CLARKSVILLE, TN − The Awakening Tour is returning to F&M Bank Arena this fall, this time featuring Skillet, Jeremy Camp and We Are Messengers. Last year’s Awakening Tour stop in Clarksville was a sold ...

The lineup switches every year, and the 2025 selection is a mix of national and local acts that’s heavy on country music but also has Christian rock and variety band flavor. All eight scheduled ...

But for now, EMF and the Christian-rock industry, it seems, are happy to be a joke if it keeps scrutinizing eyes off them. “The public just doesn’t really care what they’re doing,” says Urick.

The problem is, of course, that the rebellion and the establishment are never so well defined. Look at Larry Norman, whose 1969 debut album is sometimes called the first Christian rock record.

“Christian rock is stereotypically the kind of crap that offends music fans as well as the ultra-religious.” But in the last few years, all that has changed.

The result was Third Day, a powerhouse Christian rock band. “In 1996, we broke onto the national stage and we've been doing it ever since,” Anderson said, laughing.

But Skillet isn't strictly a hard-rock band. It's also a Christian band — John grew up in a devout family in Memphis, and Korey's parents co-founded Living Light Christian Church in Kenosha.

The first time I saw them, at a Christian rock festival in Bushnell, Ill., I was struck by how much their emotional live show reminded me of punk gigs that I used to see when I was high school.

Which makes the critical indifference paid to Christian rock and pop music all the more puzzling. What is commonly called Christian Contemporary Music, or CCM, was born and grew up in the late ...

We have Christian art in which the art is less important than the Christian part. “U2's beliefs filter into their work, but that's not their primary reason for making music.” ...