Helen Smallbone is the mother of Christian music artists, Rebecca St. James and Joel and Luke Smallbone, best known as For King and Country. Mrs. Smallbone writes about her family's journey in the music industry as well as their faith journey. Mrs. Smallbone shares the challenges that her family faced when coming to the United States from Australia to pursue their music ministry. Throughout this journey, Mrs. Smallbone depicts the faith that carried them through and highlights the importance of having God as the center of their lives.

This memoir illustrates the faith of a family and how when you trust God with every part of your life, He will be there in abundant ways.

Behind the Lights
The Extraordinary Adventure of a Mum and Her Family
by Helen Smallbone
Pub Date 12 Apr 2022
K-LOVE Books
Biographies & Memoirs | Christian | Nonfiction (Adult)


I am reviewing a copy of Behind the Lights through K-Love Books and Netgalley:



Helen Smallbone is the mother of seven creative children, including Christian music artists for KING & COUNTRY and Rebecca St. James chronicles the family’s journey of faith across the ocean to go where God was leading. Behind the Lights is written from a Mothers perspective, and shares the stories of peaks, valleys, and a family trusting God for provision.



In this heartfelt memoir Helen Smallbone’s heartfelt story illustrates what it means to really let God lead, which almost always means living outside the box of how the world says to live. How did an ordinary Australian family produce two Grammy Award–winning artists—Rebecca St. James and for KING & COUNTRY? What happened to bring the Smallbones through closed doors and to new beginnings in the United States? In Behind the Lights, Helen shares not only these stories of her family but of the life lessons they all learned along the way.




Helen and her husband, David, packed up their family and sixteen suitcases to move from Australia to the United States in 1991. They were isolated from the support of family and friends, they relied on God to provide them with hope and direction. Helen watched her children join forces as Rebecca St. James’ career grew, soon followed by blossoming careers for the others—as artists, entrepreneurs, filmmakers—and the rise of Joel and Luke’s for KING & COUNTRY on Christian music charts




I give Behind the Lights five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

In Behind the Lights, Helen Smallbone has written an autobiography about her life and her family. She has been more behind the scenes instead of on the main stage. In the book, she shared how she come to know Christ. She explained the story of how she met her husband, David and they had a total of six kids, two daughters and four brothers. They lived in Australia. She went into great detail about his history and how he began to work in the Christian community as a concert promoter. He worked with Petra, Stryper, Carman, Whiteheart, and a few others. She was very real in sharing the story of the three closed doors they faced as a family. She explained how her husband was good at budgeting and planning and promoting the shows. He really wanted to bring one Christian artist over and the tour ended up costing them a loss of $250,000. They were down about 40% and the touring manager and their team could care less. They pretty much told him he signed a contact and laughed in his face. She explained how these three closed doors led them into moving to America. She revealed her family work ethic and how they would all work together to make ends meet.


In the book, she shared how Rebecca St. James got her name and how she got signed as a Christian, recording artist. David became her manager. She explained the touring side and how each of her brothers would help out in different ways. She explained why Rebecca only went to ten grade and how she felt God tell her that it would be okay. And it turned out it was. Rebecca has since released ten albums, wrote a dozen books, and starred in eight movies.


Another part of the book was looking at the story behind for Kings and Country (Luke and Joel) and how they received their name. She revealed how God brought them into performing together when Joel at first wanted to be a solo act. They wanted to at first go the secular music route and then things changed and they went into Christian music.


I would recommend this awesome book about the whole family of the Smallbones. I enjoyed reading more about Rebecca St. James and for Kings and Country and their family story told by their mother. I liked how she also touched on Luke’s health crisis and his wife’s struggle with being addicted to an anti-nausea medication. I also liked how she opened up about how God provided for her family when they experienced hard times. One person even gave her family a Toyota. This story was very heart touching. I also connected with reading about their sister, Libby and her battle with Lyme disease, which went undiagnosed for six years. I too have suffered from this disease and it took years for me to recover. I felt many of the same symptoms she had, horrible headaches, body aches, and tired all the time and wanted to stay in bed. It was encouraging to read about how she relied on her love for her dog to help her get through this. She also was able to get healing from past wounds. I immensely liked reading about her whole family story and she how she covered each family member.

