Looking Back At The 2013 K-Love Fan Awards

Looking back at last year's K-Love Fan Awards.  We're not far off from the 2014 awards and I thought it would be fitting to go back and look at what I typed up last year.  

If you weren't able to be there like myself, you had a great option and that was to listen to K-LOVE as they broadcast all the events this weekend.  That included the Songwriter's Showcase on Friday night, the awards on Saturday night, and then the worship service on Sunday morning.

Friday night kicked off with the Songwriter's Showcase which was hosted by Steven Curtis Chapman and Matthew West.  How much fun were these two?  I laughed so much at them.  They played really well off of each other.  Lots of great acts on this show.  I absolutely loved these acoustic versions of so many of the songs that we are used to hearing on K-Love.  It just kept getting better and better with the songs and talent that kept getting up there and performing.  I laughed so hard at the moment where Matthew West told MIKESCHAIR that they had to follow Amy Grant and Vince Gill.  They found humor in the moment by getting on stage and saying "I'd like to thank Vince and Amy for opening for us".  That was a great line!!!  As you can see this was such a fun and laid back atmosphere for this showcase.  Fun with a lot of great music and worship.  If you got the pleasure of listening to this live, you got a big blessing from it.  I loved it!

The Awards themselves were a lot of fun.  Fun to see who would win what award.  How the fan voting would go.  The performances were amazing.  Countless great performances through the night.  Things really picked up with Natalie Grant and Kari Jobe singing together!!  How awesome was that??!!  That kicked the worship into big time overdrive and set the stage for the rest of the night.  Tenth Avenue North was amazing as well!  That was one of my favorites. 

So, what were the award winner results?  Well, here you go.

Artist of the Year: TobyMac

Song of the Year: "Redeemed" by Big Daddy Weave

Male Artist of the Year: Chris Tomlin

Female Artist of the Year: Kari Jobe

Group/Duo of the Year: Casting Crowns

Breakthrough Artist of the Year: For King & Country

Book Impact of the Year: The Love Dare by Alex and Stephen Kendrick

Sports Impact of the Year: Mike Fisher

Movie Impact of the Year: Courageous

These categories were so packed with such amazing talent and regardless of who won, it was a celebration of all these great and talented performers.  TobyMac as artist of the year did not surprise me at all.  He has had an amazing year.  Kari Jobe posted this on Twitter following her win: "LOOK what you guys did!!  I have the best fans!! I love loving Jesus with U all! Thank you! ahh!!!!" For King and Country had an amazing speech that summarized the whole weekend.  They talked about a testimony they had heard with their music.  A fan told them a story of a friend who was already in the motions of taking their life.  The fan listened to the song on the radio and had this urge through that song that they needed to call their friend and check on them.  They were able to get help for the friend before it was too late.  This was such a powerful speech with them saying "what we're doing here is impacting lives, and it's got power".  It goes to show the strength of these songs.  How God can use these songs to that person out there that is listening.  It might have the most perfect lyrics for them that can help them through a situation.  That song might be the understanding for them that they aren't feeling like they are getting anywhere else.  How many times do you hear that perfect song come on at the most perfect time?  God uses this music and uses K-LOVE. 

There was also a special award presented at the K-LOVE Awards with the Unsung Hero award. It was for the Cochran family.  You can see more with this video of their story with this brother and sister combo that will inspire a lot of people!

Sunday morning had me excited to get the radio turned on and listen to the worship service which was being led by Meredith Andrews and Matt Maher.  They did such a great job of leading the service. I knew we were in big time business when it opened with Meredith's "Open Up The Heavens" as I've said that is such a great song to open up her new album.  It gets you praising immediately and it did during this service as well.  Then, we had them combining together on Matt's great song, "Your Grace Is Enough", which sounded great.  I loved Meredith's quote during this service where she said "God needs us to be right where we are".  That is such a true statement and one that puts a lot of perspective on everyone.  God has a purpose and has all of us right where we are supposed to be.

So to summarize the weekend, just amazing.  I wasn't even there and I felt like I had such an incredible K-LOVE Fan Awards experience.  I can't even imagine what it must have been like there in person.  I know I got spoiled with all the great music and worship this weekend so it will be hard to be back to normal this week.  It definitely felt like a revival event and I can't wait to see what they put together for next year.  Thank you to K-Love, all the artists, fans, and just everyone who had any part in this amazing weekend.  Thank you for all of your hard work that you do every single day.  If you want to see a highlight reel of this amazing weekend, here you go.  Have a great rest of the day!  Take care and God bless!!