[0:00] Hello, friends. Welcome to another episode of Tell Us a Good Story. Today, we have the honor of talking to someone who could probably be voted Mom of the Year every year. And her family story is featured in the new Kingdom Story Company movie titled Unsung Hero, Mrs. Helen Smallbone. You guys, this woman is the mother of seven very creative children, including Grammy Award winning artists for King and Country and Rebecca St. James. This new movie shares the story of the hard times that brought their family from Australia to the the U.S. in 1991. As you will hear, Helen talks a lot about how this movie about her family was actually made, but she also shares some fun stories about her high-profile children, including what it was like traveling the world with a family of nine. Nine, Steph, in an RV. Oh my gosh. Oh, I just can’t even think about that, Kevin. This woman was so sweet and so kind to talk to. We can’t wait for you to hear our conversation with Helen Smallbone. phone. I’m Kevin and I’m Stephanie. And during our marriage, we have dealt with an electrocution, a brain tumor, brain surgery, then doctors telling us that children were not in our future, followed by miscarriage, and then Kevin’s cancer diagnosis. However, today we live a life completely healed and restored with three healthy children who doctors said were not possible.

[1:15] And we’re here to tell stories that inspire, give hope, and brighten your day. Welcome to Tell Us a Good Story.

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[1:57] All right, listeners. So before we get to this conversation with Helen Smallbone, Steph and I want to give you some context about what you’re about to listen to and how this came about. So Steph, this was pretty amazing. Oh my gosh. This was a big honor to talk to Helen. I was freaking out when you even told me the possibility because you had reached out. Did you reach out to their PR people? A listener had actually reached out. And again, this is one of those things where listeners are giving us some big ideas. Which I love. It is very nice. But they mentioned for King & Country. And I was like, oh, they are Grammy award-winning artists. I know they had a new movie coming out. So I was like, okay, maybe they would be interested.

[2:37] I found their PR team’s contact information, reached out to them. And again, this was like a shot in the dark. But we have interviewed a handful of people who are friends with them. Okay. So for those not aware of 4King and Country, it’s two brothers. It’s Luke. It’s Joel Smallbone. They’re brothers. They are one of the top music artists in the Christian music industry. So reached out to them. And their PR team came back to us and said, Hey, we love what you’re doing. Tell us a good story. Let’s try to get something on the calendar. Freaking out. Yes. Freaking out when you told me that was happening. We were thrilled that we got a response. Yes. That it wasn’t a no, that they were actually trying to work this out. So this has happened before in the past, and you don’t know whether they’re being serious or they’re just kind of pushing you off to the side. You don’t know. Well, in this case, they were legitimately trying to find time on Luke and Joel’s PR tour that they were doing for the movie Unsung Hero, which is a movie about their family and how they moved here in 1991 from Australia to the United States as kids. So the PR team reached back out and said, I’m sorry, we can’t make this happen. However, would you like to talk to their mother, Helen, who is the main character in this movie? Yes. And we were like, absolutely.

[3:53] Yes, we would love that. And she was like, how about tomorrow? Well, just so happens, we record all of our interviews on Fridays. And that happened to be a Friday. So that was perfect. It worked out perfect from a timing perspective that we were going to be able to have this conversation with her. However, she is doing a PR media tour. Yes. So what happened is the media team set up probably a bunch of interviews for her. Just line them up. And she’s going from this show to this show to this show, whether it’s TV, radio, podcast, whatever, live, not live. So she had a lot going on that Friday. And I remember her PR team was like, you can only have this amount of time. You need to stay on time with her. You can’t go over. You can’t miss your time slot. So we had to be super tight. And we had already had two interviews that day. That’s the thing. We were able to put her in between two other interviews that we already had scheduled. So we had three scheduled on this Friday afternoon. It was Josh Baldwin of Bethel Music, Helen Smallbone, and Doug McNamee, who will be next week, who’s the president of Field & Stream. So I had a lot of preparation to do. You did. You were so busy. So Steph, we did three interviews within four hours. It was pretty crazy. These three people, we did three interviews literally in four hours that Friday. But what happened was, while the first interview is going on.

