Casting Crowns: The First Album Quiz

Answer: Melodee DeVevo, Juan DeVevo, Rob Cervantes and Hector Cervantes

Mark Hall was the founder and leader of the group which also included Melodee DeVevo, Juan DeVevo, Rob Cervantes, and Hector Cervantes in 1999. The group was made up of youth workers and students when it first started as the worship group for the churches youth services. Later they branched out and used the group as a method of outreach in other events in the cities. Steven Curtis Chapman and Mark Miller convinced the group to start studio recordings and the first album was created.

It was a major success and Casting Crowns became an official Christian rock group, with songs that quickly made the top Christian song charts.

Answer: guitar, violin, and drums

Juan DeVevo and Hector Cervantes were the original guitarists. Melodee Devevo added the part of the violinist. Rob Cervantes played the drums. Mark Hall was the lead vocalist and song writer.

Answer: What if His People Prayed

"What if His People Prayed" was the first song on their first album. It became a very popular hit after its release. The song's message talked about how if the church prayed, God would answer. Prayer is a weapon that breaks chains spiritually and draws the church people closer to what God desires.

Answer: If We Are the Body

Many of Casting Crowns songs started out as lessons that would teach young men and women about living a Christian life and serving Christ. Mark Hall, the leader of the band, wrote this song to teach his own youth group while he was a youth pastor in Florida, a lesson in how the body of Christ is supposed to operate.

He wanted to show teach them how members of the body of Christ work together to reach the world. When one member does not function or do what they have been designed to be, not only does the rest of the body suffer but the body is also handicapped from reaching it's full potential or helping people who are lost.

Answer: Voice of Truth

"Voice of Truth" was inspired by Mark Hall's own personal testimony. Mark Hall started writing this song when he was in Bible college. He had struggled with dyslexia and felt out of place for many years. When he was 20, he read in 2 Corinthians how Paul was not perfect and how Paul bragged about his weakness because Christ was his strength. Mark began to realize that there are many things people as individuals struggle with, but Christ loves us not because of what we are or what we can do, but because of who He is.

He loves people in spite of their weaknesses and difficulties.

Answer: Who Am I

Mark Hall was inspired to write this song during a time he was celebrating Thanksgiving in Alabama. He wrote the song while he was in the car and started thinking about how he was made more than a conquer through Christ. Through Christ he was many things that were good, but he also realized that he was small compared to all the other things God had. Mark was amazed at how blessed he was that he could talk with the God of the universe and God desired to be apart of his life.

Answer: Jack

Jack is a man who does not know God but is working to give his family finer things. However in the end Jack is like the man in the Bible who built his house on sand. Everything he has worked for collapses and he has a lost soul in the end.

In the song, they end it with the moral of the story:
"He used to say, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins"
But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the end
I'll take a shack on the rock
Over a castle in the sand
Now he works all day and cries alone at night
It's not getting any better
Looks like he's running out of time
'Cause he worked and he built with his own two hands
And he poured all he had in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are coming crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands"

Answer: Here I Go Again

In this song a person keeps having second thoughts about helping his friend by witnessing to them about Christ. The person knows this may be his last chance to tell his friend that Jesus loves them. He is scared because his life is not perfect, but his friend will never know if he does not make an effort to show him what he has never heard before.

Answer: Praise You With the Dance

Most of Casting Crowns' songs focus on a themed lesson, but Casting Crowns has made several worship songs as well. "Praise You With the Dance" was one of their first worship songs and one of the first that had female lead vocals. The song gave praise to God for delivering a soul out of the pit and listening to their cry. Because of God's mercy, they are free to praise Him with the dance.

Answer: The Altar and the Door

Following "Ill Praise You With the Dance", the songs "Life of Praise", "Your Love is Extravagant", and "Glory" were the remaining three of the four worship songs Casting Crowns released on their first album.

"Life of Praise" reflects one of Casting Crowns' main themes in their music, that not only is it important to give praise to God, who delivers souls from sin and establishes a personal relationship with them, but it is important to live a life of praise that continually gives God the glory. Casting Crowns' spreads a message that living for God is more than words but it is an ongoing lifestyle that witnesses to people what God has done for us as individuals and what He can do for them.

"Your Love is Extravagant" was the final song on Casting Crowns' first album.