"Being real" these days has, itself, become a marketing ploy, even if it began as a genuine and noble trait. How do we safeguard against those things? "I think it's not just honesty -- it's brutal honesty," Bebo offers.

I toured with Casting Crowns last year and have a deep appreciation for how small the role of image seems to play in the lives and ministry of Mark Hall and the group's members. Even with that, Mark acknowledges that he felt a bit insecure early on about getting involved in the music industry. "There was always this feeling that 'I didn't have that look that they all have.'" He laughs about the first time he was on his way to a lunch meeting with some label executives. Once they laid eyes on him, he was fairly convinced they would say, "Ya know, Mark ... you should ... write."

I ask Mark about the danger of idolatry in Christian music and what we can do about it, if anything. And, he doesn't skip a beat. "I think the biggest thing is transparency, the songs where we connect with people and we're letting it show and saying we're still messed up. Those are the moments that everyone comes out saying, 'Hey, it's so comforting to know that there are other people dealing with this.' I know me well enough to know that I am not impressed with me. And someone being impressed with me ... it's not going to fix them. They've got to understand that God is the only person who is going to change their lives," he explains.

Where the Past Meets Today

Every time I hear Ayiesha Woods' song "Happy" on the radio, I crank it. Sure, it's a great tune, but it just sounds so believable. She has a rare confidence in her delivery.

Ayiesha grew up in Bermuda, a small British colony and a cultural melting pot. She paints a phenomenal picture of a family whose shade of skin and eye color were as diverse as the United Nations. "All shades and colors and shapes and sizes and there's just an appreciation for who God made everyone to be," Ayiesha explains. "If you are not affirmed as a young woman, it tends to leave room for a need to be validated by someone else. To this day, I am my daddy's brown sugar, just having someone speaking life and allowing us to really love what God has created us to be inside and out ... a lot of importance was placed on character."

She speaks comfortably about some of the tension she's already felt being marketed in a pop world and not a gospel one. She laughs about a recent industry event where her music was automatically placed in the Gospel category, " ... an assumption based on the color of my skin." She doesn't sound offended, just amused at the inability of some to reconcile the way she looks with the way her music sounds. Again, I'm struck by her confidence. "I'm not trying to box God in," she explains. "At the end of the day, who is it that we are representing? It's Christ."

Sarah Kelly, Christian music's resident rocker chick feels equally as culpable when it comes to the topic of character and the ideals she represents. I ask her if she feels conflicted about the message that our CD covers are sending to a younger female audience. She acknowledges "being a woman, there are always 500,000 things you would change about yourself, and to nurture that by making this perception of perfection is just ridiculous."