Thunder and Enlightening

Christian pop-rock historically has failed to convert the nonbelievers. The glam-metal posturing of a Stryper and the dogmatic lyrics of a Steve Taylor have exemplified the genre’s lack of strong musical identity, and both the music and the message have reached only a cult-sized following of the already committed.

But that may be changing.

Today Christian pop-rock is riding a wave of unparalleled crossover popularity with young, secular listeners. Along with other religious-minded groups (including DC Talk, Jars of Clay and Audio Adrenaline), Australia’s Newsboys are finding an expanding audience for their alterna-edged rock, a mix of jangly pop, thickly layered guitar parts and vocal harmonies.

The sextet has even found a slice of heaven on the pop charts. The title track from its major-label debut album, “Take Me to Your Leader,” is getting regular airplay on modern rock radio, and the album has sold more than 400,000 copies worldwide.

The Newsboys are Virgin Records’ second-biggest-selling rock act of the year, behind Smashing Pumpkins. Midway through a 50-city U.S. tour, the band stops Friday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center in Irvine.

In the late ‘80s, songwriter-singer-drummer Peter Furler and his mates toured frequently in their home country, driving across the remote outback in an old truck. The trek from town to town could be so long and grueling that often the band had to take along extra fuel and more than one spare tire.

These days the Newsboys are spending more than $1 million on touring, staging and production. Furler says the band emphasizes entertainment with its multimedia presentation that uses technologically advanced lighting effects and video screens that show zany snippets of the band’s feature-length movie, “Down Under the Big Top.”

And what is behind all this newfound commercial muscle after years of toiling in obscurity?

“I think what’s popular musically reflects the times we’re living in,” answered Furler, 28, on the phone from a tour stop in Fort Wayne, Ind. “The ‘60s [music] reflected the anti-establishment culture, and, more recently, grunge and hip-hop spoke to a generation [that was] angry and disillusioned with society.

“Today, I feel more fans are responding to us because they’re yearning for something more hopeful, spiritual and perhaps enlightening.

“But who knows, really? Our music comes from God. People take with them what they want.” I’d like fans to walk away saying, ‘They seem like pretty average guys. . . . Why would they find Christianity?’ ”

Furler, a born-again Christian for 12 years, recalls that the band’s birth was no righteous experience:

“When we started out, I was 16 or 17, and we thought we’d form a band so we could drink beer and impress all the girls. I even smoked a little pot. Remember now, this is Australia, where the motto is more like ‘In the Keg We Trust’ than ‘In God We Trust.’ ”

But the group burned out of its lifestyle, and Furler said that, around 1985, he felt a calling to do something more meaningful. He found the greatest source of inspiration to be his parents. While the church in his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, was not supportive of his musical ambitions, he said, his mom and dad encouraged the Newsboys. Their only advice: Put music and the message of God together.

Furler and the band (singer John James, guitarist Jody Davis, keyboard player Jeff Frankenstein, bassist Phil Joel and percussionist Duncan Phillips) are still in it for the music too.

“We have to make music we’re proud of, that hopefully is entertaining and meaningful,” Furler said. And he is pleased to be “appealing to a much broader audience than ever before. Come to our show, and you’ll see married couples in their 30s, plus kids moshing up front while their parents watch in the back of the room. I even saw a couple in their 60s or 70s checking us out [recently].”

Furthermore, “I hate when we’re all lumped together under the holier-than-thou label of ‘Christian rock,’ ” he said. “You don’t really think that [balladeer] Michael W. Smith, the [folk-poppy] Jars of Clay and the Newsboys sound alike, do ya?”

* Who: The Newsboys, on a bill with Plankeye.

* When: Friday at 8:15 p.m.

* Where: The Bren Events Center, UC Irvine.

* Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and go south. Turn left onto Campus Drive, right onto Bridge Road; the center will be on the right, at the corner of Mesa.

* Wherewithal: $17.50-$24.50.

* Where to call: (714) 824-5000.