You’ve probably heard of Rebecca St. James and for KING AND COUNTRY. What you may not know (or at least I didn’t) was that FK&C duo were related to Rebecca and that behind all three of them is one mum—Helen Smallbone. Behind the Lights is Helen’s story, one that begins as a pastor’s kid in Australia and ends as a mum of and grandmother who has spent a lifetime in the Christian music industry.

Smallbone’s memoir is partly about coming to America, partly about creating a new life out of nothing, and partly about showbusiness—but it’s mostly about family. Relationships remain at the heart of the book, whether that’s the details surrounding how she met her husband, David, or how the family banded together when they made a leap of faith from Australia to Nashville.

My favorite part of Behind the Lights was that it didn’t devolve into a celebrity memoir where the author shares sanitized vignettes that have obviously been run by a team of PR professionals and have been told in various places a hundred times over the years. This isn’t the Rebecca St. James story or the for KING AND COUNTRY story as told through the eyes of their mother. This is fully Helen Smallbone’s story and it shines because of that.

For those of you coming to the book because of its connection to these two bands, don’t worry. Smallbone offers a behind-the-scenes look at the family and tells the story of how each of the bands got started and how they made it. But the overall focus isn’t on the celebrity of it all, but the family that exists through it. The final chapter of Behind the Lights wraps things up by giving a “Where Are They Now?” breakdown for each of the Smallbone kids, ending the story by, in a way, transitioning into this next generation of stories.

That transition is at the heart of what Helen Smallbone is trying to do at this stage of her life and ministry. Her organization, MUMlife, is meant to support and equip young mothers and use her story to encourage and embolden the next generation. Life is story, and although Helen’s has been behind the lights, I’m thankful that she’s emerged for this time in spotlight to share her story with us.

I was intrigued when I saw the cover of Behind the Lights: The Extraordinary Adventure of a Mum and Her Family and knew I had to read it. Behind the Lights: The Extraordinary Adventure of a Mum and Her Family by Helen Smallbone tells the story of Mrs. Smallbone and her family’s testimony of how her family left their homeland of Australia and took a huge leap of faith settling in the United States. Mrs. Smallbone is a mother to 7 children–3 of which are involved in the Christian Music industry (the duo for KING & COUNTRY and Rebecca St. James). The first few years in America were difficult for the family, but God showed up in miraculous ways to provide for the family. After her daughter Rebecca St. James’ career took off and things started to even out, the whole family rallied around and worked together to do what God had called them to do. Through the ups and downs–the children starting their own independent lives, to the start of for KING & COUNTRY to the present–they did their best to trust God and walk out the adventure set before them.

I didn’t realize when I first chose to read Behind the Lights: The Extraordinary Adventure of a Mum and Her Family that it was written by the mother of Rebecca St. James and for KING & COUNTRY. I love how each chapter of the book opens up with a Bible verse that sets the theme for the chapter. I enjoyed every single word of Behind the Lights and the stories of Faith and Trust in God that were shared. I love that regardless of what happened to the Smallbone Family, they trusted God (no matter how hard it was) and they worked together as a family to make it. I love the message and testimony of trusting in God through the unknown that is weaved throughout the entire book. I love the brutal honesty and vulnerability of motherhood and life that Mrs. Smallbone talks about–what she deems to be failures and what she sees as successes. I love how Mrs. Smallbone champions the role of Motherhood and wants to pour into other mothers and empower them in a Godly manner. If you are looking for a encouraging read, especially if you are a mother, then I highly recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. My review is also on Goodreads and my blog, Leslie's Library Escape.

