What a concert! The wonderful mix of Casting Crowns and Nichole Nordeman was perfect - although the truth, honesty and poignancy of their lyrics almost cancel each other out with how incredible and life changing each artist has been.
New artist Josh Bates opened the concert. He is a really worship-driven artist, and a self-proclaimed "Kentucky Boy." In fact, he expressed his excitement to be in the south since he'd been dying for some good sweet tea. This boy can play some mean mandolin too! He impressed the crowd with his rendition of "I'll Fly Away." He is a great vocalist.
But lets talk about Nichole! Wow. She opened the concert with "Legacy," and sang with a beautiful background of candles up on the screen. This fits the style of her music so well. It is introspective and relaxing and beautiful - sometimes perfect for a rainy day and candles. Nichole spoke some about reaching people for Christ and how to answer the question about why, then sang the song that inspired her journey through that called, "What If." Then she gave her own re-telling of the story of the Prodigal Son and sang the song that the story inspired, "Lay it Down."
The concert took a small turn at that point and she asked if she could get an AMEN for being a mother. Nichole told the story of how son Charlie influenced so many changes in her life. She recalls a time where she would never have thought that she would spit on her own hand to clean someone else's face. Or the time when you refused to buy the mini-van and now you're digging out the cheerios! She followed that with Charlie's song, "Brave." Her part of the night ended with "Holy," where she sang with a beautiful smile lighting up her face the whole time. Nichole is more emotional and heartfelt live than can ever be heard on the record.
The lights went down and several dark figures began to come on stage. The crowd began to scream wildly and Casting Crowns was introduced. They sang "Lifesong," which can sum up their entire ministry. They are such a ministry-oriented group and have a powerful message for reaching the lost, as evidenced in their next song, "If We Are the Body." Then they played their new music video for "Can Anybody Hear Her," where I learned something I didn't know. Mark Hall, lead singer of Casting Crowns said that if they mentioned a girl in their songs, it meant that there really was a real live girl out there who had inspired it. They continued the show with "Set Me Free," in which they opened the song with a scripture reading of the demon-possessed man. That just brought the words to life. The next song was "Praise You in This Storm," where Mark told about a family they'd met who clung to hope and to Jesus' love when they lost their child, never loosing their faith.
One of the highlights of the concert was when Mark Hall told about the struggles that every person has where satan is trying to get a hold of them. He said that satan uses his dyslexia and ADD against him to try and discourage him. Mark said that ADD stops him in concerts sometimes - he gave an example of when he was singing "Lifesong." Mark stepped over to one of the other band members and gave him a high five. His brain began processing how cool it was that they could high five and how it would be even cooler if everybody could do that - and there went the lyrics to the song he was singing. Mark laughed and said "it's about this time in a concert that you hear one of the other band members yelling to the audience, "C'mon, sing it out!" Mark said that you should never let satan do that to you, but instead listen to the "Voice of Truth" that is God and began their next song - probably my personal favorite. During "Voice of Truth," Mark walked over and gave one of the girls a playful shove while he was singing and there went that brain again. He thought about how she was going to get him back for that later and the words slipped out of his mind. His honesty and sincerity shone through him and he said, "Let's try that again." What a great guy. He didn't miss a word after that. They continued with "Stained Glass Masquerade." You wouldn't believe Casting Crowns' drummer. He couldn't get a smile off his face and doesn't miss a beat. He broke his drum sticks twice during the show, but you'd never know because he just reached down, got his spare and kept on pounding. Then the pastor that tours with them, Tony Nolan stepped out on stage and gave his message, where they saw dozens of people in the audience come to Christ. They finished the show with "And Now My Lifesong Sings," "Who Am I," "Glory" and the encore - "What If His People Prayed."
Casting Crowns, Nichole Nordeman and Josh Bates are the real deal. You can't write like that unless you are a sold-out Christian. I had the privilege of speaking with Josh Bates a few hours before the concert. He said that they never wanted to do a concert, instead they wanted it to be a worship service. That was definitely true as each artist led the audience into a place of worship and a time of reflection. The mission of Casting Crowns can be summed up by the words spoken by Mark Hall: "To be impressed with us is an eternal waste of time...we are no more than broken people made whole...our songs may change your afternoon, but God will change your life." You can't get any better than that.