Back in the musty Sunday School room, a loose circle of old wooden chairs waits silently, anticipating the out-of-town visitors. In random corners, dusty instruments lay helplessly out of their cases, indicating an approaching performance time.

As the little hand approaches the hour, the instruments’ owners begin to assemble in the room. Tired body language gives away the early meeting time but the musicians’ alert, anticipating eyes reveal their readiness to come despite the early hour.

“Well, should we pray?” asks the weary lead singer as the others slowly bow their heads.

Words of thankfulness and praise as well as requests are uttered by different members of the group in turn until the leader discerns that it’s time to start practice.

Slowly, the musicians file out of the little room into the sanctuary to prepare themselves for a sound check. The trap set plays first and is soon followed by a pair of electric guitars, a bass and a pair of raspy voices.

When everyone is satisfied with the sound of their instruments, the lead singer counts off a couple of measures and the band immediately surges into a guitar driven, melodic tune at a volume that causes the authentic sanctuary lights on the ceiling to vibrate.

A show inside a sanctuary may not sound too appealing to a regular rock band, but for a Christian rock band, it’s an anticipated gig.

But rock is not the only kind of music played in churches these days.

It’s not unusual to have the “rafters raised” by musical styles that don’t sound anything like the traditional church choir. Bands who play everything from celtic to punk have been categorized in the Christian music category, and today’s Christian music fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

For Christian heavy metal fans, the louder, the better. For ska fans, the most skankable music is preferred and for alternative fans, the most bizarre tunes are abounding.

All of this music is classified as “Christian” not because of its style, but because of its content and purpose.

As a growing number of bands have saturated the Christian music industry over the past few years, the widening Christian music scene has become the fourth largest format on the radio, followed by jazz and classical.

“You used to be able to put all of the groups on a piece of paper and now it’s become like hundreds and hundreds [of groups],” said Adam Clarke, guitarist of Ames Christian ska band, Bolsa de Papas.

It’s hard to count the number of bands on the Christian market today, but most Christian music fans aren’t complaining. A better variety means more of a choice, which means more of an opportunity to praise God in a personal style.

Todd Wallace, guitarist for the local Christian acoustic rock band Solomon’s Colonnade, said although he prefers the acoustic rock sound, he would be willing to change his style if he thought it would help him convey his message to his audience.

“[Acoustic rock] is what I enjoy playing and that’s what I’m good at playing. We have a desire to express what our passion is in the best way that we know,” Wallace said. “But I will always be seeking to use different styles to convey the message even if that means learning to write alternative or classical.”

Because many Christian artists are willing to create different styles to better relate to different types of audiences, the industry has been able to blossom so that there really isn’t a style of music that doesn’t have a Christian equivalent.

Chris Well, editor of Nashville-based Christian alternative magazine, 7Ball, said today’s Christian music has progressed so much that there aren’t many things keeping Christian artists from exploring different creative avenues.

“As Christian music has grown as a business, and as the cost of making music has come down, it’s made it more cost effective to make music,” Well said. “Which makes it easier for an artist trying something new or different to get a chance. The biggest hurdles now are the limits of creativity and imagination.”

Yes, the bar has been raised. With only the boundless limits of innovation keeping Christian artists from reaching their creative peak, there isn’t much of an excuse for not playing any style of music.