I have been a fan of contemporary Christian music for years so I thought I would give this book a shot. Helen Smallbone is the mother of Rebecca St. James and the brothers who make up the group For King and Country. I thought it would be interesting to learn more about their background. Although this book included how all of them got started in the music industry, it was so much more that that. She is a mature woman in her faith as well as a wife, mother, and grandmother. She offers readers a lot of insight into the lessons she has learned in life and examples of how she saw God provide for her family through the years. I think she has a great message for parents today about how children need to learn the value of working hard and need to find their purpose in this world.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Reading the story behind this family was intriguing, interesting, & enjoyable. The author did a good job telling the family’s story.

Helen Smallbone is the mother of seven children who are all adults now, three of which are well-known in Christian music—Rebecca St. James and brothers Joel and Luke of for KING & COUNTRY. In this book, she shares the story of her family, from moving from Australia to the US where everyone pitched in to keep them all afloat, to working together to put on Rebecca St. James’s shows once she got into the music industry, and to how for KING & COUNTRY got started.

One of the things I liked about this book was that way it was so conversational, like she’s telling her story in person. And she’s not afraid to talk about the mistakes made by her or anyone else in her family. I appreciate the way she ties every lesson learned into God and the Bible. Though very little of her incredible life is very relatable to me, I was still quite immersed in the book and was carried along with the ups and downs.

I’ve seen hints of at least Joel & Luke’s involvement in Rebecca St. James’s concerts, but the overall story of the entire family working at their oldest sister’s concerts and growing into their roles was the most interesting to me. It gives a lot of insight into what I’ve said since pretty much the first time I saw fK&C in concert—they put on some of the best live shows I’ve ever been to. And now I can see how their talent as performers had early roots. I’m really glad I read this book, and think that fans of Rebecca St. James and/or for KING & COUNTRY will enjoy it, as well as people interested in the behind the scenes of the Christian music industry (though I was fairly disappointed by some of what I read about that).

This unfortunately was a DNF for me at about 20%; I just couldn't get into the writing style.

I was really excited about it, because I'm definitely a fan of for KING & COUNTRY and Rebecca St. James! But--the book didn't flow for me, or draw me in, and I had a few theological quibbles. It may be more successful with other readers, and I do hope so!

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Helen is a great writer. I really loved this book and appreciated Helen's candor. Her faith is inspirational and I strive to trust like she always has.

I thoroughly enjoyed Behind The Lights by Helen Smallbone! It was not only wonderful to read the stories of her family life, but how she and David trusted God each step of their journey, whether they understood what He was doing at the time or not. She is someone I can see being friends with.

Loved reading about this family. God has done some mighty things in that family.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

