Rebecca St. James’voice in ‘08 holds the promise of capturing even more new ministry territory for the Grammy® and multi-Dove Award winner as she will lend her influence globally to raise awareness of World Malaria Day, to be observed on April 25th. Her efforts will include hosting an April radio special, “Malaria: A Plague of the Poor”, being presented by Compassion International, and spotlighting their front-line efforts against the disease that kills more than 1 million people annually in the world’s poorest nations.

In the midst of her travels in concert to more than 30 nations of the world,St. James has long remained a passionate voice for the work of Compassion International; an artist who through her personal involvement has been responsible for sponsorship of more than 30,000 of the world’s neediest children.

About her new mission she notes, “Most of those who die from this treatable, preventable disease are children. Compassion assisted children and their families receive the resources they so desperately need to fight malaria including access to medical treatment, and education on prevention.”

As a follow-up to Rebecca visiting Rwanda on a Compassion mission in 2006, a Wait For Me foundation has been established in South Africa to offer aid, education, and relief as a counter measure against the ravages of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The foundation is an inspirational/developmental outgrowth of both her self written, globally popular anthem on abstinence, Wait For Me, and her best selling book of the same title.

In the midst of thoughts of the New Year, Rebecca St. James has been given two early Christmas gifts this year that she definitely won’t be in line to exchange.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Australian born singer has been given the honour of being named “Best Female Artist” in Contemporary Christian Music by readers of CCM Magazine, the industry’s flagship Christian music consumer publication which will make the announcement in their January issue, now its’ way to news-stands. Remarkably, she has held the #1 spot with CCM readers since 2001. This month, Rebecca has also repeated the honour of being voted “Best Female Artist of 2007” by one of Christian music’s most respected and highest traffic music sites, ChristianityToday.com. This marks her fifth consecutive year to be given this award voted on by readers.

Rebecca’s Christmas thoughts are those of gratitude, “I love this season because it gives me an opportunity to look back on the year and see what God has done in my life and the lives of those I love, and praise Him for His goodness. Basically, I think Christmas should bring us back to the basics of our Christian lives what is it really all about – Jesus came as a baby, to grow up and die for us and give us eternal life. I hope in this week before Christmas you will join me, my friends, in being reminded of the power and the beauty of what He did for us. Let’s make it a truly memorable celebration of gratitude for His amazing gift to us.”