Contemporary Christian acts raising voices in worship

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 20, 2004 | by BILL REED THE GAZETTE

In some ways, Christian music is vastly different than it was 20 years ago. In other ways, it's come full circle.

The genre has exploded in terms of talent, sales and diversity. Christian music rivals country music in sales, and it rivals pop music in production slickness. People who scoff at Christian artists just haven't been listening lately.

When Contemporary Christian Music was in its infancy, artists' highest aspiration was to create a simple, singable worship song that would play on Christian radio and then be adopted for worship services.

That soon changed. Early Christian artists such as Amy Grant worked hard to cross over to mainstream audiences, with sexier music and sexier videos. Soon, the goal seemed to be an imitation of pop with spiritual lyrics.

Now worship music is back.

The trend is crystallized in "Adoration: The Tour," Sunday's concert at the City Auditorium featuring Christian stars Newsboys and Rebecca St. James.

"There are forces that come against you at times, saying, 'Well, we've gotta make this song. We've gotta crossover here,' " Newsboys drummer Duncan Phillips says. "That's bull. You just do what you do. It really upsets me when you see artists jump on a certain bandwagon."

The Newsboys and St. James have followed remarkably similar paths to their first tour together.

Both acts are from Australia, where the Newsboys cut their teeth in pubs: "If you were good, they loved you," Phillips says. "If you weren't good, you got a beer bottle in the head. You learn quick to put on a show."

Both moved to the Christian music mecca of Nashville. Both have ruled Christian radio -- the Newsboys have 22 No. 1 hits, and St. James has nine. The Newsboys have been making Christian albums for 15 years; St. James debuted a decade ago.

Most importantly, both acts created a modern rock version of Christian music until recently, when both recorded their first worship albums.

The Newsboys' "Adoration: The Worship Album" raced to No. 1 on Christian charts, No. 33 on Billboard's mainstream album sales chart, and earned the band its fourth Grammy nom. St. James released "Worship God" in 2002, and on Tuesday releases "Live Worship: Blessed Be Your Name."

The worship-music trend is so pronounced within the Christian music community that Phillips is a bit touchy when the subject comes up.

"I do interviews and they say, 'Well, you're jumping on this praise and worship bandwagon,' " Phillips says. "If we were to jump on it, we're too late, man. This started 10 years ago in England. It's not a bandwagon thing for us, it's just a record that felt good. With the Newsboys, there's always going to be our tilt to it."

St. James seems more comfortable with the transition. Her father was one of the founders of the worship music movement in Australia.

"Worship is vertical, lyrically, as opposed to a horizontal, relational focus," St. James explains. "So, it's prayers to God, and expressing your heart and thoughts, and praise. I define worship, too, as my love response to God's love for me."

The musicians say high school kids make up a large chunk of their faithful crowd, raising their hands and singing along, blurring the line between the concert experience and the worship experience.

"There's talk that goes around the CCM world, because worship is very big within Christian music. Some people say, 'Well, is it just because it's making people a lot of money? Are some people doing albums because it's the thing to do right now?' But I think it's a genuine love of God," St. James says.

"Post Sept. 11, kids are seeking more. They're more open, they're more hungry, they're more spiritually aware. I think they're wanting to experience God, and a way to do that is through worship."

Worship music was a poor choice commercially as recent as five years ago. Today, MercyMe can write a song about coming face-to-face with Jesus -- "I Can Only Imagine" -- and see it become a crossover hit.

One of the great things about popular music is that the very artists who think they're running away from the mainstream often find themselves right in the middle of the current.

THE DETAILS

"Adoration: The Tour," featuring Newsboys, Rebecca St. James and Jeremy Camp

Where: City Auditorium, 221 E. Kiowa St.

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $21-$30; 1-303-442-0702 or www.itickets.com