Best-selling Christian music artist Casting Crowns wraps the spring leg of its 42-city “Come To The Well” tour.  With one of its most successful tours to date, Casting Crowns’ final show alone saw a sold-out audience of more than 16,000 attendees.

Following a hugely successful fall run, including more than 15 sell-out performances, playing before 155,000+ people, the spring leg kicked off Feb. 9, in Florence, S.C.  Among its scheduled 42 shows, the tour hit arenas in major markets like New York City, Grand Rapids, Mich., Orlando, Fla., Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, Ala., St. Louis, Mo., Minneapolis and Houston, among others.

 The closing date in Houston on Saturday, May 5, marked Casting Crowns’ highest-grossing and most well-attended show ever with 16,000+ concert-goers.  Director of KSBJ Special Events, Chris Farnsworth, who promoted the event, comments, “KSBJ Radio was thrilled to host Casting Crowns’ ‘Come To The Well’ tour this weekend.  The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion was the perfect venue to see over 16,000 members of the Gulf Coast community come together to make this the biggest audience of Casting Crowns’ career.”

A final tally of tour numbers for both fall and spring legs indicate cumulative attendance exceeding 370,000 with 40 sold-out dates making Casting Crowns’ “Come To The Well” tour one of the most successful Christian artist tours of all time.
 

Multi-platinum selling, GRAMMY®, AMA and 2010 Dove Award-winning Artist of the Year Casting Crowns will extend its massive “Come To The Well” tour into the spring by adding an additional 44 dates across the U.S., this time featuring special guests, singer/songwriter Matthew West, pop-rockers Royal Tailor (both GRAMMY-nominated) and Christian music newcomer Lindsay McCaul who was also on the 2011 fall tour lineup.  Following a hugely successful fall run, which included a string of more than15 sell-out performances, playing before more than 155,000 people, the spring leg of the “Come To The Well” tour kicks off Feb. 9, in Florence, S.C.  Among its scheduled 44 shows, the tour will hit arenas in major markets like Grand Rapids, Orlando, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Houston and many more.  

The tour takes its name from the Casting Crowns’ newest studio project, Come To The Well, (released October 18, its first new studio album in two years), featuring the hit single “Courageous,” which was showcased in the recent Sherwood Pictures film by the same title.  The project is filled with songs that both challenge and encourage believers in their walk, including, “Just Another Birthday” which goes for radio adds today.  Frontman Mark Hall collaborated on several of the tracks with top songwriters including Steven Curtis Chapman, Matthew West and award-winning country songwriter Tom Douglas.

The week of its release, Come to the Well sold 99,138 copies, making it the highest debut on Billboard’s Top 200 at No. 2.  The album additionally topped the Billboard Contemporary Christian Overall chart, while also claiming No. 1 on the iTunes Christian Albums chart and No. 3 on its Overall Albums chart.  Lead radio single “Courageous” landed at No. 1 on the iTunes Christian Songs chart and peaked at a No. 1 on the Billboard National Christian Audience
chart in just 10 weeks.  In addition, the band celebrated its second career American Music Award win, from six career AMA nominations, on Nov. 20.

The “Come To The Well” tour is partnering with Christian humanitarian organization World Vision ( www.worldvision.org).  World Vision provides assistance to approximately 100 million people in nearly 100 countries by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.  Casting Crowns has helped to generate a total of 52,000 child sponsorships for World Vision to date.

On the heels of its recent American Music Award® nomination, multi-platinum, award-winning artist Casting Crowns is this week’s highest debut on the Billboard’s Top 200 at No. 2.

Come to the Well additionally topped the Billboard Contemporary Christian Overall
chart, while also claiming No. 1 on the iTunes Christian Albums chart and No. 3 on its Overall Albums chart.  Lead single “Courageous,” landed at No. 1 on the iTunes Christian Songs chart as well.

Casting Crowns’ fourth studio release, Come to the Well sold an extraordinary 99,138 copies this week.  Such a showing earned Come to the Well the highest charting position for a debut album on the Billboard Top 200.  Furthermore, the project dominated the Billboard Contemporary Christian Overall chart, where Casting Crowns’ Nov. 3, 2009 release, Until the Whole World Hears, also charted at No. 4.

In addition, Casting Crowns celebrates a No. 1 on the Billboard National Christian Audience
chart with hit radio single “Courageous,” added only 10 weeks ago.  The occasion marks Casting Crowns’ second No. 1 song in six months, following “Glorious Day” which was No. 1 at AC in April 2011.

Other factors driving Casting Crowns’ momentum are multiple sold out tour dates, Mark Hall’s recent book release, high profile media coverage including a lead feature in Billboard Magazine, an American Music Award® nomination – the band’s sixth - and the support of its more than TWO MILLION Facebook fans.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was impressed by early buzz anticipating the album’s strong debut.  In his Oct. 20 blog post he singled out the band saying, “Congrats guys! You’re
quite blessed!” Read the post in its entirety here: http://perezhilton.com/2011-10-20-christian-rockers-casting-crowns-billboard.

Produced by Mark A. Miller, Come to the Well is Casting Crowns’ first new studio album in two years.  As with previous records this one draws inspiration from the band’s ministry efforts at its home church, Eagles Landing Baptist Church, outside of Atlanta, where frontman Mark Hall serves as youth pastor.  The project is filled with songs that both challenge and encourage believers in their walk. Hall collaborated on several of the tracks with top songwriters including Steven Curtis Chapman, Matthew West and award-winning country songwriter Tom Douglas.

