Behind Casting Crowns Music

Stories Behind Casting Crown Music

I have a playlist on my iPod that I put on in the car on our half-hour ride to church on Sunday--standard favorites such as "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and other hymns that draw us into a worship mode. It seems every generation has its music and as a senior citizen I have not kept up with Christian rock music to any great extent. It doesn't catch my attention on the radio.

Then there is  the Christian group
Casting Crowns. 

A year ago we enjoyed them at Plant City, Florida's Strawberry Festival as reported HERE. The Strawberry Queen herself told the audience to enjoy the worship, not the concert. People in the audience were indeed worshipping and singing their songs as they led the concert.  I do have two of their CDs and have downloaded other songs into my iTunes library. Why I also have a Casting Crowns playlist to listen to in the car. What lead singer/songwriter Mark Hall said in the concert has resonated with me and I was glad to read one of his four books,

Lifestories: Finding God's "Voice of Truth" 

Through Everyday Life. 

The book made my Casting Crowns playlist come alive.

The creative part of me enjoyed how Casting Crowns songs came to be as described in this book. The devotional side of me enjoyed the reflective questions called The Bottom Line at the end of each chapter. (This might be a good resource for a youth group study.)  The theological side of me recognized Mark Hall's Reformed thinking in the book. I do like that he both sees God's election and our responsibility to evangelize. On tour they take time for their behind-the-scenes people in sharing the gospel. Then they usually make it back home to minister at their own churches, although they are so successful they wouldn't have to ever make it back home to their churches.

Mark Hall tells how one of his songs,  Praise You in the Storm, took off after Hurricane Katrina. See it on YouTube HERE.

You're Already There is a song that touched me at the 2013 concert where I took this picture.

We had great seats and my husband really liked the concert. 

Last year's concert may be one of the last events of this sort that I am able to take my husband to because of his decline with dementia. As a caregiver this song lifts my spirits when I hear it on my playlist. The LORD is already there with the ending time for my husband's dementia.

Then there is the Casting Crowns song,  If We Are the Body. We are the body of Christ as Christians according to Scripture. Since reading about this song, I have been propelled to do several acts of kindness and bold witnessing beyond really what I would ordinarily think to do. Here are some lyrics from that song:

But if we are the body,

Why aren't His arms reaching?

Why aren't His hands healing? 

Why aren't His words teaching? 

And if we are the body, 

Why aren't His feet going? 

Why is His love not showing there is a way?

 (pp. 39-40)

Just a few more gems from Mark Hall's book:

• "Authentic Christianity is nothing if not transparent." (p. 145)
• "When I'm not living for Jesus daily and show up at church after squeezing out life on my own terms all week, I'm needy when I walk through the doors. . . . I am so needy because I'm not complete when I get there [to church], and when I'm not being completed by my walk with Jesus, I unwittingly demand completeness from people. I raise the bar of expectations, and people don't meet my needs because it is impossible for people to do so." (p. 99-100)
• He quotes Colossians 3:17 and writes "That means all of life is worship. If we are so accustomed to thinking of worship as mere music, then we should realize the song starts when we awake in the morning." (p. 113)

Above all about this book and the popularity and success of the Casting Crowns Christian rock group, I love the band's name. The band members will one day cast their crowns at Jesus feet as we read in Revelations.

Looking forward 

to the day

when I can also

cast my crown

at His feet. 

Chapter Ten, "What About Sunday"

How was your Sunday? I do love Sundays, although it is always a special effort to get my husband out of the house to church. One Sunday my husband couldn't go and I went without him, not knowing if this would be the norm, or if I would be staying home from then on and watching the worship service on Skype.

Fortunately I do have a volunteer caregiver Christian neighbor who helps get hubby to church. Kenny even lifts the wheel chair into the back of our SUV--a task too difficult for me. Kenny is even choosing to go to our Reformed church, leaving behind his Baptist background. I gave him Nicene Council's DVD "Amazing Grace" and "The Late Great Planet Church".  Several years ago I had purchased extras of these DVDs not knowing who would get them.

Aimee writes:

We are called out from all of our own working to receive. What are we receiving? It is so much more than moral instruction, or how to have Christ reign over your finances, fix your marriage, and help you attain your best life now. We are actually receiving Christ and his benefits through the preached Word and the sacraments. (p. 194) 

Amen, Aimee. I get it. Those humanistic topics in the sermons really bother me and I am glad that I do not receive them in our worship service.

These are reflective questions from pp. 200-202 of Housewife Theologian by Aimee Byrd. The questions are in red and my answers are in black.

