Singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James, a longtime supporter of the True Love Waits abstinence movement, announced Jan. 3 that she is engaged to be married.
Singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James is engaged to be married to Jacob Fink. St. James has been a longtime supporter of True Love Waits, a movement that promotes sexual abstinence until marriage.“St. James will wed the man she’s been waiting for – Jacob Fink – on a date soon to be announced,” a news release from her publicist said.
Fink is originally from Colorado and now resides in southern California. After spending two years as a missionary in South Africa, he earned a degree in communications with an emphasis on film production, and the couple met through mutual friends in Los Angeles, the news release said.
For years St. James, 33, has promoted a lifestyle of sexual purity until marriage, lending her talent to the True Love Waits movement and, most recently, to the pro-life movement through starring in the film “Sarah’s Choice.”
“Rebecca St. James has been a prominent, positive example for sexual abstinence for many young people during her teenage and young adult years. She was one of the first Christian artists to support and encourage True Love Waits and has stayed true to her commitment to remain sexually abstinent until marriage,” said Jimmy Hester, cofounder of True Love Waits.
In 2006, St. James discussed her commitment to purity with Baptist Press, admitting that she dreamed of marriage but had to hand over control of her dream to God.
“What he was wanting me to do is just trust that he’s going to take care of me no matter what, whether that means having a husband or whether that means fulfilling me in another way,” St. James said. “That was probably one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life, to actually give that dream over to God and let go of [the control].”
During the tough times, she said she was able to stand on God’s word because it is solid truth.
A decade ago, St. James released her landmark single, “Wait for Me,” which helped spur the purity movement by challenging young people worldwide to wait honorably for the spouse God may have for them.
“I think deep down young people do know that waiting is the right way to go, and they just want encouragement to wait,” St. James said. “I think for a lot of girls that heard it, ‘Wait for Me’ became kind of their song that they were singing to their future husbands that encouraged them to be strong. I also think we girls are such romantics at heart, and it’s a song that is romantic but also pure. I think that’s why it connected.”
Lots of young men have thanked her for recording the song, too, St. James said.
“It’s a pretty well-known fact that guys would like to marry a virgin. I think the whole idea that a girl is singing that song and is waiting really appeals to them, too, and helps them to strive to be men of honor,” she said. – BP