[5:19] We’re getting text messages from the PR team of Helen saying, hey, she’s running over on some of these other interviews. It’s going to be another 15 minutes. It’s going to be another 15 minutes, which is fine. But we had a hard stop for one of our interviews. And so we know what it’s like to be put on the back burner. And we did not want to do that to any of our guests. Well, we respect our guests’ time so much. So we didn’t want an interview with Helen, which we were super excited about, to be delayed, delayed, and then pushing our next guest back, we just didn’t want to be rude. So it got to the point where we finally got on the Zoom call with Helen. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to go back. I want to go back because we were like waiting for her and they’re like, okay, it just got pushed back 10 minutes. And I’m like, oh, Kevin, I’m getting nervous. I’m getting nervous. And you’re like, no, no, no, babe, it’s okay. It’s okay. Well, then it got bumped back like another 10 minutes and I’m like, Kevin. We almost had to call it. We almost had to like cancel her. And I was like, Kevin, I want this so bad. And you were being so encouraging. Like, Steph, it’s okay. We got this. We can do this.

[6:24] And then I was like, Kevin, I don’t want to be disrespectful to our next guest. So I’m like, we have got to stop it at a certain point just so we can download this podcast and get ready for the next one. So I was super nervous. Right. And so to the point where it almost didn’t happen. Thankfully, she was able to get on the call with us and we had 20 minutes with her. 20 minutes, you guys. so you guys know me i am super nervous i want everything to go okay so she pops on and we i’m of course so excited to meet her and to talk with her and bless her heart she’s like oh hello and her little australian accent accent you’re going to notice immediately immediately but then she’s like is the lighting okay so then she stands up and tries to go fix the lighting and you guys i’m cringing. You’re like, we need to talk. We just need to talk to you, Helen. Like, I love you. You look beautiful, but we really need to focus.

[7:19] You’re in the shot. We’re good. Yes. And then she’s like, is this angle okay? I’m like, I’m squeezing Kevin’s leg. I’m like, babe, we’ve got to get her to sit and start talking to her because I’m about ready to lose my daggone mind. Because we’re running out of time. Yes. Yes. So in this conversation, I want to give you some context. So she mentioned some names. So Joel and Luke are her sons who are the two members of the the band for King and Country. Yeah. All right. Rebecca St. James is her oldest child, and she is another Grammy award-winning artist in the Christian music industry. Her husband, David…

[7:52] This is the main story about her and her husband, David. That is her husband when she mentions the name David. So you’ll hear that constantly. But it’s funny because she’ll say, what’d she call her son, Luke? The other chap in her country. Yes, I caught that too. And then she says the word mom a lot. So you could tell that she’s definitely Australian. But Unsung Hero is about their family and the hardships when they came over from Australia back in 1991. 91. But Steph, she came over with six kids, eight months pregnant with her youngest.

[8:23] And the job that her husband had when they got over here fell through after like two months. And they had hardship after hardship before making it, right? And multiple kids becoming these world travelers and world-renowned artists. Just incredible what their family did and went through and miracle after miracle. It was interesting because I had read a story about this and I kind of talked to her a little bit about it, but she didn’t go into great detail. But it was basically, there’s so many miracles in their families’ lives through this whole situation that Hollywood had to cut some of these miraculous stories because people are like, it’s not going to be believable. It’s not going to be believable. And I’m just like, oh my gosh. So many miracles happened in their family. Like, we’re not even going to believe this, right? That it’s so far out there. It was pretty cool. And what was amazing is when they read the script, she said the only change she had was, be careful not to take the miraculous out. Because that was so critical to the story of their family. So the other thing that was interesting stuff is the son, Joel.

