Gospel Music’s Hard Truths : Entertainment: The fall of Michael English points up the delicate balance Christian performers face between their art and and their ministry.

The press release issued by his gospel record company a year ago described “a sharp dresser whose finely shaped face and prominent stature would fit perfectly on the pages of GQ magazine.”

That glossy image aptly described singer Michael English. At the same time, though, it strayed rather far from the point.

The contemporary Christian music world isn’t about slick celebrity. In theory, it’s about ministry.

The balance is delicate, as everyone in the industry was reminded when English returned an armload of the Gospel Music Assn.’s Dove Awards in April, tumbling overnight from his status as a top Christian artist to that of “fallen man.”

He had been having an affair with another gospel singer. She and he both were married--to other people. Together, they are expecting a child.

It’s not clear whether English gave up his awards and place in the industry because all this was soon to come out, or whether it was purely an act of conscience.

Either way, his very public fall brought very personal questions to the performers, producers and fans of contemporary Christian music, or CCM as the gospel subset is known. How far had they strayed from their original mission, to whom were they accountable, and who was to judge?

*

“The question becomes: Is Michael English an entertainer or a minister?” said the Rev. Mike Smith, whose congregation at Christ Community Church in suburban Franklin is spiritual home to many in the business.

“We’re committed to following Jesus, and that’s got to be the commitment in this music industry,” he said. “I think a number of people realize it. But a number of them are clueless. . . . It’s easy to lose focus.”

The gospel genre that English represents has grown over the last decade into a $500-million-plus industry involving major record labels, more than 100 video outlets, concert halls filled with adoring fans, and marketing material that might inflate any head.

It exists side by side with a world in which Madonna’s lewd antics draw barely a yawn, where the unwed Wynonna Judd’s pregnancy constituted a recent photo opportunity, and where infidelity is the least of sins debated on afternoon TV.

“I think all of us have stopped and said, ‘Whoa . . . that could be any of us,’ ” said Michael Card, a multi-Dove Award winner and happily married father of four.

A playful guy in a beard and glasses, he has felt the pressure. A record promoter suggested not long ago that if he just removed the word Jesus from the title of his lullaby album, it would be marketable to a far wider audience. It was a compromise he refused to make.

“We’re in a real transition. . . . It’s almost like there’s this entity that has evolved its own values. Everyone seems to be carried along by this beast--this CCM beast,” Card said. “The Michael English question isn’t even central. It’s just a wake-up call. . . . The question is: If the industry has very little or no connection to the community, what are we playing for?”

*

Ego. Self-interest. Gratification. They test the ideals of doctors, lawyers, police officers, reporters, politicians--all kinds of people--every day. In the Christian music business, however, holding the high road is paramount to success. Stray, and the ministry is compromised. Stray far, or publicly, and all credibility is lost.

That is why when English turned in his awards and was dropped by his record label, when his lover was dismissed from her group, when radio stations stopped playing his music, it was not surprising.

Neither, though, was it as simple as it appears. Forgiveness, after all, is a cornerstone of Christian faith. Many in the industry, as well as fans, said last week that they were loath to cast stones.

There were some, like the wizened man who had just picked up a round of drinks at a local bar, who said it was a simple question of hypocrisy. “If you’re going to be a Christian singer, then be a Christian,” he said flatly.

But more seemed to share Betty Putman’s gentler view. A loyal fan and devout Christian, she admires English, the “man’s guts for confessing,” the way she admired Jimmy Swaggart when others made fun.

“The whole thing, the whole ballgame in Christianity, is forgiveness. I feel badly, but Michael is not perfect. The only man who was died on the cross a long time ago,” she said. “The community is supposed to not only chastise you when you go astray, but also nurture you and lift you up again.”

Contemporary Christian music took root in the 1970s, when young people impassioned by Jesus began using folk and rock tunes to express their love. They played in coffeehouses and church basements. They played in order to preach.

From those early years, myriad styles have flowered, as have such crossover artists as Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. This one sounds like Stevie Nicks, another recalls James Taylor. One is rocked by a Springsteen style, or backed up by a haunting woodwind melody that could belong to Kenny G.

What all share is an intimate conversation with Christ. When these artists sing of losing their way, they are not talking of a love affair gone bad. When they speak to questions of faith, they are not focused on life’s bumpy ride.

“When we started out 20 years ago, people sang because they had an insatiable desire to communicate with Christ,” said Steve Camp, who has had steady success with 15 albums.

“I think that desire is still there, just not as prevalently as it could or should be,” he said. “It’s easy to think about voice lessons or how to make a better demo tape . . . rather than real, genuine ministry.”

Camp says he does not presume to judge English. Still, he absolutely approves of Warner Alliance’s decision to pull the plug on his former colleague.

“Neil Joseph, the company’s president, knows that happiness is convenient, but holiness costs,” Camp said. “I praise God for a man with integrity and spirituality enough to stand true to the Lord regardless of the political or financial ramifications.”

And there are ramifications. English was a major star in his arena, a sweet tenor often compared to pop star Michael Bolton. But Warner Alliance said in a statement, “When he decided to take actions that were contrary to the very ideals he had been espousing, our only course of action was to stop representing that ‘platform.’ ”

Mark DeYoung is a local station manager who has taken English off his playlist for now, a decision that caused listeners to flood him with calls criticizing the move. But DeYoung said he would have gotten as many calls from other outraged listeners if he hadn’t pulled English’s music.

“These are really business decisions,” said DeYoung, who compared his position to that of a friend at a secular station who yanked Michael Jackson’s records after the singer was accused of child molestation.

“Christian consumers, as odd as that sounds, all have different points of view,” he said. “Some are extremely legalistic, moralistic. Then I have listeners who are more liberal and really don’t care. So it’s tough.”