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Chapter 4 discusses how the gospel message has been transmitted in Evangelical churches and communities, which the chapter defines as churches that emphasize the unmediated authority of the Bible, emphasize the need for a personal experience of conversion, and have highly voluntary forms of organization. The chapter shows that the gospel has been affirmed in these communities in formal doctrinal statements; through varied forms of Evangelical worship, including evangelistic preaching and the use of traditional hymns Gospel music, and contemporary Christian music; and through training media such as tracts and video presentations of the basic Christian message.

This chapter takes an extended look at one of the most important components of the Jesus movement, the central role that popular youth-based music played in the internal life and appeal of the movement. Examining the evangelical subculture’s antagonism to rock ‘n’ roll music, the chapter examines the earliest examples of evangelical “folk musicals” and the rise of key figures such as singer Larry Norman and the Calvary Chapel–based band Love Song. As the Jesus People come to expect “Jesus music” as part of the ethos of their worship and evangelistic efforts, a growing network of performance venues, recording labels, radio programs, and festivals makes the new music available as part of daily life. In the process, the foundation of what will become the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry is created.

Marketing has been a part of evangelicalism from the beginning of the movement. Much of contemporary evangelical popular culture, though, is about the creation of brands that have staying power in the market. Through branding, evangelicals hope to create and maintain commitment from an audience to a particular author or minister. These practices demonstrate that sentimentality is a prime commodity in evangelicalism. It is apparent not just in religious books but in other parts of evangelicalism like contemporary Christian music or worship music or children’s media like VeggieTales. In all of these market-driven areas, evangelicals use sentimentality to socialize audiences to the values of the community and instantiate authority in them.

Through a close examination of Andraé Crouch’s musical contributions, as well as his central role in opening the industry’s doors to other black artists, this chapter details how Crouch altered the sonic landscape of contemporary Christian music during the 1970s and 1980s. It also documents his unique relationship with Ralph Carmichael’s Light Records, his underappreciated role in the company’s emergence as a major player in urban contemporary gospel music, and his vital contributions to the praise and worship genre. In accounting for Crouch’s crossover success, the chapter highlights his musical genius, his liberal approach to spiritual practice and religious expression, his unique partnership with Light and Warner Brothers, and his popularity among whites affiliated with the Jesus movement.

Chapter 1 combines historical research with autoethnographic narrative to contextualize the dramatic musical shifts that have taken place in evangelicalism over the last four decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, “praise and worship” music—a genre with roots in the Pentecostal and charismatic movement—began to enter the evangelical mainstream. Evangelical churches struggled with how to negotiate the ethos and aesthetics of these new songs into their services, leading to a period that many commentators dubbed the “worship wars.” Subsequent developments, including the formation of Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), a concerted push by secular distributors to sell worship music to churches, and the rise of new kind of performer (the “celebrity worship leader”), exacerbated internal congregational tensions and debates.

Although the Jesus People movement lasted only about a decade, this chapter argues that it had a major impact on both the evangelical subculture and the larger American society. The growth of what became the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry and the widespread use of “praise and worship” music in the nation’s congregations both emerged from within the Jesus movement. Likewise, so did Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard movements, the two largest new denominations of the postwar era. And while the chapter shows that the Jesus People profoundly altered the evangelical subculture’s relationship with both popular and youth cultures, its ultimate importance might have been in the manner in which it served to strengthen ties of Baby Boomer youth to conservative Protestantism amid the crises of the Sixties. This, in turn, proved to be a major factor in the evangelical resurgence of the 1980s and beyond.