If you’ve enjoyed music from “for King & Country,” then you may be familiar with members Joel and Luke Smallbone. They are brothers of Rebecca St. James, who I had thought blazed a trail for them with her own career in the Christian music industry. But really the Smallbone family as a whole has been on this journey together. They gave their plans to God, let Him lead and carve that path for them, leaving the outcomes to Him.
And what a life they have had!
In her book “Behind the Lights,” Helen Smallbone gave her perspective of their family’s journey through what she called “the extraordinary,” “outside the box of normal” life so far. I learned about the book after seeing the tribute song, “Unsung Hero,” created by her sons. Rebecca, in her opening letter for the book, said it’s like sitting down and chatting with her mother. Yes — I was reminded of all those times I used to sit with my relatives in the living room and listen to their stories.
A Methodist minister’s daughter, Helen lived with her three brothers in Australia. She talked about giving her life to Jesus Christ after attending a Billy Graham crusade in Sydney. She met her husband David when he came to stay with her family. From their early courtship to marriage and the arrival of all seven of their children, Helen told story after story about their reliance on God for provision. They stayed in the center of His will. He always came through in sometimes miraculous, unbelievable, faith-building ways.
David Smallbone worked at a small record company when Helen married him. Before that, he had played double bass and sang in local after-church coffee shops. He recognized how much he enjoyed managing the band more than performing. He went from managing his brothers’ band Family to working alongside international Christian artists touring in Australian.
And here’s where I had a flashback to the music I listened to as a teen in the mid-1980s. David worked with artists like Keith Green, Leon Patillo, Phil Keaggy, Andrae Crouch, Stryper, Petra, Carman and David Meece. Australia had a union policy where someone native needed to sing as part of the concert, so that’s when Rebecca first got her start singing onstage at 12 years old. She sang before Carman at his concert.
Helen talked about their move to the United States in 1991 and life in Tennessee. (The journey wasn’t easy.) The couple raised 7 incredibly hard-working children, even before they took to the stage. They worked together as a family to make money from raking leaves, mowing yards, landscaping, cleaning houses, and babysitting.
All the kids had a role to play in helping the family, and they would turn over their earnings without complaint. What a work ethic! They did their part and in turn gained a sense of purpose and self-worth. Eventually Rebecca started performing and writing music, which led to the life they have today.
I enjoyed hearing Helen’s memories of each of her children and what they are doing today. I especially loved the story behind how the Joel and Luke started “For King and Country.” Helen shared what led to them writing the songs, “It’s not over yet” and “Burn the ships.”
The former song had been written for their sister, Libby, their youngest child, who I think I related to the most. I can relate to having baffling medical symptoms and no answers, multiple doctor visits, and unending health concerns. I said, “Twins.” Libby battled for too long before she learned she had been suffering from Lyme disease — 2006-2012. Such a strong young woman.
Helen and another younger mom, Heather Rae Houle, from their church started mentoring other mamas about 11 years ago. Five years ago, they took their mentoring group to a wider audience and called it “MUMlife Community.” Rahny Taylor from AccessMore approached Helen about doing a podcast. At first, Helen said no, but then told him only if she could do them with Heather. They have now recorded several sessions.
Helen ended her memoir with words of encouragement from herself and from David. It felt like an altar call and a benediction. She told readers that Jesus loves them and wants a relationship with them. They can trust their agenda to Jesus. She encouraged them to live out the purpose God has for their lives and trust Him for their tomorrows. And don’t worry about life not looking like those of the rest of the world. I needed to hear that. She said sometimes we are taken down paths in life that we wouldn’t choose, but God is working all things for our good.
Thank you Netgalley and K-LOVE books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. What an incredible life Helen Smallbone has led. Her love for both family and God is truly inspiring. As a mother I fully appreciate Helens biblical wisdom and feel so encouraged in the importance of my role as a wife to my hubby and mother to my daughter. To always trust in God's leading, know He is in control and always look for the blessings from Him.

As a "For King and Country" fan I attended their Australian concert and was blown away with their performance. The lighting, the energy, the talent etc It was amazing and I loved the behind the scenes aspect to this book about how the family started out in the industry and the talent that they have to put on such a wonderful show. It took so much work for them, so many doors closed before they opened. It has made me fully appreciate the hard work that goes into being a performer and the life that goes with it.

I picked up the book because of who her children are. It was wonderful getting to know Helen Smallbone! Her life is filled with faith and obedience to move when God says move (sometime literally!) and that is encouraging in my own walk with the Lord. She is bold in her faith and raised her children well, and I find that helpful in my own journey of motherhood in a secular society. It was very interesting!

Since I have been a fan of For King & Country for years, I have heard a few of the stories before. This family is living proof of God providing and keeping His promises. I think the challenges they faced have helped them all be stronger. This book can be encouraging to anyone who reads it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I am grateful I got to read this book.

Helen Smallbone is mom to famous Christian musicians, Rebecca St. James and for KING AND COUNTRY. In this book she shares the ups and downs she and her family faced while following God’s guiding hand. Times were downright difficult for the family when after a series of job disappointments and losses in Australia, they moved to America to pursue another opportunity that also turned to disappointment. It’s when things look dire that God can show up in amazing ways. God did that for the Smallbone family again and again. Helen shared, “ A closed door isn't a disaster, it's actually just a redirection.”

