The Altar and the Door

rdf:langString The Altar and the Door

rdf:langString The Altar and the Door

rdf:langString Altar and the Door cover.jpg

rdf:langString A 27-second audio sample of the second verse of "What This World Needs", which has a rock sound.

rdf:langString A 26-second audio sample of the second verse of "Slow Fade", a ballad.

rdf:langString Slow Fade.ogg

rdf:langString What This World Needs.ogg

rdf:langString iTunes bonus tracks

rdf:langString left

rdf:langString Various locations in the United States

rdf:langString USA Today

rdf:langString Billboard

rdf:langString CCM Magazine

rdf:langString Christianity Today

rdf:langString Jesus Freak Hideout

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rdf:langString Somewhere in the Middle

rdf:langString The Altar and the Door

rdf:langString "Slow Fade"

rdf:langString "What This World Needs"

rdf:langString All Because of Jesus

rdf:langString I Know You're There

rdf:langString Prayer for a Friend

rdf:langString The Word is Alive

rdf:langString What This World Needs

rdf:langString White Dove Fly High

rdf:langString studio

rdf:langString Jeff Chandler

rdf:langString Mark Hall

rdf:langString Mark Hall, Bernie Herms

rdf:langString Mark Hall, Bernie Herms, Nichole Nordeman

rdf:langString Mark Hall, Steven Curtis Chapman

rdf:langString The Altar and the Door is the third studio album by American Christian rock band Casting Crowns, released on August 28, 2007 on Beach Street Records and Reunion Records. Produced by Mark A. Miller, the album was inspired by lead singer Mark Hall's experience looking at the MySpace pages of his youth ministry students. The album's main theme is the difference between how Christians feel in church and the compromises they make outside of it. Its musical tone, which Hall says is different and more progressive, incorporates more of a rock sound than their previous, more polished studio efforts. The Altar and the Door received positive to mixed reviews from critics upon its release. Particular praise was given to the lyrics and the album's overall concept, but some critics felt the album's sound was mediocre and uninventive. The album received the award for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year at the 39th GMA Dove Awards. It sold 129,000 copies in its first week, a record for a Christian album with no secular media support, enabling a debut at number one on the Billboard Christian Albums chart and number two on the Billboard 200 and Digital Albums charts, only blocked on the latter charts by the soundtrack for High School Musical 2. It later topped the Catalog Albums chart in 2010. The 18th best-selling Christian album of the 2000s, The Altar and the Door has sold 1.2 million copies and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The lead single from The Altar and the Door, "East to West", was one of the most successful Christian singles of the 2000s, spending a total of 19 weeks atop the Billboard Christian Songs chart and peaking at twenty-five on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. While not as successful as "East to West", follow-up singles "Every Man" and "Slow Fade" were both top five hits on the Christian Songs chart.