Smells Like Holy Spirit

Smith jokes that Quest -- his church's variation on Metro's theme -- embraces an "industrial cathedral" motif. White candles stand atop tall black pedestals in front of the stage, ripped plastic sheeting hangs from the rafters above, and a large, crude driftwood cross is lashed to the scaffolding on one side. The lights are kept low through most of the service, and the requisite screen flashes song lyrics.

Smith assembled the eight-piece band 40 Days largely from First Presbyterian's congregation. The group shows a mishmash of musical influences: Smith follows a David Wilcox-like sensitive singer/songwriter muse; guitarist/singer Rick Walker shows a Nashville country fetish; and backup vocalist Laura Floyd leans toward modern rock. Exotic instrumentation -- recorder, mandolin and djembe drum -- lends the lightweight hodgepodge a comforting air of new agey-ness.

But however loosely defined the music, 40 Days' lyrics are unmistakably Christian. Consider this verse from "Psalm 5," on the band's CD: "Give ear to my words, oh Lord / Consider my sighing / Listen to my cry for help / In reverence I'll bow down / In your temple." Somehow, it's hard to imagine those words on the tongues of pop-music lovers everywhere.

But Tim Thompson, the latest addition to 40 Days, is one of those who love the music -- and Quest's modernized worship service. Smith, says Thompson, "is talking my kind of language. These other guys come across as either too old, or they're too clean or their hair's too straight...."

Just then, Christian charity gets the better of rock-and-roll attitude, and Thompson bites his lip. "The most difficult thing Christians have to overcome," he confides, "is being judgmental.