Casting Crowns brings ‘Very Next Thing’ to town

Five things you might not know about Christian music’s most popular act

The band that’s held the title of Billboard’s top-selling Christian music act since 2007 will stop in Hixson at Abba’s House on Friday night, April 13, as part of its “The Very Next Thing” tour.

Casting Crowns’ tour is in support of its 2016 album of the same name. The theme of the album is the idea that what’s next for the Lord is often what’s right next to you.

“You can follow God from right where you are. In the condition you are in right now, you can follow him and he will make you his,” says front man Mark Hall of the album’s central theme in a news release.

“The local church is the heartbeat of the band. Because we have the honor of walking with people in our churches, we get to see what people are going through, the issues that are impacting everyone now. It’s in these situations that ideas are born for what we all need to hear.”

Here are f ive things about the Atlanta band that you might not know.

› “The Very Next Thing” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart and is still at No. 13 after 81 weeks on the chart.

› The current single, “God of All My Days,” is No. 19 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Singles after seven weeks climbing the chart.

› “Oh My Soul” is a deeply personal single on “The Very Next Thing” because it was written by Mark Hall after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. It was inspired by scripture in Psalms: “Why so downcast oh my soul, put your hope in God.”

› The Chattanooga Boys Choir backed Hall on “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” one of the tracks on Casting Crowns’ Christmas album, “Peace on Earth.”

› Hall served as a fulltime youth pastor for more than 25 years.

For more information: www. abbashouse. com/ events.

PHOTO BY EVAN AGOSTINI/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Casting Crowns arrives at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.