A former Pentecostal preacher and "Jesus Freak" has published a two-volume work on the history of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM).

Bob Gersztyn, now 65 and a freelance writer and photographer, tells the story of CCM in his book "Jesus Rocks the World: The Definitive History of Contemporary Christian Music."

The book centers on the author's 40 years of direct experience with the genre.

It is published by Praeger, a subsidiary of ABC-CLIO.

The introduction to the first volume says "Jesus Rocks the World" describes "how rock and roll infiltrated the Protestant church, and in some cases even the Roman Catholic Church, beginning in the 1960s."

Gersztyn also traces the roots of the Jesus Movement of the time and how it developed out of the counter culture of the period.

Don Lattin, a religion writer, wrote on the author and his work in April for Religion News Service.

"Jesus Rocks the World", said Lattin,"traces the history of Jesus music from Negro spirituals, gospel, and blues to its modern-day roots in Southern California with the Calvary Chapel and Vineyard church movements in the 1970s.

"It also tells the story of rock and folk stars who had 'born-again' conversions, such as Bob Dylan; Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul, and Mary); and John Michael Talbot (of Mason Proffit)."

John I. Carney wrote a review of "Jesus Rocks the World" for the Shelbyville (Tennessee) Times-Gazette.

He said that CCM "encompasses a number of different sub-genres. Some are analagous to secular styles of music: there's Christian hard rock, Christian pop, Christian hip-hop, and so on.

The term also includes many types of contemporary praise choruses and worship music."