Casting Crowns

Praise God for this band!

For those of you who don't know them, they're a Christian group, and if you think that means they sing endless rounds of Hallelujahs that won't mean anything to you, then stop thinking and check them out. (by the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with singing Hallelujah's over and over... you can mean it and sing it with a spirit of worship :-) An infinite repetition of that simple word can flow from a sinner's blessed, broken heart yet never aptly express the adoration due to the true and living God who cares and saves and sanctifies... Hallelujahs to the King!)

As an intro to the band's work, an intro to this meager blog and to the glorious gospel of Christ, here's "WHO AM I" (if you're gonna click the link, try opening it in a new window/tab) -- lyrics taken from the Casting Crowns homepage)

Written by Mark Hall
Music by Casting Crowns
Song based on Psalms 52 and 139 and Ephesians 2
© 2003 Club Zoo Music / SWEC Music(Admin. by Club Zoo Music) / BMI. All rights reserved.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are...

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still, You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am...
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not
because of what I've done
But because of who You
are...

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone
tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear
me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me
who I am...
I am Yours, I am Yours

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
Cause I am Yours, I am Yours

Fellow fans! If you're curious about their beginnings, as I was, read this.
>>>> Preview: Talk with enough people over the course of a lifetime, and hopefully you'll run into one - a person with such clarity of thought, such focus of purpose, and such timely insight that you'll want to turn to them at every available opportunity. They provide you with exactly what you need to hear at exactly the time you need to hear it. Now take that focus and house it in a person of equal parts humility and honesty, whose self-deprecation and humor only serve to heighten the message. Then wrap the insight up in the musical work of a dedicated group of friends, and shepherd it through the experiences of veteran artists Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown, and Steven Curtis Chapman, and you have a band with the uncharted potential to impact the world in a myriad of ways.You have Casting Crowns. Read more...

Just for edification, I recommend reading this. It put a smile of agreement on my face. I also felt my love for the band grow as the article confirmed that the group had great love for God - made obvious not just by what they sing but why they sing and also by what they do when they're not singing... living a "Life of Praise" as they themselves would call it.
>>>> Preview: Okay, so this is where we're supposed to give you all the marketing hype, the impressive list of awards and nominations, the radio stats, record sales and media coverage. All the facts to confirm just how far up the music career ladder Casting Crowns has traveled in the two short years since the band's recording debut. Certainly there is much to tell. But frankly, that's the least of what you need to know about Casting Crowns. There's nothing less important to them than all the marketing details. Instead, if we could all suspend that tiny (or big, as the case may be) voice of cynicism just for a moment, if we could magically transport ourselves to any given Sunday morning at Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church outside of Atlanta, perhaps we'd see just how little the music business machine matters. What matters is what's going on in the lives of the 400+ kids that Mark Hall and the other six members of Casting Crowns minister to each and every week. What matters is whether or not that teenage guy really 'gets' that God believes in him, even when he has trouble believing back. What matters is whether that teenage girl knows she's loved and wanted by the God of the universe, when there's no one else to love her. What matters is that they come to see their lives as the only songs of worship that really count. Read more...


You can read all their lyrics and hear samples of their music in their official site.

"You don't need the answers to all of life's questions,
just know that He loves them and stay by their side,
love them like Jesus."