Casting Crowns returning to Rock the Universe
Casting Crowns is back in familiar territory this week. The seven-member group performs during Rock the Universe, a twonight Christian-music fest at Universal Studios theme park on Saturday.
The band has participated in the Universal Orlando event about a halfdozen times, but Rock the Universe was a part of Casting Crowns before Crowns even existed, said Mark Hall, lead vocalist.
“When I was youth pastor in Daytona, we were bringing our youth groups to Rock the Universe before Crowns was a band. So Rock the Universe has been a part of our story,” Hall said. He recalls watching groups such as Switchfoot and Newsboys from the theme-park audience.
“It’s been a part of us for years,” he said. “Then one day, suddenly, we’re playing concerts at it, and that made it so cool to look out into the crowd and say ‘Man, we used to stand right over there.’ It’s special to us.”
Casting Crowns also made about the same amount of appearances at Walt Disney World’s Night of Joy event, which competed for audiences on identical weekends for years. In May, Disney announced it was discontinuing Night of Joy, which debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1983. (Rock the Universe began in 1999.)
Performances at theme-park events are shorter than regular concerts, Hall said.
“It’s different because, good grief, you’re competing with roller coasters,” he said. “That’s pressure right there, man. You can either listen to our song or go ride the Rockit roller coaster.”
Diversions are built into the after-hours, extra-ticket event as attendees wander through the park, listen to multiple artists and also experience select rides and attractions.
“You realize you’re just part of a family’s time together. They might just be walking through or had a long day,” Hall said. “We usually end up playing late at night. So we try to keep it up and pour truth into people and share the gospel and focus on the whole family, not just one age.”
Hall’s group was scheduled to sing in last year’s Rock the Universe, but the second night of concerts was canceled because of Hurricane Irma.
Casting Crowns’ newest single, “Only Jesus,” was released last month, and an album by the same name is forthcoming. Hall, who wrote the song, turned to what he calls “heroes of the faith.”
They “didn’t get up in the morning and say ‘I want to be a hero today.’ They didn’t get up and say ‘I want to have followers today.’ They got up every morning and said, ‘Lord, this day is yours. What are you doing and how can I be a part of it?’ They had a flipped screen in how they looked at life. There was not a selfie mentality,” Hall said.
Every generation gets a bad rap, said Hall, who now works as youth pastor at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga.
“I think teenagers are just teenagers. They’re all struggling with the same stuff,” he said.
“I think a lot of times, if you’re a teenager or a young one, instead of having our own faith, we kind of have faith in other people’s faith. You’ll have faith in our mom’s faith or you’ll have faith in our granddad’s faith. And then when you start getting into your teenage years, you realize that doesn’t work and that you’ve got to have your own. That’s where they can get a little off track,” Hall said.
“It’s about developing their own every day walking around friendship with Jesus. As a youth pastor, that’s my goal, to help them have their own friendship with God … and realize that God doesn’t leave them when they mess up and just point them to truth,” Hall said. “That’s all we can do.”