“I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a kid, and my son and I have been collecting memorabilia for several years,” says Hall. “Now I’m teaching our son that God doesn’t bless us so we can merely have; He blesses us so we can give.”

Hall, and Crowns’ guitar player Juan DeVevo, will make a special appearance at Star Wars Celebration V today to experience the convention and drive buyers to Hall’s unique Star Wars items. The items showcased include the one-of-a-kind, custom-designed “Han Solo” desk, an “Emperor” chair and several Star Wars themed paintings

The desk was created in 2008 by Tom Spina and Richard Riley of Tom Spina Designs, a NY-based company specializing in the creation of custom sculpture, themed furniture and the restoration and display of original movie props and features a 3-D figure of the famous “Han Solo” character encased in carbonite. The “Emperor” chair was also created by Tom Spina Designs and will be on display with the desk.

While the items are up for sale at the convention, any Casting Crowns fan is able to inquire about purchasing by visiting http://www.castingcrowns.com or by directly clicking on the Casting Crowns blog link, http://bit.ly/940dSS

One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Casting Crowns’ long time charitable partner, World Vision. World Vision works nationally and internationally with impoverished children to improve their quality of life and the lives of their families. To date, Casting Crowns’ tours are responsible for uniting more than 50,000 children with sponsors through the humanitarian outfit.

Stars Wars Celebration is an annual, traveling convention hosted by Lucasfilm that will be hosted this year by the Orange County Convention Center Aug. 12-15. The convention gathers together more than 30,000 Star Wars enthusiasts from across the country to dress up in costumes, see special guests like George Lucas, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher and share their enthusiasm for the trilogy with other fans. One of the convention’s many scheduled activities is a charity auction of Star Wars memorabilia.

Also on deck this month for GRAMMY-winning Casting Crowns is the Aug. 31 release of its new project, Until the Whole World Hears LIVE, which takes the band’s most recent live show direct to living rooms. The 2-disc DVD/CD will offer millions of fans a front-row experience to the platinum-selling music and discipleship of Casting Crowns. The 54-minute LIVE concert DVD includes an additional 80 minutes of behind-the-scenes content and will launch the premiere of Casting Crowns’ new “Until the Whole World Hears” music video. DVD highlights include Mark Hall’s devotional-styled “Teaching Video Series” and the “Adopting Hope” story which details the Halls’ heartwarming journey to bring home their 33-month old daughter, Meeka Hope, from China.

About Casting Crowns:
Christian music’s GRAMMY, AMA and Dove Award-winning Artist of the Year, Casting Crowns is headed by frontman/principal songwriter Mark Hall. The platinum-selling band’s recent fourth album, Until The Whole World Hears, sold 167,000 copies first-week setting a sales record as the highest debuting Christian Music artist in SoundScan history (week ending 11/22/09). The album certified RIAA Gold in four weeks, with more than 600,000 sold to date

All of the Atlanta-based band’s projects are RIAA certified, with a monster tally of two RIAA Platinum Albums, two RIAA Platinum DVDs, three 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, Hall is the student pastor at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in Atlanta. As a remarkable occasion, 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, visit www.providentpress.com, or www.castingcrowns.com. Follow the band on Mark Hall’s Twitter at: http://twitter.com/markhallCC.

For more info on Casting Crowns, visit the JFH Artists Database.