NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Of all the acts that have become prominent figures in the contemporary worship movement, the Newsboys' impact might be the most surprising.

The band has come a long way from the flying saucers and rotating drum kits that were part of the phase surrounding its 1996 gold-selling album, "Take Me to Your Leader," to the current success of new Sparrow Records worship project "Devotion" and its predecessor, "Adoration: The Worship Album."

"Devotion" debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart, and "Adoration" has scanned 423,000 units to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Newsboys frontman Peter Furler says the group's recent praise and worship direction is a result of changes in their personal and spiritual lives, and he says the band is not alone in its desire to worship.

"Ten to 12 years ago in America, you couldn't pay people to come out and worship," he recalls. "It was usually something people did at a church. In the past few years people's hearts have been really turned toward it."

Furler sees worship music as a return to the band's roots. "We started out as a youth-group band playing worship songs," he says, "and I felt like I moved away from that, which is probably not a good thing, because that's sort of the essence of our lives -- being a musician -- to lead people into worship."

Like many musicians, Furler found that life on the road kept him from regularly attending a church at home. "Even though I believe that Jesus was the way, I was still lost," he admits. "My life really wasn't different than anybody else's -- a believer or nonbeliever. Something was still missing, and I had to go back to the basics."

After becoming more involved in a Nashville church and a Bible study group, Furler found his focus returning to the worship music of his youth. "Making 'Devotion,' nothing was forced," says Furler, who produced the record. "It was like writing a story. Sometimes you have to be obedient to the story and let it tell itself as opposed to trying to force it ... into something that it's not.

"There was no big plan to (record) another worship record," he continues. "I compare ("Devotion") to a lot of the early stuff. It feels like a continuation of us making music, our walk in life."

Newsboys are wrapping up the second leg of the successful Adoration tour, during which it has been handing out free copies of "The Purple Book," which shares the gospel.

"We were doing 250 shows a year at one point, and now we are at about 80-100," observes Furler, who says touring has gotten easier. "A lot of the time we charter a plane. We leave home at four in the afternoon, and we are back home about one in the morning, so that's awesome."