STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN - LIVE IN THIS MOMENT

Need I say more??? It was incredible!!!!! Our seats were fantastic, the concert was amazing, and I have pictures to prove it!!! I don't really know where to start with all the stories and things I experienced, so I guess I'll just start at the beginning!!! My mom got home from work and we set off on the 3 hour drive to Champaign/Urbana. We arrived early enough to do a little shopping and stop for dinner before arriving at the U of I Assembly Hall about an hour before the show started. Once we walked in the door, we were met by the volunteers from Shaohannah's Hope. Shoahannah's Hope is an organization that cares for orphans by helping families get over the financial hurdle of adoption. It was founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, and named after their first (of three) adopted daughters. At the concert, they were taking donations of loose change for their "Change for Orphans" campaign. I brought my jar of change to donate - and it turned out that if you donated a certain amount, you got a free t-shirt! And I'm glad I got that shirt, 'cause it was so hot in the Assembly Hall - no AC!!!

We found our seats (the second row in the first section of risers) and sat for a while, but with all the hot lights and so many people, I decided to go change out of my long sleeve shirt into my new "Show Hope" shirt. The concert began with Bethany Dillon (shown here with Eric) singing a few of her songs. I saw her last year at CHIC, so it was fun to sing along with some of the songs.

Sanctus Real was up next - and they were awesome! They were at Fish Fest with Steven in June, so it was a repeat performance of some of the songs for me, but they are so good that it almost seems like you are listening to their CD! After Sanctus Real finished, none other than Steven himself took the stage to explain a little about the Change for Orphans campaign, mentioning that his wife was in the audience. Then there was an intermission for about fifteen minutes. The boys went to walk around for a little bit while my mom and I stayed in the seats.

I was watching the crowds mill about on the floor section in front of us and all of a sudden I realized I recognized a woman being seated with a group of friends. It was none other than Mary Beth Chapman!!!! She was sitting talking to her friends while my mom was urging me to go talk to her. It took me a while to muster up the courage, but just after they made the announcement that intermission was over, I grabbed Mark to take a pic of us. She was so sweet!!! After the pic was finally taken (Mark actually took two) she asked Mark's and my names and the only other thing I could say was "I'm such a big fan...blah blah blah..." I said thanks again and right before we turned away she said, "You're welcome, and I love your shirt!!!" That's when I realized that we were both wearing the "Show Hope" shirts!!! It was so awesome!!! (I couldn't decide which pic I liked best...)Steven got off to a great start, opening with The Great Adventure and then a song off Steven's new album, This Moment, called Children of God. During this song, Steven's sons who were in the band were given solos - Caleb sang the second verse and Will Franklin had a drum solo. The night continued mixing songs both old and new, including a 10 minute montage of some of the older songs. Some that were sang: For the Sake of the Call, King of the Jungle, Free, Let Us Pray, Not Home Yet, The Change, The Walk, Fingerprints of God, More to This Life, Miracle of the Moment, Something Crazy, Cinderella (with the most precious accompaniment video), You Are Being Loved (my favorite off the new album), etc... It was amazing! During the montage of songs, he sang most of I Will Be Here, written to Mary Beth. While he was singing I couldn't help but watch Mary Beth as she watched Steven sing that song to her. I've sung along to that song for years, but in that moment, it seemed so much more personal and meaningful!!!The second to last song was Live out Loud, a great audience participation song. Being that only about twenty young people were there (or so it seemed), not many of the "older" fans were doing anything more than mouthing the words and clapping along during the chorus. Well, that song involves a lot of la-la-la's, and while I was la-la-la-ing, I had my hand in the air waving back and forth to the beat. Even thought I was the only person doing this, I didn't care - it was a great song!!! So once the bulk of the song was over, Steven grabs the microphone and walks from side to side of the stage getting the audience to sing along or whatever. The lights were shining on the audience and when Steven came over to my "side" of the stage, he all of a sudden looked and pointed directly at me, raised his other hand, and started making the same motion I was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This only lasted a few seconds before he had to finish the song, but it was so cool!!! I was the only one doing that anywhere near me, and I can't believe he saw me!!! I was singing along with a lot of the newer songs earlier in the concert because I had previewed them on the website and a few times I thought he was looking at me, but this time I know he did!!!!

Steven and his sons Caleb (guitar) and Will (drums)

He ended with Dive, of course, and his band took the final bow. However, before the night was over, Steven invited a family up on stage. They had recently adopted a little girl and were presented with $4,000 from the money that was raised at the concert last night. It was so cool to see our donations lived out in the face of this little baby with her "forever family." The night was amazing. The music was such a blessing to hear and experience... We didn't get home until two in the morning, but it was so worth it!!! Here are a few more pics (sorry if they're a little blurry!):

During the song Cinderella, the most beautiful silhouette video played of Steven dancing with his daughter as she grew older. Check out the video in my sidebar for more...

Steven did a beautiful solo on the piano while he sang When Love Takes You In. This song was written when the Chapman family adopted Shaohannah (Shaoey), and a video played in the background during the song featuring families meeting their adoptive children, including video of the first time the Chapmans met Shaoey - so beautiful!!!

Various concert pics... The one in the middle is Steven and Caleb in the same pose... could this be a second generation SCC???Steven presenting the family with the $4,000 grant from Shaohannah's Hope - this was actually the family's third child and second adoption!

The final bow... Such a great night!!!

PS - Check out the Chapman Channel. It's filled with tour rehearsal videos, behind the scenes stuff, previews of the new music, and an entire collection of Steven's music!!! (and if you read all the way through this, give yourself a cookie!!!)