Faith-based films helping to promote Christian artists

Christian music artists are gaining popularity alongside the rise of faith-based films and programs. Since 2014 the public clamor for faith-based films has increased and in a report from Connect Faith, Joe Boyd, founder and president of Rebel Pilgrim Productions, explained that it is because Americans are asking for more positive and family-friendly entertainment. Christian bands are also riding on the success of these faith-based films, according to The Tennessean.

Boyd gave as an example the hit movie "God's Not Dead" and how it appealed to people because it tapped into Christian pop culture and used a popular Christian song as its title.

However, for Dave Wagner, manager of Newsboys, the Christian band whose song was used as the title for the movie, it was the other way around. The band's music was exposed to a wider audience because they were associated with the movie. Furthermore, he added that people across the country recognized them as the guys from "God's Not Dead."

Newsboys is an Australian band that has been around for 30 years already, but it wasn't until the movie was released that they were able to achieve success in increasing the number of their listeners, patrons, and sales. According to Wagner, the band performed 123 concerts in 2015 alone, attributing the increased attendance in their concerts to the movie's popularity. The band is still featured in the second installment of "God's Not Dead," which hit U.S. theaters this month.

Apart to raking in profits, Christian films are also bringing in big names and introducing new acts to the Christian music industry. According to The Tennessean, Trisha Yearwood's career received a boost when she performed a cover of Lifehouse's "Broken" for "The Passion," a FOX program about the last days of Jesus Christ, last March. She has then climbed to the top 20 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.