One of the most popular contemporary Christian rock bands today is the Grammy Award winning worship group Casting Crowns. Casting Crowns was initially formed in 1999 by Mark Hall who at the time was a youth pastor and eventually expanded to become a well-known student worship band in Daytona Beach, Florida. The original band members included Juan DeVevo and Hector Cervantes on guitar and Melodee DeVevo on violin.
Casting Crowns decided to leave the Daytona area and relocate to Stockbridge, GA in 2001. Once in Georgia the band expanded to include bassist Chris Huffman, accordionist and keyboardist Megan Garret, and Andy Williams rocking the drums. Casting Crowns in the beginning tested the waters of being a worship artist by releasing two independent Christian albums that had the purpose of reaching out to the youth in the Atlanta, Georgia area. These two albums started the beginning of a promising start for Casting Crowns in the worship artist category of Christian music.
When Mark Miller the owner of record label Beach Street Records heard the albums, he knew immediately that he had to sign the group to a deal and took the group into the studio to record their first formal album that was full of worship songs. When released in 2003 this self-titled album became one of the quickest albums to be sold by debuting artists in the Christian music sector.
Sales of music made by Casting Crowns have currently exceeded more than 5 million records. In 2005 they were voted to be “Favorite Band”, by CCM Readers’ Choice Awards and in 2006 the Casting Crowns song “Praise You in this Storm” was the fifth most popular played song of the year. Casting Crowns currently holds the privilege of being the second fastest worship group in history in growth and their first two albums were certified platinum.
When not making music for worship and not writing songs, the members of Casting Crowns contribute to the ministry in other areas. Frontrunner Mark Hall and three other band members currently assist with ministry at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church which is located in McDonough, Georgia. In this ministry those four members give the majority of their time to work with teenagers. This is actually the bands primary job, as they only tour and work part time with the band so that they can make a difference in the life of the youth.
With their talent and their faith in the Lord, Casting Crowns have made their stamp on the billboard charts and on the lives of others. This is what has made them one of the most popular worship bands in today’s music industry.