[9:33] Who again is in for King and Country, he plays his father. He’s director of the movie and plays his dad in the movie. How hard would it be for you to play your parents, your mom? Could you play your mom in a movie? Totally. You could? Sure. I got this. I don’t know. I think I could. Yeah. Could you play your dad? Well, I could. I could. Maybe not. Great. I think, I think, Steph, I’d have flashbacks where I’d get on set and I would just start yelling at the kid actors.

[10:05] Put your shoes away. Kevin, stop picking on your sisters. I will turn this car around right now. Like, they would probably tell me, Kevin, please stop yelling at the child actors. But if someone were making a movie about our lives, Yes. Wouldn’t you want to have input on which kid is playing you? I don’t know. Because, I mean, I mean, I think they’re going to pick the best actors for it. You would hope so. I don’t know. Yes. I think it would be fine. I trust them. You would trust them. They’re professionals. I know you wouldn’t trust them. Well, I would probably give them some notes, right? You would do a lot more. You would be in the screening process. You would be in the interviewing. That’s totally not me. Hey, where’s those kids from Stranger Things? Can we get some of them in here, please? No. What do you mean they’re too expensive? I would be so chill about it. I trust you. And you’re like, I need background checks. I need headshots. It would be really weird. talking to a kid who’s playing you in a film. I think it’d be really cool. I think that would be a really cool experience. That would be wild. Can you imagine having your life story up on the big screen? And apparently all seven kids make cameo appearances at some point in the movie. That’s pretty special. So they’re all involved in the movie at some point. Just to know that your family story is going to inspire others, I think is pretty incredible. Okay, so you’re not nervous about the kids. Would you be nervous about reading the script for the first time, knowing how they were going to portray you? Yes. I think that would make me nervous.

[11:34] And it’s me, you guys. So you guys know me. I’m like, oh, I hope they like me. I hope I come across okay. I’d be like, why am I the villain in this movie?

[11:43] Why am I the bad guy here? Of course they made me the bad guy in this movie.

[11:50] Oh, which they probably would. Yeah, I’m sure they would. They’re not gonna make you the bad girl. That’s for sure. But how crazy would it be to like, see your life story up there and be like, Oh, I hope it’s received. Well, like, I think that would be a lot of pressure. I think so too. Right to tell your story in a way that people could relate to. Yes. Well, listeners, we were so honored to actually be able to spend time with Helen. It was, like I said, about 20 minutes. So this is the best of that conversation. And she was fantastic. You’re going to hear how sweet and kind she is. So please enjoy this conversation we had with Helen Smallbone. Enjoy it, guys.

[12:31] All right, Steph, I’m going to test you again here. What is your favorite book of all time? Obviously, it’s the Bible, Kevin. Yes. Nailed it. Very good. This time, you didn’t say the book we wrote called You Met Her Where. But it’s still a really good book. That is true. And it would make a great gift for friends or relatives on their birthday or for Christmas. Friends, you can order your copy of our book titled You Met Her Where? At kevinandsteph.com. And we will make sure to personally sign a copy for you or whoever you want. And as always, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story. All right, Steph, this is such an honor to be able to talk to this next guest.

[13:07] Friends, our next guest has a passion for encouraging moms and families. She’s the mother of seven very creative children and grandmother of 13 her children include multiple grammy award-winning artists and her family story is featured in the new movie titled unsung hero ladies and gentlemen please welcome to tell us a good story mrs helen smallbone oh we’re so thank you i haven’t had such a good excited uh intro for i don’t think ever oh thank Thank you. That’s awesome. Well, we are thrilled. We’re so excited. To talk to you. Yes. First off, of your seven kids, Helen, how many are actually in the movie? How many were cast in it? Actually, we all have a cameo role to some degree. You do. But our son, Joel, plays David. Yes. So he plays his father. He says it was a very expensive therapy session.

[13:58] And frankly, it has been in some ways. David and Joel, and Joel’s one of the guys in For King Country, are very similar personalities. And so a lot of times they’re butting heads a little. Oh, really? And so I have seen Joel be more generous to his father, actually be kinder to his father and not butt heads as much. And I think he’s giving David probably a lot more grace, having felt a lot of the emotion that David went through through David’s hard season of failure. Oh, that’s good. Okay, with your kids, did they want to pick who played them in the movie? Like casting? Yeah. Like I want this kid to play me?

