Jars of Clay = actually kind of awesome.

Oh, hi, if you're arriving here via Jessica.

For an account of Jars Of Clay's progressive evangelicalism, see this article in the often-excellent Sojourners.

And for aural evidence of the Sufjan similarity, listen to "Hymn" from the 1997 album Much Afraid at iTunes.

You can get the general idea just from the 30 second sample. The production is totally Nashville CCM (ie everything compressed to death) but the arrangements, the measured diction and polite vocal phrasing totally sounds Sufjany to me. $5 to any interviewer who asks him if the Jars were an influence.