"

 Not impressed by the generic explanation when you removed my link twice. 

Walter, 

I see that you are a fellow Christian and a fellow Christian musician, although being 12 years younger than I, it's not likely that you lived through the early days of the ""Jesus Movement"" as I did.  

As a longtime Web Site content developer, K-12 Textbook editor, English Professor, Bible teacher, Music teacher, professional writer, and a one-time ""Jesus Musician,"" I've recently started a project (SchoolOfTheRock.com) to help disciple the 18-15-year olds I minister to regularly on issues of contemporary Christian living, especially in areas related to worship and Bible teaching.  Despite an ad here or there on the site to help pay a fraction of the site's expenses, you'd be hard-pressed to call it a commercial endeavor. (I pay the site's manifold expenses as a ""write-off"" from my professional consulting business.)  

Because I grew up with people who hate Contemporary Christian music (and still run into them from time to time), I thought it would be nice to include articles that show some of the ways in which Biblical living, and Biblical worship through contemporary musical forms tie together.  

To find links I could include from my pages, I went looking for any internet articles that provided insightful, balanced, detailed, and fact-based accounts of the history of Contemporary Christian music.  I didn't find any that fulfilled all of those qualificatiosn.  Your Wikipedia summary IS useful, and is a good introduction, VERY appropriate for Wikipedia, but I wanted something that presented more details and presented them in a stronger narrative that showed the history of Christian music from the musician's perspective.  

So I wrote an fact-based, detailed, well-organized article that included, not only the history of the industry, but also personal experiences as well as the experiences of friends who were either touring artists or industry professionals. 

You might be put off by a couple of paragraphs in first person, but if you've ever read Paul Baker's books, you'll find all the proof you need that it's an accurate history, even to the minor details.

Or maybe you're put off by some of the ""negative"" statements about dark times in the history of Christian music.  But the sources you cite and books you recommend have sections that are FAR more negative.  Also, I carefully chose details that would get the point across with inspiring the reader to outrage on certain topics, as a fully-detailed account would have done.

I've also ""vetted"" the article for content, balance, and tone by running it past former touring artists and Christian broadcasting professionals who lived through the same era. I have gotten nothing but enthusiastic response.  

If you can find another Internet-published article (or ten) on the same subject that is as well written, organized, balanced, and fact-based as my article, please let me know.  I'd be VERY glad to link to them from my web site.  I'd also like to know why you don't link to those articles from the Wiki article?  If they exist, that is.

Finally, I confess that I am at a loss as to why you consider my article either to be a ""commercial advertisement"" or a ""personal blog"" (both accusations came through the message to me, though it was largely ""boilerplate,"" so I'm not sure which part was really yours).  I recognize that is is NOT a Wikipedia article, but it is a fact-based, detailed, and hopefully balanced article nonetheless, far more so than quite a few other article links I see on similar Wikipedia pages. It is not advertising any specific product, or even any commercial web site.  BTW CCM magazine is commercial - they cost money to subscribe to and have LOADS of advertising.  Why do you have THEIR link, if you are seeking to avoid even the appearance of supportiing a commercial enterprise.

Also, the article dos NOT contain unverifiable personal ramblings or rants, as a blog would.  (I publish blogs in other web sites so I know the difference.) 

Perhaps you object to the fact that I posted the link myself.  Would it be a better article if I asked an industry contact to post the link?  Or maybe you should read the article yourself and let me know specifically what you feel is unsuitable about it?

If you've lost the link, it's at:  http://www.schooloftherock.com/html/a_brief_history_of_contemporar.html

Frankly, I'm hoping that as a fellow musician you find the article edifying, exhorting, and comforting.  And if you ARE aware of anything ""wrong"" with it on any level, please let me know, because I strive for proessionalism.

Sorry for the VERY long comment, and God bless, 
Paul Race
 

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