[14:39] No, no. We actually had, you know, even David and I had very little to do with the movie. It was originally Luke’s idea, and Luke is the other chap in For King Country, because he in the concerts talks about Compassion, which is a child sponsorship organisation that they’re involved with, and he tells our story. And our story is really the hard times that brought us to America in 1991 and the journey that we had in those days. And a lot of times when he tells a story, people will say, gosh, it’s such a significant story. I mean, you need to write a book about it. So he says he wanted to go one step better and make a movie. He did speak to a producer and the producer was excited about making the movie. And so once he got that sort of base ground done, then he passed it on to Joel and the office and then they chose a script writer and then the script writer interviewed us and then he put the basics of the story together and then Joel and he worked together on finishing the script. Script, Joel and he ended up being the directors for the movie. And then Joel acted as David.

[15:48] David and I actually didn’t even see the script until about a month before they were about to go into filming. And David started to read it, realized he was the antagonist in the movie. And if you know much about movies, there’s got to be more like a bad person, good cop, bad cop. So he’s like the bad cop. And he was like, I just don’t remember it quite like that. So he decided he would keep his mouth shut and he did not read anymore. And so I then finished reading it. And my only comment that I came back to them was, be careful you don’t take the miraculous out because without the miraculous, we could not have stayed. And I think there’s a problem sometimes in faith movies that we can end up making God and God’s work and what God’s doing in our lives a little cheesy.

[16:43] And so I think there’s a tendency then how do you incorporate faith and make it real and not make it cheesy?

[16:50] And then I suppose you can look at miracles as being a little unbelievable. I mean, even in our own lives they can be a little unbelievable at times, but they’ve actually done an incredible job of bringing faith in they’ve brought miracles in and it’s not cheesy i mean it’s real is it true that you have so many miracles in your family they couldn’t even get all of them into the movie somehow yes isn’t that crazy but yeah it’s true yeah they said that there were others they were going to put in don’t ask me too many details else because I’m probably not going to remember as to what they were necessarily that aren’t in the movie yeah I’m probably off the top of my head not going to think of any that’s okay okay so when was the first time you saw the movie then was it at the film premiere that just took place recently no no not just recently um I mean Luke and Joel were on the set the whole time obviously Joel’s uh director as well he’s playing David Luke was determined Joel had actually asked Luke to be up there the whole time, so Luke was there as a producer and doing some background stuff, interviews and things. David and I went up there. We went up and back for a couple of days here and there. We weren’t on there all the time. Rebecca was up there a fair amount.

[18:08] So, different family members were up there, but no one other than Joel and Luke for the whole time. Joel went and did a basic edit. Okay. And then he showed it to the family. So, it was being recorded October to November 2022.

[18:25] Oh, wow. We saw, the family saw a basic edit in May 23. Okay. So, nearly a year ago. Okay. So, you know, I think he just wanted responses from the family as to how they felt, if they had anything that they really had noticed. It was a pretty basic edit. Some of the family, that’s the only time they’ve ever seen it. So, for a couple of members seeing it at the release the other day, theoretically, it’s probably really the first time they’ve seen it. And then there was one family member, a wife who had not been able to attend that other screening. And she when she went to the premiere on Monday night, it was the first time she’d actually seen him.

[19:10] I know you cover a lot of this in the book that you wrote a couple of years ago. But for listeners who are not familiar with the story, can you just briefly give context, Helen, about how your family ended up moving over here in the United States? You had six kids, and I believe you’re pregnant at the time. And of course this gets covered in the movie but can you share the context of your family story.

