Worship God

Worship God
Studio album by Rebecca St. James
Released	February 26, 2002
Genre	Gospel, CCM
Length	44:42
Label	ForeFront
Producer	Matt Bronleewe, Tedd T.
Rebecca St. James chronology
Transform (2000) Worship God (2002) Wait for Me: The Best from Rebecca St. James (2003) Singles from Worship God "Song of Love" Released: 2002 "Breathe" Released: 2002 "God of Wonders" Released: 2002 "Let My Words Be Few" Released: 2002

Worship God is the seventh studio album by Rebecca St. James, released on February 26, 2002.^[1] It is her highest charting album to date, peaking at #94 on the Billboard 200. The album produced the hit singles "Song of Love" and "Breathe".

Writing and development

Unlike her prior albums, Rebecca only co-wrote four out of the eleven songs.^[2] Because of its worship genre, the other seven songs are standard worship cover songs. These songs are Matt Redman'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 and Paul Baloche's "Above All", Jeremy Casella's "More Than the Watchmen", and the hymn "It Is Well".^[2]

Rebecca says "Song of Love" was partly inspired by the lorikeets outside her grandparents' home in Australia.^[3] "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."^[3] The song "You" was written while Rebecca was on vacation in Australia.^[4] "It Is Well" was recorded on September 11, 2001.^[5] 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.^[6]

Music structure and lyrics

Rebecca describes the entire album as "passionate, edgy pop/rock".^[2] Lyrical content is mainly worship songs about God's love.

Track listing

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

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Jesus Freak Hideout	(CD)[1]
Jesus Freak Hideout	(DVD)[7]

Critical reception

Both Jesusfreakhideout (JFH) and Allmusic gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars.^[1][2] 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, at #94. It also peaked at #5 on Billboard's Hot Christian Albums chart.^[8]

Singles and popular songs

• "Song of Love" 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.^[9] 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.^[10] The song has also been featured on every Rebecca St. James compilation to date (except The Early Years), and was included on WOW Hits 2003.
• "Breathe" was released as the first radio single in the United States.^[2] It was well received and was featured on WOW Worship: Yellow, Wait for Me: The Best from Rebecca St. James, The Ultimate Collection, and GreatestHits. 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.^[10]
• "God of Wonders" and "Let My Words Be Few" peaked at #19 and #35 respectively on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart.^[11] 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.^[10]
• "Quiet You With My Love" was released as a single in the UK where it peaked at #12 on their 2003 Year-End Charts.^[12]

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:^[13]

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,^[14] the If I Had One Chance To Tell You Something Tour,^[15] and the Worship Revolution Tour.^[16] An entire taped concert from the If I Had One Chance... Tour can be found on her 2007 CD/DVD release aLIVE in Florida.

Chart performance

Album - Billboard (North America)

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"^[17]
• Dove Hits 2003... "Song of Love"^[18]
• Wow Worship: Yellow... "Breathe"^[19]
• Wait For Me: The Best From Rebecca St. James... "Song of Love", "Breathe" and "Lamb of God"^[20]
• Worship Together: Here I Am to Worship... "God of Wonders"^[21]
• Worship Together: Be Glorified... "Song of Love"^[22]
• Left Behind Worship: God Is With Us... "God of Wonders"^[23]
• Left Behind Tribulation Force Soundtrack: Contemporary Christian... "God of Wonders"^[24]
• The Best Worship Songs... Ever!... "Above All"^[25]
• Worship Together Platinum... "Breathe"^[26]
• Worship: The Ultimate Collection... "Above All" and "God of Wonders"^[27]
• Rebecca St. James: Top 5 Hits... "Breathe" and "God of Wonders"^[28]
• WOW Hymns... "It Is Well"^[29]
• The Ultimate Collection... "Song of Love", "Breathe", "God of Wonders" and "Better Is One Day"^[30]
• Songs That Changed the Church: CCM... "God of Wonders"^[31]
• Greatest Hits... "Song of Love", "Better Is One Day" and "Breathe"^[32]
• Worship For the Family: 35 Top Worship Songs... "God of Wonders"^[33]

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.^[34]

References