Faith of the Heart

Tim Anderson, writing in his Country Beat column for Yakima Herald-Republic described Susan Ashton's "Faith of the Heart" as "a definite winner" but that it "did take a couple listens to really hook" him.[9] The release of the single by Ashton was predicted by Brian Mansfield for USA Today as being the first of a career that would increase sales for the country music genre following Aston's previous success with Christian music.[10]

It was the first time that an actual vocal theme was used in a Star Trek series.[11] Watson had been approached by the producers of Enterprise and the song's writer, Diane Warren. As he was a fan of Star Trek and as Warren had already written a song for his second album, he agreed to the proposal.[12] The song was featured on the soundtrack to Enterprise and Watson's 2002 album, Encore.[12][13] The song was re-recorded for the third and fourth seasons of Enterprise.[14] An instrumental version of the theme was played over the closing credits of the series' first episode, "Broken Bow", but was not used again in the series. One two-part episode from its fourth season, "In a Mirror, Darkly", replaced the theme with a different instrumental composition to reflect that storyline taking place in an alternate universe. As of 2019 it stands as the only Star Trek theme by a female composer.

The song has been used on four occasions as the music selected for wake-up calls on space missions. The first was on 16 June 2002 for the Space Shuttle Endeavour during mission STS-111 to the International Space Station. It was again used on 2 August 2005 for mission STS-114, the first mission of the Space Shuttle programme following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. It was broadcast to the seven crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery, and had been chosen as a surprise for the crew by Deputy Shuttle Programme Manager Wayne Hale.[15] NASA astronaut Richard Mastracchio selected "Where My Heart Will Take Me" for broadcast on 9 August 2007 onboard Endeavour for STS-118. The final broadcast on board a Space Shuttle was on May 23, 2009 during STS-125, the final Space Shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. On this occasion it was broadcast to the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the third science fiction themed wake-up call in a row, the previous day having been the Cantina Band composition by John Williams for Star Wars, and two days prior was Alexander Courage's Theme from Star Trek.[15]

Singer Russell Watson said that Enterprise fans would get used to the song being used as a theme to the show.

Following the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "Broken Bow", and the debut of the song as the series' theme tune, the reception among Star Trek fans was mostly negative. Such was the response, that online petitions were formed and a protest held outside Paramount Studios against the use of the song.[16] One petition stated that "We wish to express our unmitigated disgust with the theme song that has been selected for the new 'Enterprise' series, it is not fit to be scraped off the bottom of a Klingon's boot."[17] Actor Simon Pegg, who played engineer Montgomery Scott in Star Trek and Star Trek Beyond later said that he had never watched Enterprise due to the song, which he described as "dreadful soft-rock" and "probably the most hideous Star Trek moment in history".[18] The song was mentioned in the review of the Enterprise first season DVD set by DVD Talk. It was called "sappy",[19] and the reviewer said that it "never felt appropriate and serves only to undercut the emotional strength of the images on screen".[19]

Executive producer of Enterprise, Rick Berman, praised the song, saying that it was a song "that's got a lot of hopefulness and uplifting qualities to it. And I like it. I've met a lot of other people who like it, but I've also heard a tremendous amount of banter about people who don't."[16] Enterprise co-creator Brannon Braga also defended the song, saying of the protest, "There are some people who love the song and there are people who think it's cheesy. They came with a petition with 1,000 signatures. But plenty of people find the song very uplifting."[20] Watson also said of the response to the song, "Something new happens, and people aren't quite sure of it. But they'll get used to it. By the time they've watched the 20th episode, they'll be thinking, 'Well, it's not that bad after all."[12]

Russell Watson performed "Where My Heart Will Take Me" as part of the opening ceremony of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, alongside a choir. The choir subsequently performed the song at a ceremony to mark the retirement of Bishop Christopher Mayfield from his post as Bishop of Manchester.[21]