By Lana Sweeten-Shults
GCU News Bureau
Big Daddy Weave scored big in 2012 with the album “Love Come to Life,” which garnered the group an unprecedented four No. 1 singles, the most successful of which was “Redeemed.”
The tune was named Song of the Year at the first K-LOVE Fan Awards, spent 11 weeks at No. 1, was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (for sales of more than 500,000 records), and also scored a Dove Award and Billboard Music Award nominations.
The contemporary Christian band, which will be in concert at 7 p.m. Thursday at Grand Canyon Arena with special guests We Are Messengers and Micah Tyler (tickets available here), is following that success with its latest CD, “Beautiful Offerings.” It is the group’s seventh studio album.
Lead singer Mike Weaver – other band members include Jay Weaver, Jeremy Redmon, Joe Shirk and Brian Beihl – said this CD continues the thematic thread of “Redeemed.”
“Many people were saying, ‘Thank God, I am redeemed,’ but then going right back into their same old thing,” Mike Weaver said in press materials for the group’s latest CD, released in 2015. “We wanted to bring light on that with ‘Beautiful Offerings.’ Being redeemed is more than forgiveness and the fact that our past is taken care of. It’s a message of hope that calls us out of where we used to be into a new place.”
The idea behind “Beautiful Offerings,” he added, is to make one’s life a beautiful offering in how we live, how we relate to our families and how we relate to other people.
He said, “Every one of us is beautiful because of what God has deposited in us. Our lives are an opportunity to literally be used for the Kingdom. Now we have an opportunity to live in response to who He is. Jesus is the beauty in the offering.”
The band worked on the CD with Grammy-nominated songwriter Jason Ingram on the song “My Story,” which tells the story of the band members and what God has done in their lives. Part of that story recently has been the recovery of bassist Jay Weaver, whose feet were amputated in 2016 after an infection.
Another track on the CD is “I Belong to God,” co-written with Matt Redman and Allison Mellon, about the band’s trip to Cambodia. The tune touches on human trafficking.
Next up for GCU Arena is Movement Day Arizona Sept. 16; Jeremy Camp Oct. 7; the 2017 Bioethics Conference, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Human Dignity and Bioethics” on Oct. 9; and the Air1 Positive Hits Tour Oct. 15.
IF YOU GO
What: Big Daddy Weave in concert
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14
Where: Grand Canyon University Arena
Also featuring: We Are Messengers and Micah Tyler
Tickets: $18 to $33. There’s also a $48 post-show meet-and-greet with photo opportunity and VIP tour pass and a $73 post-show meet-and-greet with photo opportunity, VIP tour pass and an additional ticket donated to a ministry organization. Church/group rates available. Tickets subject to taxes and facility fee.
Information: 602-639-8972
Contact Lana Sweeten-Shults at (602) 639-7901 or [email protected].