[19:32] Yeah, so my husband David has always had a passion for Christian music since really we got married. He started working full-time in his own companies in Christian music in 1977. The first concert that Rebecca ever attended was at a Larry Norman concert in the Sydney Opera House in 1977. So we’ve been in Christian music since nearly Christian music started, to tell you the honest truth. He was a concert promoter. He had a record company. He was into publishing. Coaching, he managed artists, and he was doing all that down in Australia. He came to me in the late 80s when he was just before he turned 40 or around when he turned 40. And he said, I don’t know that I can do this for the rest of my life. Like it is so stressful and so overwhelming that I just, I love it, but I just don’t know that I can do it for the rest of my life. I think it’s going to kill me. And anyway, after that, we had three major doors closed for us in Australia. The first one was we promoted a concert and David was anticipating and had budgeted for a concert attendance Australia-wide of 25,000 people. He only had 15,000 people turn up. It was a recession. You know, it just was unexpected. So, I mean, he lost over a quarter of a million dollars in 1990.

[20:51] Late 80s, that’s a, I mean, it’s a lot of money. It’s a lot, a lot, a lot of money in those days too. And then he thought, well, gosh, you know what? I’ve been recording Hills CLC’s Praise and Worship music, and it’s been going really well. I can continue doing that. Then on his 40th birthday, he had a meeting at Hills, which then became Hillsong, and they said, no, we want to bring the music and the recordings back in-house into the church. We won’t need you anymore. That was devastating for him because he had been hoping that that might be the next thing that he would really be taking on full time. And so then he had spoken to a few artists that he promoted in Australia, and he was really looking for maybe management opportunities that he could come to America for. And one of those was Carmen. Carmen and we actually came David and I came to America in about the November 1990 to look at schools and where we might live in Tulsa Oklahoma Carmen was due to come down to Australia in the March of 1991 he came it was a successful tour but a promoter in Australia a pastor actually in Australia got his ear and said, you know, Smallbone’s a loser.

[22:13] And he got, Carmen got gun shy then and thought, oh, maybe I better not bring him back over to America. So we got the phone call in April 1991 to say that Carmen did not wish us to come over. He had bought our airfares and so David said, by the way, that’s your deposit. You know, we’re keeping the airfares. So we had the airfares to come. We just didn’t have a job. So David ended up finding another job. We came over as management for this other artist. Then David’s reputation caught up with him and that job lasted two months and he said, I’m sorry, I can’t work with you. Oh, no. Well, now we’re on the other side of the world. No family, no friends. Six kids, now no income, no car, no furniture, and I’m about eight months pregnant with our baby, no insurance. Oh, Helen. Oh, my goodness. So really, yours is a story of faith. Perseverance. Perseverance. Oh, my goodness. Failure, yes. Right. But not giving up. Not giving up.

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[23:54] I know we’re limited on time, but during those rough times, Helen, what did you do with your family? Right? Is it, hey, kids, it’s family meeting, we need to pray, right? Like, what would you do to just keep everyone’s spirits up? Like, hey, it’s going to be okay. What did you do as a parent, as a mom? Well, I think for first up for me, we kept the kids at home, because I needed that community, You know, like I needed their strength to be with me through this time. And so when we got settled into our home, it was actually September 1991. So the school year had started. So we decided we’d homeschool and just be together. And then, I mean, we’d known there was nothing in Australia for us anymore. That’s probably one of the hugest statements. Like if we had stayed in Australia, we would have had, I don’t know what David would have done because his passion was Christian music. Yeah. So we had to look. At new opportunities, we had to look for the doors that God were opening.

[25:00] You’re right, it’s a story of persistence. He had to keep calling people, seeing if there was an avenue. We had realised before we left Australia that there could be a possibility of Rebecca being signed. We had done a demo sort of album of her singing Australian praise and worship music. He had that with him. So he was going to record companies and trying to sell that. And with regards to the home and whatever, I mean, frankly, I just verbalise it as an adventure. Like we don’t know. Like this is a different time in our lives. I mean, we’re together.