Christian music’s top-selling act, GRAMMY®, AMA and GMA Dove Award-winning artist Casting Crowns offers its fifth studio project, Come To The Well, on Oct. 18.  The release will be preceded to retail by radio single “Courageous,” also featured in the upcoming film, Courageous, and promoted via a 40-city “Come to the Well” tour this fall.
 
Produced by Mark Miller, Come To The Well is Casting Crowns’ first new studio album in two years.  As with previous records, this one draws inspiration from the band’s ministry efforts at its home church, Eagles Landing Baptist Church outside of Atlanta, where frontman Mark Hall serves as youth pastor.
 
“Teaching through the story of the woman at the well with my teenagers and my families is where it all came from,” says Hall.  “Your friends aren’t the well.  They aren’t always going to do the right thing or be there for you.  Your athletic scholarship can’t be the well.  If your knee goes out, your well is dry.  You need to draw from Jesus, pour into that.  That is where it started... with the idea of Jesus being the well versus other things.”
 
Come To The Well is filled with songs that both challenge and encourage believers in their walk. Kick-off single “Courageous” contains a powerful lyric that exhorts men to lead bold, uncompromising lives for the Lord, while “Jesus, Friend of Sinners” admonishes the church to show compassion.  “Already There” is a potent treatise on God’s faithfulness and “My Own Worst Enemy” cautions Christians about falling back into past behavior.  Hall collaborated on several of the tracks with top songwriters including Steven Curtis Chapman, Matthew West and award-winning country songwriter Tom Douglas.
 
While the record will be introduced to fans through the radio single, “Courageous,” -- vying for adds at Christian AC and CHR beginning Aug. 12 -- “Courageous” will also be showcased in the upcoming Sherwood Pictures film Courageous (in theaters Sept. 30).  The “Courageous" music video recently premiered on GodTube and received more than 100,000 views within the first 24 hours of its premiere.  “Courageous” continues to air on national video outlets including Gospel Music Channel.
 
In addition to supporting “Courageous” with a 40-station radio promotional tour, Casting Crowns will debut the song live on the road this fall.  The 40-city “Come to the Well” tour launches Sept. 22 in El Paso, Texas and will feature premier modern rock bands Sanctus Real and The Afters as well as Christian music newcomer Lindsay McCaul.  For a complete list of tour dates, visit: www.castingcrowns.com/tour.
 
Casting Crowns heads into this latest season backed by the momentum of its first RIAA certified Gold single, “Who Am I,” from the group’s 2003 self-titled debut.  The song, selling more than 500,000 copies, is one of only 12 Christian tracks ever to secure Gold status.  The title is included among those by fellow Provident Label Group artists Brandon Heath and Bob Carlisle, as well as other top performers MercyMe, Skillet, Relient K, Switchfoot and Chris Tomlin.
 
All of Atlanta-based Casting Crowns’ projects are RIAA certified, with a tally of three RIAA Platinum Albums, two RIAA Platinum DVDs, two RIAA Gold Albums and a Gold DVD, holding position as Billboard’s top-selling act in Christian music since 2007.  Despite an unprecedented six-year career with Casting Crowns, the seven band members remain active in student ministry in the Atlanta area and tour part-time around their local church duties.  Serving his 18th year in youth ministry, lead singer/songwriter Mark Hall is the student pastor at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in Atlanta. As a testament to the band’s impact, Casting Crowns performed for a second time in North Korea in April 2009, in partnership with Global Resource Services, as the band continues to forge invaluable relationships with the people in the D.P.R.K.
 
For more information on Casting Crowns and Come to the Well, visit: www.castingcrowns.com or follow Mark Hall’s Twitter at twitter.com/markhallCC.
 

Mark Hall, frontman of the GRAMMY ® award-winning mega group Casting Crowns, will publish The Well: Why Are So Many Still Thirsty? with Zondervan. The newest book from the platinum selling lead singer will hit retailers this September.
 
In addition to his music, Hall has been the student minister at Eagle’s Landing Baptist Church outside of Atlanta for the past 18 years. With co-writer and fellow pastor Tim Luke (author of books such as Your Own Jesus), Hall uses the powerful story of the Woman at the Well and her encounter with Jesus to help readers understand why life often seems so unsatisfying.  What many believers consider wells that sustain them—like success, talent, control, and favor—are really just holes that keep them from relying upon Jesus and the abundant, refreshing life He offers.
 
“I’m confident you will see yourself many times over in this book,” remarks actress Candace Cameron Bure (“Full House,” ABC Family’s “Make It or Break It”) who wrote the foreword for the book. “As I pray through this latest challenge before me, I’m thankful that the Lord used His Word and Mark Hall’s keen insights to give me this crucial reminder.”
 
Fellow GRAMMY ® winner Steven Curtis Chapman also supports Hall’s latest book saying, "I love Mark Hall's heart. When he writes, whether it's a song or a book, it's always from the heart of a gifted teacher and an earnest friend. This book is another rich example of that, and I've been ministered to deeply as I've read it.”
 
The Well ties into the release of Casting Crowns’ newest album releasing this fall, Come To The Well. Additionally, the “Come To The Well” tour will launch this September, and hit 40 markets nationwide.
 
When The Well hits retailers this September, it will be featured for $14.99, ISBN 0310293332, 5.5 x 8.5.