Rock for the soul

Lutheran, The, Aug 2001 by Fernandez, Mike

It's a warm, breezy evening in Pick-a-Town, U.S.A. Thousands of excited music lovers make their way toward a downtown arena, where their favorite band is playing.

The crowd anxiously waits for the lights to go down and the music to turn up. Finally, it's time. The crowd claps, breaking into a cheer when the band appears. Drums pound; guitars crunch. The sound to some is just this side of deafening; the light show a brilliant array of colors.

It's fun, entertaining and something more. This night is devoid of "I love you, I need you" lyrics. You're more likely to hear words that bring gospel messages and spiritual encouragement.

Third Day makes Psalm 36:5 a musical prayer in Your Love Oh Lord: "Your love, oh Lord, reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness stretches to the sky." Steven Curtis Chapman invites listeners to plunge into faith in Dive: "Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head, I want to go. The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive."

Surprised? You've just entered the world of contemporary Christian music (CCM). This three-decades-old, multimillion-dollar industry of pop, inspirational, rock, rap, alternative and other music pulls in fans of Christians and seekers alike. What's CCM's attraction and why is it changing skeptics into, well, believers?

Change of heart

Rick Hoganson, a music publicist in Nashville, Tenn., represents pop/rock Christian bands such as Jars of Clay and Third Day. Hoganson relishes the job because he was introduced to this music at an early age.

"About 20 years ago, my youth pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, West Fargo, N.D., told me about this Christian artist named Keith Green," he said. "Stylistically, all I had known at that time was traditional organ music. Green was different. He was a keyboard player with drums and guitar on his record."

Hoganson's musical transformation was the discovery of afresh genre still in its infancy. For son-of-- a-church-choir-director Jeromy Deibler, lead vocalist and founding member of Christian group FFH, there was no transformation.

"I grew up listening to this music in Lancaster, Pa.," Deibler said. "We listened to 4HIM, Michael W. Smith and the Gaither Vocal Band. When Brian Smith and I started FFH, the music we created was part of our heritage."

History in the making

David DiSabatino, managing editor of Worship Leader magazine and author of Jesus People Movement: A Bibliography (Greenwood Press, 1999), said CCM is rooted in the search for the elusive "meaning of life."

"Back in the late '60s and early '70s, there was a counterculture movement of people seeking God and truth," he said. "These were people who rejected material society and said, `There has to be something more.' These newborn hippies-or as some called them, `Jesus freaks'-started putting their faith to music, declaring Christ is the truth and the way. Eventually this became known as `Jesus Music."'

While this musical expression began to break down barriers between believers and nonbelievers, the biggest hurdle for early Christian musicians was explaining the movement to Christians. "Historical truth has never easily been tied to vehicles of communication," DiSabatino said. "Music was the language of the street, a way of transmitting the message of Christ, but it wasn't well-received by the church.

"Christian musicians had to rise up with a sort of `musical apologetics' and justify themselves. The music was perceived as an unholy compromise."

Music to the massses

While the church's acceptance of CCM was originally slow, it has accelerated over the years by the proliferation of Christian radio stations, which introduced this form of "gospel" music to hundreds of thousands within-and outside-the church.

For Christian radio veteran Jerry Williams, program director of WVFJ-FM in Atlanta, taking contemporary Christian music to the masses is a high priority.

"The most powerful message in the history of the world is the gospel, and the most powerful medium is radio," he said. "You have the capacity to reach more people in a quicker amount of time and in a way that is more personal than any other mass media."

Like all stations, WVFJ-FM selects songs based on musical style. Artists such as Michael W. Smith, Jaci Velasquez, Point of Grace and dc Talk, to name a few, fit its format. What's different about Christian stations is they also choose songs for their message. "Lyrically there has to be some sort of discernible, defensible Christian message, not necessarily verbatim from Scripture. But it has to have a theme that carries a Christian worldview," Williams said.

The message in the music

For today's Christian artist, a discernable, defensible message takes many forms. "Our today's prioty, no matter where we play, is evangelism," Deibler said. "We perform primarily at Christian events, but there are a large number of those who don't know Christ at these concerts. Our shows consist of 95 percent music and 5 percent speaking, but in that 5 percent, we make sure they get the gospel."