It can be very easy to take shots at the Christian music industry. The name itself seems like a contradiction I terms, and I know I’m not saying anything that we haven’t all considered and discussed time and time again. But at this time of year I observe a very telling variation, one that may indicate more of a difference than we might think.

This week is part of a period of about two weeks in which everything pretty much shuts down, industry-wise. There won’t be a whole lot of new releases, news items coming in, and certainly no interviews are scheduled, as artists gather with families to regroup, to get charged up again, or just to remember what generates their ministry to begin with. Yes, I know other businesses slow down also, but I’ve not seen a slowdown as complete as the one I observe in the Christian music industry. And this speaks to me of a major difference in orientation.

Believers, who recognize the true value of life, of what it cost our Savior, have every reason to value relationships highly. We know, or should know, that if our activities are an end in themselves we’ve missed the boat. Artists write and perform music that honors Christ because they are called to share the good news that changed them for eternity. Their business associates manage the details of their ministry hopefully so that that ministry can reap spiritual fruit. And those of us who write content for Christian music websites also do it with spiritual ministry in mind; our hope, in the midst of all the interviews, reviews, and news items, is that readers will find beneath all of the entertainment details a genuine work of ministry, of elevating the name of Jesus Christ. And so we take these two weeks to pull back and spend time on the relationships that we are called to first: with our Lord, and with the families and friends He has placed us in for His purposes. Our prayer is that you will find refreshment in doing the same. Now that is time off well spent.

Regular CMCentral readers may recognize the name of Christa Banister, a regular contributor to CCM Magazine, and the kick-starter of the Christian music blog on MTV’s Urge.com. She’s written the semi-autobiographical Around the World in 80 Dates, a sure hit for lovers of chick lit. This is the epitome of the genre, full of descriptive passages about the shopping excursions and outfits of the protagonist, travel writer Sidney Alexander. Sidney’s dilemma is that, despite a successful and pleasant career as a globe-trotting journalist, numerous healthy friendships with family and girlfriends, and a committed relationship with the Lord, she has yet to find equally healthy patterns in her dating life.

Around the World in 80 Dates details some of the relationship adventures of Sidney and her closest friends, who do a lot more dating than I remember from my single days, even to the point of Sidney and her best friend unknowingly going out with the same guy. As I said, it’s chick lit of the highest order, and I’m not a fan of the genre, but I did find much to enjoy in Around the World. Among those: first, opening each chapter is a movie quote related to relationships, some of which are both funny and evocative, and secondly, Around the World gives you a compelling look into the world of the successful freelance writer. Maybe it’s just the writer in me, but I do think any reader could enjoy this facet of Banister’s lively book. Readers will also enjoy Sidney’s effervescent voice, and as I said, shoppers will love the fashion details. Around the World in 80 Dates may just make Christa Banister the new Queen of Chicks.

So yesterday (Dec. 6th) the Punk the Halls tour was in the Los Angeles area, which was a blast, and today we are north in a little town called Porterville. Little town but big hearts, and man what a show it was! Before the concert, we were driven around town in an extended Escalade limousine!! It was awesome…I wanted to finish the tour in that thing! hahah.

Tyler and I (Nick) bought some scooters to help us get around the venues easier…ok, ok, so we’re just big kids and we like new toys. But funny story - Tyler was riding around a Target parking lot on his scooter…and it was raining so Tyler slipped on the pavement and wiped out on his scooter and landed FLAT on this back!! hahah!! It was hilarious!! Several Target shoppers were startled and looking to see if Tyler was alright as he lay there motionless on the ground. Just then, our Escalade Limousine pulled up beside him, the driver got out and opened up the door and Tyler got up off the ground and hopped in. Talk about saving some face and making a grand exit! Now at least he looks like a very important idiot. HAHAHA.

The Camp Verde, Arizona area has got to be one of the more beautiful locations in the country. It’s just a few hours south of the Grand Canyon, and it’s a breathtaking layout. I could sit here for hours and still not be able to take in the magnificence of the never-ending horizon and unique mountain skyline. I’m really glad that random chance, some gas and wayward atoms clumsily ran into each other and created this place through purposeless evolution! Rrrriiight.

The fingerprints of a loving Creator are not hard to see here in Arizona! We have played in Camp Verde before, and were really excited to see everybody back out for a great show! I wonder if they realize how lucky they are to have such an incredible back yard!

Martin Smith, in explaining to me the calling he felt to organize the CompassionArt ministry, said he felt responsible as a “person with a microphone.” In other words, he felt he needed to use his opportunities, his public voice, well. It got me thinking about the voice that I have in this blog, and on the CMCentral website. No, I don’t have the world’s attention like Martin Smith and the Delirious members might… but you’re reading this right now, aren’t you? I’ve been praying and asking the Lord for a while now to show me how to use well the opportunities afforded by this website to advance the Kingdom, to do good and not harm.

I believe our Social Justice Features, and the new Learning Curve Feature, are a result of that prayer and the desire of myself and the Salem Publishing team to use our opportunities wisely. We enjoy informing readers of artists like Martin Smith who use their public platform to serve the poor, or Amanda Falk who has a heart to see teenage girls resist the culture’s sick messages of body values, or Michael Gungor who cares as much about unifying the Body of Christ for good works as he does about selling records. These are some of our Social Justice Features coming up.

We also believe artists like Chris Nesbitt and Barry Blaze, both of whom shared honestly about times of challenge and struggle in the midst of ministry, have much to say of value, beyond their obvious musical talents. You will hear of their stories and others in our new Learning Curve features. We may not have large platforms or microphones, but we do want to honor the Lord in the way we serve our readers. Oh, and thanks for visiting and reading. We couldn’t do our part without you .

Vegas! On our way into Las Vegas, we stopped at the Hoover Dam and it is absolutely HUGE! I was particularly excited to see the Dam not just because I’ve seen so many “Engineering Marvels” type TV shows about it, but also because it was a very important location of the Transformers movie. We looked for Optimus Prime and the other AutoBots, but it appears they’ve been long gone.

The Las Vegas show was great! We met some really cool people and we even went down to the strip after the show and grabbed some In-N-Out Burgers! (It was our first of what I’m sure will be a lot of In-N-Out consumption on this tour).

I spoke yesterday for a while with a very creative artist who mentioned having to get outside of the Christian music scene for a while to create music that fully expressed his vision. And by “Christian music scene” he meant of course, Nashville. The present epicenter of the Christian music industry. He spoke of an abundance of rules, regulations, and gatekeepers that he felt choked the soul of creativity among the believers making music today. It got me wondering about our human tendency to get stuck in ruts of reproduction.

An industry, by its nature, of course exists for profit. Humans, also apparently by nature, tend to repeat that which has proven previously successful, and by successful I mean, in this case, pleasing, well-received, captivating, and/or entertaining. So yes, the combination of these two trends can make for some repetitive, formulaic musical trends. That alone creates a need for mavericks, those that would buck the system and shake things up. These artists are not always appreciated for the vital service they provide, but they should be. I’m not in the creative loop that he is, so I have no idea how stringent the regulations of these gatekeepers might be. I am, however, fairly close to the human loop, so my guess would be that his representation was pretty accurate.

Old wineskins tend to crack, don’t they? We need those who are willing to shake things up so the new wine can be received. Viva la creators.