Last Saturday, I gathered up some of my favorite women and had the ultimate girls night out! We piled into my friend Amanda’s “spaceship” (spoiler: it’s a minivan) and headed off to Philadelphia to listen to some of our favorite Christian bands LIVE!
As it was my first ever Christian concert, I must say that this was such a moving experience. The atmosphere in the room was just so different than that of any other musical concerts I’ve been to. It wasn’t just a large room full of just fans bonding over the interest of some band, shouting the words to our favorite songs at the stage. We were there to worship God, to sing His praise and fill the room with love. At one point, a man became ill and passed out. Mark Hall of Casting Crowns stopped in his tracks, called to a team to help the man out, and then took a few moments to pray for this stranger. This was one of the many moments that I teared up, realizing I was in the presence of people who truly believe in glorifying God.
It’s so funny to think of all of the times that I was brought to tears during this show. The last time that I cried during a concert, I was 12 and I thought one of the guys from ‘N Sync waved at me. This was different. There were so many moments where the musicians just spoke freely about how broken we all are and how we’ve come to Jesus as we are. I just stood there thinking about how that was me but that was also all of us and I’m not alone.
We had the opportunity to meet with the bands before the show and it is no surprise that despite how vastly different they were from one another, they are all incredibly sweet people. Our friend, Hannah, inducted the wonderful Megan of Casting Crowns into our own “girl club”, whatever that means, she kindly agreed. Unspoken played at our church last year, but I was away at the time, so I was extremely excited to hear them play, let alone meet them. They recalled several names of the leaders at our church and it made me happy to think our little church stood out to them. (I love my church so much!) I was amazed at how personal all the bands, and the experience was. I can’t wait to do it again!
Seriously @dannygokey has the most beautiful voice ever. ❤️ Also, very wise and such a sweet person! pic.twitter.com/aHhkr9geyq
— Tiffany (@QuirkyMomNextDr) February 22, 2017
After falling in love with Danny Gokey’s beautiful voice, I looked him up and discovered that he started on American Idol. This immediately sparked a question for me that I absolutely had to ask him. “What was it like being out there in that entertainment world as a Christian?” His answer really made me think. He said that the proper mentality wasn’t “us versus them” as so many people think. He realized it was his own heart that needed to change. “I needed to be a light in the dark.” This is such an important message for all of us.
I feel it’s completely unnecessary to remark on the quality of everyone’s performance because obviously it was amazing. Unspoken opened with one of my favorite songs and then did a few fun cover songs. Danny Gokey sang his hits but also collaborated with Megan from Casting Crowns on a beautiful duet. Casting Crowns was all over the place! They did their old songs, new ones, soft ones, and fast ones. Mark discussed scripture and shared messages that related to his own life and all of ours. He had a humorous side and even brought out his children. This tour reminded me of a cross between my favorite Christian music, church, and a family Thanksgiving…except without turkey. I would go to this same exact show again and again. As a matter of fact, I’m not really sure how any other concerts will ever measure up to the show that Casting Crowns put on for us. The best performance of the night had to be when the lead singers of Casting Crowns and Unspoken joined together with Danny Gokey to sing “O Glorious Day”.
I thank God for using the music from this band to reach my soul and deepen my faith. I thank God for answering my prayers about friendship, meeting all of these great women at church, growing with them and enjoying this lovely evening with them.
Check out the Casting Crowns tour page for details on shows near you!
CONNECT with Casting Crowns:
CONNECT with Unspoken:
CONNECT with Danny Gokey:
CONNECT with Generation Exodus:
*The Quirky Mom Next Door received tickets in exchange for her honest review. All opinions and experiences are her own only.
Wow! That sounds like an amazing experience!! I can’t imagine all the love and unity that was in that room. Thank you for sharing this with me. I’m definitely going to be checking these groups out.
Such an amazing show!!! These artists are all so talented and so humble! God is surely using them for His glory!