06/07/07 - Messengers on High
Local Christian music-makers lend voices to collective scene
By Sarah Stachura
War. Pestilence. Global warming. And countless other discouraging signs.

It's no wonder people are turning to a higher power for strength, hope, and inspiration. Many are getting that message through Christian music, and the lines between holy and not-so holy are fuzzier than one might think. 

In 2002, non-Christian gothic rock act Evanescence's album Fallen reached #3 on the Billboard Contemporary Christian Music charts. National radio feeds such as Z-Jam and The Word FM are getting expanded airplay, specializing in top-30 Christian music, Scripture readings, and 24/7 teen intervention hotlines. Countrywide distribution of Christian-teen magazines like DevoZine covers testimonials of young men and women who have "let go and let God."
Locally, the Christian music scene is growing steadily. A number of homegrown movers and shakers are putting their energy into getting The Word out to the masses. This regional labor of love has a long road ahead, but local Christian artists are determined to have their songs of praise be heard. 

Adrift on a Secular Sea
"When my children were born, I realized that if I didn't introduce them to God, no one would," said Kathy Regan, a member of the Primitive Methodist Church in Dickson City. Regan is also part of Choose This Day, a Christian rock band. 

Choose This Day, which also features her husband on bass, plays every Sunday night at the Dickson City church, and recently played a youth-revival ministry in Hershey. The band has its sights set on playing the stage of Kingdom Bound, a three-day Christian music festival in Park Resort, N.Y. 

Local Christian musicians encounter several stumbling blocks that aren't necessarily problems for mainstream bands. One of them, according to Regan, is simple dismissal. "Most people don't have any idea what Christian music is about. They think of it as just Southern Gospel, and that's it. But it's not like that anymore. Whatever your interest in music is, there's a Christian alternative out there. My daughter is 21 and listens to a band called Demon Hunter, and it's Christian. But they are heavy metal, screamo music." 

Christian singer Michael Warner cites a lack of Christian-based venues as another problem: "In terms of Christian bands 'playing out' like secular rock bands do, forget it." Warner is the Music Director at the New Life Church in Larksville, and is no stranger to the music industry. In the early '90s, he was involved with the band Synch, which had a 1989 national number-one hit "Where Are You Now?" He is currently producing an album for Natasha Barsh, a young solo Christian singer from Edwardsville. Record giant EMI saw potential in Barsh, claimed Warner, but a deal fell through. 

Still another danger, Warner pointed out, is that a lot of Christian music is still housed behind stone walls. "The most powerful works of God are still in the Church, in worship. Music is just a vehicle for something bigger to happen." 

And in a place like Northeastern Pennsylvania, where many Christians also happen to be senior citizens, Christian "rock" is denounced. Many consider hymns as the only acceptable form of music. How far then, asked Warner, should the rules revert? "Some still believe that drums have no place in the church." 

Fishing For Tunes
The United Methodist Church in Honesdale is seeking to change the "no safe harbor" mindset of many area Christian musicians. The United Fish Company is a cheerful, yellow-painted coffeehouse nestled in the church's basement. Signs along 11th Street point visitors to "The Fish," as regulars call it. Fish paintings and sculptures adorn the walls, along with a weathered arrow pointing toward "Heaven." Admission is free, although a list of "suggested donations" is posted, along with a glass fishbowl tip jar on the counter.

Women well into their 70s and children as young as 3 hold hands and sway to the tunes provided by weekly entertainment, which ranges from acoustic Christian folk testimonials to classical guitarists. 

The Fish opened its doors this past February. Although it only operates two nights a week, it has managed to host entertainment almost every Friday night. "We've had Christian rock bands that will blow the place out, we've had classical guitarists," said UM Church member Bill Koch, who conceived the idea. "The coffeehouse is not exclusively Christian, but we can't have someone coming in here doing heavy metal."

Koch sees hope for the future of The Fish, and cites national distributors Empty Vessel Music Ministries as a possible source of bringing in more Christian-based music. "If we can pay for the bands on Empty Vessel to be here, they'll come," he said. "They'll play the show for free; you just have put up the musicians."

Shout it Out Loud
The message in Christian music is primarily one of hope, but those that adhere to strict Christian standards say that the message serves a primarily evangelical purpose. 

"I'm trying to follow God's heart for my life," said Stroudsburg-area singer Ferd Feola. Ferd recently released a solo album called One God One Cross and is involved with The Lighthouse World Prayer Center, a youth-centered fellowship, in Cresco. "I don't care anything about the accolades or any of that. I just want to reach people. He (God) really has affirmed in me that he's given me music as a vehicle to evangelize and preach the Gospel."

Feola is active in what he called "music ministry" and is a strong advocate of younger Christian genres like metal, hardcore, punk, and pop. Feola is playing the Penn Monster Factory's "Christian Metal Night" June 23. "The bands I'm playing with (Christian metal bands Salem Road and Seek the Fallen), are young people. They're channeling their energy towards the Christian faith."

Bands such acoustic act Forgiven incorporate a more testimonial communication. During a live show at The United Fish, lead singer Bill Bartkow prophesized in between songs. "There's not a U-Haul following the hearse; you're not going to take anything with you when you die" he warned. "Only what you do for Jesus Christ is going to go before you."

Choose This Day, said Regan, projects its original, praise-heavy lyrics on a screen behind them, via PowerPoint. "It's another way to evangelize, another way to convey our message."

Warner said that even a well-intended message in main Christian pop songs can be misconstrued. "I'll give you a nickel if you can find the message in a lot of Christian pop songs. Too many times, the message is so diluted as to be indiscernible, except to those who already 'in' on what the song is about." He blames the greediness of crossover bands, which see an opportunity in a widely distributed Christian music labels that are much easier to get signed to than mainstream labels. 

Wave of the Future?
"The local Christian music scene?" questioned Bill Koch the night of the Forgiven concert at The Fish. "It's there; I just don't think people are aware of it yet. There are coffeehouses just like this one all over big cities like New York and even San Francisco. But the movement is definitely here, too." 

Feola is very hopeful. "I see Christian music growing all over. Even my own music is accepted not only by the church, but people that aren't part of the church."

He also asserted that people are actively seeking answers in a way that they haven't in the past - "an uprise of young people seeking God," he called it. "There's a movement unlike what was going on in the '60s and '70s, (when) kids were attracted to drugs and free love. They really want to seek a life that's different and they are seeking God for that."
http://www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=45813