• How would you describe your current attitude toward regularly attending church on Sunday mornings? Highlight of week. How do you think your attitude affects your family's view of the church service? My husband and I love our church and I love the fact that we worship at 2 pm now. 
• Do you consider the church as consisting of both holy people and holy place? Yes. How would that then affect: Your preparations before you Go? The ways you view and treat others there? How would you protect this time and space? Prepare for the worship. 
• How is God uniquely present with us in our worship service in a way that is different from the rest of the week? How are we much more privileged in this way than the believers of Old Testament times?
• God in his majesty is graceful in both the spiritual and civil governments. What are the similarities and differences of how his grace affects believers and unbelievers?
• Why is the language of the temple so important throughout Scripture? This is where God dwells, or tabernacles among us. What is the meaning of the temple, and why is it so significant?
• How is your own weekly routine a story about nothing? I am going to read up on Seinfeld--the show about nothing and reflect. Is that what Monday through Saturday is supposed to be for us--insignificant? Not really. Every day is significant. I enjoyed the significance of what my husband was able to do this morning. He participated more fully in his getting dressed and walked without the walker to his spot in the den. 
• What difference does Sunday make to our story? In other words, how is our worship service an act of the future breaking into the present, reorienting our thinking and living between the already and the not yet? Since I worship in a Reformed church, I often hear "already and not yet". I do not have to just sing Soon I will be done with the troubles of this world, Going home to meet my LORD. I have His presence already and already celebrate this reality on Sundays. 
• In looking at our worship service as a covenant renewal ceremony, what covenant are we renewing? Would the answer be "the covenant of grace"? Aimee wrote I think it goes without saying that the implications of being included in the covenant of grace make life much more challenging for the Christian in some ways. (p. 495) In light of this, should we be preparing and accommodating our services primarily for unbelievers who may be visiting?  We don't. Should our service look the same as our weekly entertainment venues to appear more attractive and updated? No. 
• How do our responsibilities as citizens of God's heavenly kingdom have stronger implications than our citizenship in the common society? What may be some circumstances  where this would become apparent? How does this actually benefit unbelievers?
• Do you find it hard to offer grace within the community of God's covenant people? Sometimes I feel I need others to say a word or encouragement for my caregiving journey for my husband. For example, my friend who is a caregiver also wants her pastor to ask how she is doing.  Have you ever taken an injustice rather than asserting your own righteousness? My righteousness is as filthy rags and I need to forgive any injustices. Aime writes In the spiritual realm, justice has already been served and grace reigns. (p. 195) Do you teach this to your children? I teach what to do about bullies to students when I substitute teach. 
• How has the church throughout history tried to impose its rule on the world? What dangers have come from that? Do you struggle with confusing these two kingdoms in your own politics? What are the particular challengers of this for American Christians?  I have seen so much debate about two kingdoms when John Framer's book came out criticizing Michael Horton whom I respect. Two years ago I wrote about this HERE.  Aimee, I want everyone in the Reformed world to get along. Theology hurts sometimes. 

What doesn't hurt is the Sabbath. How much I do need that weekly Sabbath rest and observance. I wrote once HERE about Christians who are not in worship service.  I hope to challenge some people I know on that issue also of non-church attendance. 

Six days ago I posted chapter nine of this book. There has been one comment from my dear social media friend and only 9 views but that's okay--this blog is not my idol. However, yesterday I posted on my caregiving blog HERE and in 24 hours there has been 236 views including a new caregiver Christian who needs that blog for her journey. Thank you, LORD!

Also thank you for the Sabbath that gives 

us rest from our labors. 

"God Makes House Calls"

A gentleman who read my book said it made him think about his faith, but when I asked about his church attendance, he quipped "God makes house calls." This was his reason for not belonging to a church and being a solo Christian at home. I don't think that he has thought enough about the Christian faith, however, and this post is dedicated to him.

Perhaps God makes house calls to the sick and those in the hospital and in prisons who can't come to churches in our cities. Chaplains serve in hospitals and prisons and minister to the needs of the ill and the prisoners. However, I do not think that God excuses other people who have not found a church home.

Yes, there were churches in homes in the New Testament in the book of Acts. But these churches were gathering of believers, but not just one family.  Soon the New Testament has Paul writing to churches in various locations. In only two books does he write to individuals--Timothy and Titus.

Pastor Kevin De Young wrote that it is not a good idea to swap church for serving the community on Sunday. See DeYoung's Blog Someone commented on his blog that the real sacrifice would be to serve the community instead of watching a football game on Saturday not by skipping services on Sunday.

Can't find a worthy church? Burt Parsons writes about a true church in Table Talk magazine from Ligonier Ministries. He quotes Calvin:

The Reformers looked to Scripture alone to determine what comprises a true church. In his Institutes, John Calvin wrote, “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists” (4.1.9). Calvin and the Reformers understood that the pure preaching of the Word and the right administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which includes the practice of church discipline, were essential elements of a true church, with the implicit repudiation of false churches that did not conform to these fundamental biblical qualifications.

God can be glorified in all we do, but also in worshipping Him in His prescribed way on the Sabbath in our local church. To change that is to miss out on glorifying Him in fellowship with other believers. To not have fellowship with other believers is to open up ourselves to error and pride--pride that God will negate centuries of history of his church and visit us and our family in our homes but perhaps not those in churches.

No perfect church? There are also no perfect people who do need church instruction, discipline and fellowship. That church also needs their gifts.

Faith comes by preaching of the Word of God (Romans 10:14) and we are told to not forsake assembling of ourselves together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:25). Let's remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.