Early years, initial success, and early history Casting Crowns was formed in 1999 at First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach. Led by Mark Hall, singer-songwriter and youth pastor, the group initially included guitarists Juan DeVevo and Hector Cervantes, violinist Melodee DeVevo, and drummer Rob Cervantes. They relocated to
McDonough in 2001, The group won the GMA regional songwriters competition at
Palm Beach Atlantic University in
West Palm Beach, Florida in both the "Best Song" and the "Best Artist" categories in 2004. Although the group was not looking for a record label, one of the group's albums found its way into the hands of Mark Miller, the lead singer for country group
Sawyer Brown, who was struck by Casting Crowns' driving pop/rock style and Hall's vocal delivery of hard-hitting but devout songs. Miller signed Casting Crowns to his fledgling
Beach Street Records, a division of
Reunion Records with distribution by the Provident Label Group, which made Casting Crowns the first artist signed to Beach Street Records. Miller took the group to record with co-producer
Steven Curtis Chapman, himself a popular artist on the CCM musical scene.
Casting Crowns, that
eponymous album was released in 2003 on the Beach Street imprint. The album quickly made them one of the fastest selling debut artists in Christian music history. The album's third single, "
Voice of Truth", spent a record-breaking fourteen consecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in 2003. "Voice of Truth" is also used in the
trailer and the ending from the movie
Facing the Giants, a Kendrick Brothers film. The album was certified platinum in 2005; in 2011, the group received their first gold certification for a single for the song "
Who Am I" from their debut record.
Lifesong followed in 2005, debuting at No. 9 on the
Billboard 200 chart. The album had three singles: "Lifesong", "Praise You in this Storm", and "Does Anybody Hear Her?". "
Lifesong" spent nine weeks in the top spot, with "Praise You in This Storm" remaining at No. 1 for seven weeks. Apart from being successful in the charts,
Lifesong earned Casting Crowns their first Grammy Award for their work on the album in 2006. In 2006, the group released
Lifesong Live, which included live performances of songs from their studio album
Lifesong. Rapper
Ice-T appeared on the release, rapping on a hidden track called "Hustle For Him". The band's third studio album,
The Altar and the Door, debuted at No. 2 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart and No. 1 on the Hot Christian Albums chart upon its release in August 2007. Ten weeks after the album's release date, it was certified gold by the
RIAA. On September 27, 2007, the band embarked on the Altar and the Door tour with
Leeland and
John Waller. The tour was very successful grossing $4.4 million in ticket sales. Casting Crowns broke their own record in 2007 when the single "
East to West" from
The Altar and the Door hit sixteen consecutive weeks at No. 1. The song ended up having the top spot for a total of nineteen weeks, now their most successful single to date. "
Slow Fade" was also released as a single, and was included in the soundtrack of the Kendrick Brothers film starring
Kirk Cameron Fireproof. In 2008, they scored their eighth number one hit with "
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", a track from their newly released
Christmas album titled
Peace on Earth.
Recent history Casting Crowns is one of the rare American bands to ever have been invited to visit
North Korea. They attended the 2009 Spring Friendship Arts Festival in
Pyongyang performing with the
Annie Moses Band. It was Casting Crowns' second invitation to the festival sponsored by Global Resource Services, the first time being in 2007. On August 30, 2009, they performed on
Huckabee,
Mike Huckabee's political show. Casting Crowns' fourth major studio album,
Until the Whole World Hears, was released on November 17, 2009, debuting at No. 4 on the
Billboard 200 and selling over 167,000 copies in its first week alone, setting a new record for the highest Christian album debut in history. The title track and first single from the album became the group's ninth No. 1 single in January 2010. In April 2010, they won the Dove Award for Artist of the Year, their first ever win in that category. A music video for the title track of
Until the Whole World Hears was posted on the band's YouTube page on August 23, 2010. The track "
Glorious Day" was released as a single in 2011 and reached No. 1 on
Billboard Christian Songs during the week of April 23, 2011. "
Courageous" was released as a single on July 19, 2011. The music video for the song was released on June 13, 2011, and promotes the film
Courageous. The song was featured on,
Come to the Well, which was released on October 18, 2011. "
Jesus, Friend of Sinners", the album's second single, was released in 2012. In 2012, Josh Mix joined the band, replacing guitar player Hector Cervantes.
The Acoustic Sessions: Volume One, was released on January 22, 2013. In early 2013, the band recorded their own version of the hymn "I Surrender All" for the album
Jesus, Firm Foundation. Also, lead singer
Mark Hall recorded the title song with Mike Donehey of
Tenth Avenue North,
Steven Curtis Chapman, and
Mandisa. Ending the year, the band joined Chapman,
Natalie Grant,
Matthew West, and other artists on "The Story Tour 2013" performing songs from
The Story. In September 2013, the band released "All You've Ever Wanted", the first single from
Thrive which was released on January 28, 2014. and charted No. 6 in
Billboards Top 200 in its first week. In early 2015, Casting Crowns released the hymns-album,
Glorious Day - Hymns of Faith, exclusively through
Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. The album includes their
Until the Whole World Hears singles "
Glorious Day" and "Blessed Redeemer", and acoustic versions of "
If We Are the Body" and "
Praise You in This Storm" as well as eight hymns, mostly covers. In November 2015, the band released
A Live Worship Experience. The album was recorded live at the band's home church, Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church, and features 12 songs, including worship songs "Great Are You Lord," and "Good Good Father," and their songs "Just Be Held" and "Thrive." On September 16, 2016, the band released their seventh studio album,
The Very Next Thing, which was preceded by the single "One Step Away". It was followed by a second single from the album, "Oh My Soul". On October 20, 2017, they released a new EP, ''It's Finally Christmas'', and embarked on "A Glorious Christmas" tour with
for KING & COUNTRY shortly after its release. On October 11, 2018, the band announced
Only Jesus, scheduled for release on November 16, 2018, with a video introduction by Mark Hall and made the title track available to those on their fans list. On October 12, 2018, they also released to their fans a second track, "Nobody", featuring
Matthew West. On October 19, they released a third track, "In the Hands of the Potter", to those on their fans list. On September 25, the band released the deluxe edition. On June 16, 2021, they released "Scars in Heaven". Andy Williams, the band's former drummer, died on July 9, 2021, at age 49 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident on June 27. In 2023, the band announced The Healer Tour, which included artists
Ben Fuller and
We Are Messengers. ==Ministry==