Helen is a woman of strong character because of her unwavering trust in the Lord. I would certainly not face the near destitution she and her family faced with the grace, love, and lack of bitterness or blame, as she demonstrated. I know she would say the praise goes to God for giving her the strength. She related, “It's so important to pour your heart out to God and turn to Him for the comfort you need or the solution you're looking for. He hears and He cares about all of it, and He will bring an answer.”

With seven very different children, it was interesting to see how the Lord led she and her husband, David, in helping each of their children develop their unique interests and find their individual niche in the family business. one child ran lights, one did enjoyed design, while another managed the merchandise and of course, several took to the stage.

Helen willingly admitted her mistakes in some of her parenting decisions. It’s a testimony to the closeness of Helen and David’s relationships to their kids and their openness to hear them each out. At certain points in time one or another of the children left the family business to pursue their own things. Though that was difficult for Helen and David because it affected their ministry and income, they never pressured their children to continue. They kept their hands and hearts open and trusted God in the times their income was impacted negatively.

If you enjoy reading about God’s guidance and provision, you will appreciate this book. It was fun and interesting to read about the behind the scenes music industry side of things as well.

I received an arc copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The passion for Jesus and the fortitude to persevere despite hard times is so thrilling to see in this autobiographical memoir of the David and Helen Smallbone family. How they all pulled together to support themselves, to present their daughter/sister Rebecca St. James on the many musical road show tours and later on for their sons/brothers Joel and Luke with their KING & COUNTRY musical tours, is so heartwarming. From my perspective, the joy of life and respect of each family member and their respective abilities, talents and skills that this book portrays is such a testimony to God's grace actively living in each of them.

Their story began when David and Helen met and married in Australia and each of the seven children were added to the family fold. It moves on to when they lost everything, then moved to the USA to try the market there. The narrative then sees the children grown to adulthood, mostly married, and with children of their own. Although, I believe this memoir ends on a postitive note, this Smallbone couple's saga is not yet complete; there's more to do for Christ.

However, the 'flavor' left behind in my mind after I'd finished reading this book of the family's struggles and triumphs and sat back to contemplate the overall feel is that their story has been an encouragement to me to live well for Christ as they have done. Their integrity on and off the stage (in and behind the spotlights) is a miracle of God's grace coursing all those years through their spiritual veins and working mightily in their willing hearts that have been constantly attuned to Christ through the Holy Spirit. This is truly something to emulate.

I believe this refreshing testimony will bring much hope, joy and peace in Jesus even despite the many ups and downs, and disappointments life can bring, to any who may read it. This has been a very satisfying read and I highly recommend this book to those who like to learn about and put into practice, Christian Living.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

February 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

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Helen Smallbone is the mother of seven children including Singers Rebecca
St James and Joel and Luke from For King and Country.
They left Australia in 1991 for the U.S.A and have been involved in the music
industry since.
She shares how God guided her and her husband David, how He provided for them
when they arrived in Tennessee and talk about her children career. She homeschooled
her children and explain how it's important for children to have responsibilities
it allows them to have a sense of purpose.
Helen Smallbone has gain a lot of wisdom throughout her journey, and she gives great tips
about relationships and parenting. She has a heart for young mothers and hold a Podcast
MUMlife community.
Helen and David Smallbone have seen God's faithfulness in their lives, no matter the situations
they kept moving on and God honored they faith and opened doors for them and their children.
This is a great testimony, I really enjoyed reading it. I have been
listening to For King and Country music regularly since several years and I found it interesting
to learn more about the beginning of their career, how Joel and Luke relationship evolved, the story
behind their name and their purpose.

This is another book that I asked for not really expecting much. Fortunately, as a fan of for King and Country, this book taught me more about how such a fabulous family got that way.