[25:34] God’s with us. We need to pray. I think when you go through incredibly hard times, well, any hard time, it can be job loss, it can be grief, it can be pain, it can be physical stuff going on, illness, you realise where your foundation is. You realize what is the core of what you’re built your life upon. And I think at that time, we did realize that our faith was actually built on Jesus. And so, he was the first place to turn, that we needed one another for strength, for support, for community. And the kids, when David and I were weak, a lot of times it was the kids who were encouraging us, saying, Mom, it’s going to be all right. Right. And I’ve realized you just take the next step that God opens, whatever that might be. Yes. Well, listeners, those kids she’s talking about include Rebecca St. James and the boys from, well, the men, I should say, from For King and Country, Joel and Luke.

[26:33] So multiple Grammy award-winning artists. Real quick, final question. Do you have any good stories from the years of touring with your kids? Is there anything that comes to mind?

[26:46] Well, there’s one instance that does come to mind. So we travelled in a motorhome for quite a few years with Rebecca. We’ve crisscrossed America on the motorhome. And once we got a tour bus, the band, Rebecca’s band, would travel on a tour bus and we would travel on a day off, we would travel on a motorhome. The boys, because they were crew for Rebecca, needed to be on the tour bus if it was a concert day. But when it was not a concert day, they would be on the motorhome with us. So we’re nine people on the motorhome. I mean, it’s pretty congested. So this day I was not feeling well. And so we had the Class C motorhome that has the bed above the driver’s seat. Yes. And I’m up there trying to sleep.

[27:33] The kids are all there. They’re ants. I mean, like, we’re traveling miles. Like, they’re antsy. They’re whatever. Anyway, David was getting aggravated at the kids because I was not able to sleep. They were making too much noise. And David’s always had my back as a father. Like, you cross your mom, you get me, you know. And so, I can remember Joel, and he would have been about maybe 16, 17. So the kids were all down the back on the back bed with the door shut and there was a back room bedroom then there was the bathroom there was another door then there was a kitchen and the front couch and then me up above the driver’s seat so Joel had come out of the back to heat up his dinner and put it in the microwave and he yelled and laughed because he’d opened the doors back at his brothers down on the back david like he was mad like how dare you come down you boys are all laughing and carrying on your mother’s trying to sleep he swerves off the road and breaks okay joel’s dinner flies through the air and lands on the floor i’m crushed to the front of the because my bed slides in and out my bed slides forward he storms around can’t get in because Because the door’s locked.

[28:56] Yelzit’s bashing. Yelzit’s someone to open the door. And he goes down the back and like, you guys, your mother’s got a headache. She needs me sleeping. How dare you do this? Yelzit’s like, dad, my feet is all on the ground. It was like, in the end, we just all ended up sort of laughing. Because the whole response was just ridiculous. Because he’s as bad as your kid. How dare you wake up your mother as he’s slamming on the brakes. And then yelling back at the kids. Yes!

[29:22] Hatching on the door! How dare you! How dare you! It was one of those incidents that, Nine people, shut in, tired, day off, not got enough energy out, all together. So we do have some great, we’ve had some great experiences. We’ve traveled the world together. We’ve done Europe. We’ve done England, Australia, New Zealand, and then crisscrossed America again and again. Well, listeners, for more information about Helen, you can go to her social media page. On Facebook, it’s Helen J. Smallbone. the website to look at this trailer of this incredible trailer amazing trailer hero dot movie which is in theaters april 26th and then her book is titled behind the lights and gosh she’s incredibly busy even after getting all these kids out of the house right she’s co-founder of mom life and you can find her information at momlife.org and we will put the links in our show notes on our website so you can click on it and go right to those pages so helen i know where We’re short on time,

[30:28] but thank you so much for doing this. You’re fantastic. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you. And we can’t wait to watch the movie. We’re so excited for your family, for you guys, all of it. Thank you. Thank you. I hope you enjoy the movie.

[30:40] Friends, we want to encourage you to please follow us wherever you listen to this, whether it’s on the Apple Podcast app, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or one of the other platforms. You guys, it’s completely free. And while you’re there, feel free to give us a rating or a nice review. Thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.