Most of the time, Christian Rock essentially follows the sonic blueprint of mainstream AOR and arena rock, except of course for its Christian-themed lyrics. It was initially a somewhat controversial style in Christian circles, as more conservative elements believed all rock & roll to be inherently evil by nature, and gospel radio programmers were accordingly reluctant to program the music when it appeared during the mid-'70s. But others began to see Christian rock as an effective way to reach the unconverted, wrapping spiritual messages in an attractive package that strongly resembled a highly popular mainstream musical style.
