2003... "Song of Love"
• Dove Hits 2003... "Song of Love"
• Wow Worship: Yellow... "Breathe"
• Wait For Me: The Best From Rebecca St. James... "Song of Love", "Breathe" and "Lamb of God"
• Worship Together: Here I Am to Worship... "God of Wonders"
• Worship Together: Be Glorified... "Song of Love"
• Left Behind Worship: God Is With Us... "God of Wonders"
• Left Behind Tribulation Force Soundtrack: Contemporary Christian... "God of Wonders"
• The Best Worship Songs... Ever!... "Above All"
• Worship Together Platinum... "Breathe"
• Worship: The Ultimate Collection... "Above All" and "God of Wonders"
• Rebecca St. James: Top 5 Hits... "Breathe" and "God of Wonders"
• WOW Hymns... "It Is Well"
• Rebecca St. James: The Ultimate Collection... "Song of Love", "Breathe", "God of Wonders" and "Better Is One Day"
• Songs That Changed the Church: CCM... "God of Wonders"
• Rebecca St. James: The Greatest Hits... "Song of Love", "Better Is One Day" and "Breathe"
• Worship For the Family: 35 Top Worship Songs... "God of Wonders"

DVD

Also in 2002, Rebecca released her first DVD, entitled Worship God. It featured music videos of hit songs "Wait For Me", "Song of Love" & "Reborn", 8 audio clips from Worship God, an interview, photos, a "My Australia" featurette and more.