With her album due out in May and active involvement with organizations Pure Freedom and Soles4Soles, Christian rocker Stephanie Smith is keeping busy. She is even taking her ministry on the road with performances scheduled throughout the rest of the year. After signing with Gotee Records in Tennessee in a deal made with tobyMac, Stephanie continues to follow her passion for music, youth, and her faith.  

I sat down with Stephanie during GMA week and she shared the latest details about her music and ministries. 

How would you describe your sound?
My sound is definitely rock. There’s not much acoustic on there, it’s pop rock, but there’s some punk rock elements, there’s some harder rock elements, then there’s the pop, kind of happy-rock. But that was my goal, I love rock and roll, I love electric and stuff that will make you move your booty.

When I started out, I started doing worship music. That’s how I began, singing with my youth group, but as far as my preference in what I do, it was rock, all the way. I got an MxPx record when I was in 9th grade and it just moved me. [Laughs] I was like, “That is what I want to do.”

What are your hopes and goals for your new album, spiritually and musically?
I hope that it’s something refreshing for Christians, and even maybe people seeking, who don’t know the Lord. I think we did a good job of capturing my journey over the course of the year that we recorded. So I hope that the listener can relate somehow to some place on that journey and they’re either encouraged in their walk or wherever they’re at in life, on their journey. It’s my hope that they’re encouraged somehow.

Do you hope that your music impacts a particular group?
Definitely, it’s the youth. I find that I really relate to and kind of connect with teenage girls, younger teens. That’s why I like having a variety as well on the album, because you’ve got your high school guys that won’t listen to anything but rock and roll, and maybe there’s a song or two on there for them.

How have you grown musically and spiritually while working on this album?
Well, it took us 10 months to a year to record the project and after we recorded the last song, I realized there is no way I could have sung or performed that song 10 months ago. I grew so much. I hadn’t been in the studio much, so I had a lot of fear to get over in the ISO booth, trying to recreate the energy that a live performance already has with an audience. That was a challenge for me, wanting to hit everything perfectly the first time, and giving myself the grace to try new things.

And then spiritually and personally, I had to persevere quite a bit through some tired seasons. And patience, I had to rely on the Lord and his timing – just being patient. It was painful at times. I was working 6-7 hours in the mornings at Starbucks, and then in the evenings I would spend 6 or 7 hours at the studio. So it made for these 12-13 hour days. It was crazy.

Do you plan on ever moving over to mainstream music?
I don’t really, I have a heart for people that don’t know the Lord, and while I’m very open to talking about that and I want my music to minister to them too. But also, I have a heart for the church and I really feel like some of the messages that the Lord has laid on my heart are to encourage Christians to live a life abundantly, to walk in some of the truths that Christ offers us. I want everyone to know Christ’s truths, so I want everyone to know Christ. Then on a deeper level, things like forgiveness, and those promises to go deeper. I have a heart to challenge the church in those areas.

I noticed that your Myspace said you’re working with organizations like Soles4Souls, and Pure Freedom. How did you get involved with those?
Soles4Souls, one of the guys at Gotee saw a sign for it at Sonic, and so we looked into it more. I spent some time in Mozambique, Africa, and in Guatemala, and Gotee knows that’s a big part of me, and that I wanted to somehow incorporate those experiences with where I’m at now with music. So when we looked into it, Soles4Souls is basically: get shoes, give shoes. It’s a practical way where my audience, high school students, can start serving and ministering, and being involved without having to up and leave for 3 weeks. It’s kind of impossible when you’re in school, but it’s a practical way we can serve. I can challenge my audience to host a shoe drive. It was just a perfect fit.

And then Pure Freedom, I was at the first Pure Freedom retreat when I was 13. I grew up with some of the leaders of this organization. It started with a room full of about 15 students and now it’s like 600 students, so it’s really grown and really blessed me. It’s been an honor to partner with this leadership team, leading worship, sharing my story and my music with them. It’s really helped develop some leadership skills in me as far as ministry goes.

Have you been doing anything with them lately?
Yeah! I was just in Pennsylvania with them yesterday. I drove with my guitar player and we did an event in Pittsburgh. So I’m pretty active with them even now.

You’ve been on the road quite a bit. What have been the best and worst parts of traveling?
The best is that I really love it. I’ve always loved to travel. I love seeing new places, meeting new people. People fascinate me, and it’s so interesting to see how the northeast people are so different than the mid-southwest. So it’s really a fascinating thing to see and experience, and I love it. But it’s like this catch-22, because I miss home so much when I’m gone. I have such a great community at home, and sometimes it’s really hard for me to know that I’m missing out. Life is going on without me, I feel disconnected. I miss church, I love my church and I miss it when I’m gone. So, I heard on one of my old dcTalk videos, Toby said “When you’re on the road, you’re dying to get home, but when you get home you’re dying to get out on the road again” and I so understand that now because its like you love it and you hate it at the same time.

Do you get to see the cities and experience them? Is it all work and no play?
Oh, it’s a lot of work and not a ton of play. Hour to hour there’s always something going on. The only time I get to explore and play is booking flights, a lot of times before a flight I’ll have a couple hours to kill and I’ll be at the hotel and I’m able to walk around downtown. That’s what happened in San Diego, it was kind of nice. It was a fun city to explore.

What do you do to prepare yourself before a performance?
We have a general rule that we will dedicate at least 15 minutes to prayer. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a church or in a bar that I’m playing, it’s really important that my heart is right before I take the stage, because I know myself. I know that I’m human and I never want this to ever become about me. The Lord can take it away the moment it does. It’s gotta be about Him, so in order to get that vision refocused and my heart in the right place, especially before I try to offer myself to an audience. It’s really important. So that’s one of the biggest ways we prepare.

What’s been the best part of GMA week so far?
Well, this year it’s fun participating. I’ve been around the last 2 years, and I’ve just sort of observed. I’ve been talking with Gotee for a while, I signed in 2006, so it’s been a while. But this year we’ve got a record, we’ve got a project so it’s really neat to participate.