The last make-up post involves one of the highlights of the week’s event every year: The Songwriter’s Showcase… i would’ve done this one earlier, but i didn’t have the list in front of me… last year this event was hosted by Mark Schultz and Mandisa, but this year, they went with Bart Millard and Mark Hall of MercyMe and Casting Crowns, respectively…

Bart opened the night with a stripped down version of “Bring the Rain” which is up for song of the year and then Mark Hall rejoined him onstage and they introduced the first of three sets… included in set one was Cindy Morgan, Mike Weaver (Big Daddy Weave), Everyday Sunday, and Rush of Fools… Cindy was easily the best of the bunch, scoring the first “wow” moment of the night with her unedited version of the Point of Grace hit, “How You Live (Turn Up the Music)” and Everyday Sunday seemed nervous and/or starstruck as they introduced and performed “Wake Up! Wake Up!“…

after a pretty humorous interlude with Bart and Mark, the second group came out on stage… Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio started this group off with “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone“… now, i guess i didn’t explain this very much, but the idea is that the songwriters come out on stage and perform the songs even when someone has made it famous… it’s generally an acoustic version of the song, rougher, and often more authentic and moving… anyway… Brandon Heath performed “I’m Not Who I Was” and he sounded very true to the recorded version, which seems to mean that he’s as authentic on the album as he is in person…

and then came “wow” moment number two… Steven Potaczek comes out on stage and he kind of looks like Andy Kaufman with his hair and no one seems to have a clue who he is or what this song, “How Big Can Small Be” is going to sound like… as such, not too many people were excited to see him walk over to the piano, but once he started playing, everyone was captivated… Steven and his wife are part of the 1000 Generations team and apparently won the songwriting competition at this past year’s GMA in the Rockies… it’s clear why…

Following that was Joel Lindsay and Sue Smith with what was apparently a big hit in the Southern Gospel world, but a song that did nothing for me, “He Erased It“… and then came Toby… i’m not sure i can rate it as a “wow” moment, but Toby came up and kicked into the opening verse of “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock before performing a very cool version of “Made to Love“…

More Mark, more Bart and then more music… Group three was solid… Sanctus Real, who came out last year and blew me away with an acoustic version of “I’m Not Alright,” returned with “wow” moment number three, an acoustic version of “Don’t Give Up“… followed quickly by “wow” moment number four: Leeland and Jack Mooring performing “Tears of the Saints“… simply amazing as always… Natalie Grant’s latest hit, “In Better Hands” was given a nice treatment by the trio of writers and “By His Wounds” was introduced by David Nasser and performed by Mac, Mark, Travis Cottrell and Shane Everett…

Mark Hall closed out the night with “East to West” and mentioned something about our lives being nothing but a closed fist in Heaven… something i still cannot quite decypher…. Anyway… a great time was had by all…

peace… love… bdg…