The cell phone call from somewhere in Florida is full of static.

It's about 10 p.m. and Dan Schall, who just finished a gig, apologizes for calling so late.

Sitting in his "tour bus" - an RV - Schall said he has another show tomorrow and won't arrive back to his Zelienople home until the beginning of March.

Schall's living the dream. He's a touring musician who travels throughout the country with his wife, playing about 225 shows each year to crowds that vary in size from 25 to 800 people.

"It's fun," he said on the phone recently. "But it's like all vocations, when you have your times you'd rather be at home."

Schall isn't a typical rocker though. He's a gospel musician - one of many in the county - who uses his music as a ministry.

For the last 35 years, Schall has performed gospel and bluegrass music to anyone who wants to listen. He's recorded his own albums, has a Web site and even has a weekly Webcast where he plays his music over the Internet.

Schall isn't alone. The Southernaires, a southern gospel mixed octet based in Butler, have performed for the last four years, recording two albums in the process.

Still more groups, like the Fisherman Gospel Quartet, also based in Butler, travel around the country to spread their message.

The growth of Christian music in Butler County isn't an isolated trend.

According to the evangelical trade group CBA, the Christian market is a multi-billion dollar industry.

In 2002, the group reported $4.2 billion in total sales.

Although the money earned by ministries such as Schall's isn't reflected in the sales statistics, Tricia Whitehouse - who works in public relations for the Gospel Music Association - said demand for different types of Christian music has increased.

For the last three or four years, she said the major trend is toward the praise and worship style of music.

Most of the artists - which include Delirious, Matt Redman and Darlene Zschech - are music ministers in their home churches, Whitehouse said. But after signing record contracts and releasing successful albums, record labels are now looking to churches to find new talent.

But for Schall and the other ministries, who derive much of their income from donations or collections taken at shows, the ministry is about the music, not the money.

Schall said his method of touring - just staying in his RV - allows him to keep overhead low and make his tour through Florida standard.

Even before retiring from his job with Armstrong about three years ago, Schall would tour while on vacation - trying to build contacts - whether in Florida in the winter or New England in the fall.

"Each year I take one area and expand out a little bit more," he said.

While still working his day job, though, Schall's main ministry was close to home, focusing on areas in eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York - or about as far as he could travel in a weekend's time.

But no matter where he's gone, Schall preaches the same message - the power of God.

Schall stutters, a speech impediment he's battled since childhood. But while talking can pose problems for the 51-year-old, singing does not.

"God didn't give me a speaking voice," he said, "but he gave me a singing voice."

Schall said his concerts are informal. He likes to make contact with his listeners, relating stories and illustrations about his life.

"The ministry itself - I try to tell them my faith and encourage people," he said.

The Southernaires try to spread a similar message and, for the first time, are crossing an ocean to do it.

Eileen Quinn, an unofficial publicist for the group, said the eight voices will spend more than two weeks in Hawaii, performing on the beach and even making a television appearance.

"It's interesting to watch how they've broadened out," she said about the group's trip to Hawaii.

Started about 4½ years ago, Quinn said the group was organized by member Ray Johnston as a way to share the Christian gospel with the community.

Performing about 30 shows a year, the Southernaires have played gigs ranging from church services to class reunions and from festivals to funerals.

"It's just kind of grown and grown," Quinn said.

Depending on the audience and the function, the Southernaires' show varies.

At times, the group will sing classic Southern hymns. At others, a member will dress the part and do a "geriatric rap," a mixing of rhyming and beat styles usually limited to a Puff Daddy song but for an older audience. All but one of the Southernaires are retired.

But not all music ministries are aimed at the 40-plus crowd.

Alan Free, a member of the Fisherman Gospel Quartet, said he tries to reach out to everyone with his music.

"It reaches from young to old," he said. "I didn't want to target just one group of people."

The quartet in which he sings bass performs mostly at nursing homes, but his side projects are more diverse.

Free is currently recording a rap album - his seventh different CD release - and just joined Pure Drain, a country-style band in which he plays bass.

His latest project is his most ambitious, as he hopes to use the band's secular music to reach out.

After all, he said, Jesus didn't just preach to the Church. He spent much of his time with prostitutes and tax collectors, reaching out.

Before joining the band, the other members asked if Free minded them drinking or smoking.

"I don't care what the rest of your band does," he told them.

Through his music and his lifestyle, Free tries to reach people halfway.

And with Pure Drain he'll have a chance to do that.

The band already has a gig opening up for Brooks & Dunn this summer, which will help the 44-year-old Butler resident reach beyond quartet, in which he plays the dual trumpet, and a his work as music director at Free Methodist Church in Butler.

The band also answer's a longtime prayer for Free, as Pure Drain may give him the chance to play music full time - all while preaching the gospel.

"I was really praying for that," he said.