“Turn on the spotlight/Strike up the band/Everyone’s looking my way.”

These lyrics strike up the title track from Third Day’s latest album Wire. The Grammy-winning band brings one of today’s most popular contemporary Christian music acts to Assembly Hall on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. From here, Third Day will launch the fall phase of their Live Wire Tour, a ticket they share with Toby Mac, the hip-hop voice of dcTalk.

The Third Day ensemble of frontman Mac Powell, guitarists Mark Lee and Brad Avery, bassist Tai Anderson, and drummer David Carr returns to Assembly Hall for the first time since the spring of 2002. Sales from a 2000 praise and worship release called Offerings I hit platinum. The following year, Pollstar ranked their Come Together and Worship tour as one of the top 100 tours in the entire music industry. Then came a Grammy award in 2002 for their Come Together album.

This marks another banner year as the Atlanta-based band’s sound beams out to a TV audience. Their 2004 Republican National Convention appearance in Madison Square Garden segued to a prime-time tribute to Ronald Reagan. The next day, Third Day hopped a plane to Los Angeles to perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The invitation came as a result of their contribution to the soundtrack of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

“Third Day seems to be returning to their rock roots and fans are responding,” said Brice Kauffman, an afternoon radio host on 91.7 FM WBGL. “The boards really lit up when we were giving away tickets.”

Released last May, Wire strikes the same chord that won Third Day their fan base. In the late ’90s, Lynyrd Skynyrd-style rock numbers such as “Alien” and “Gomer’s Theme” got the attention of contemporary Christian music fans who prefer electric riffs with their hallelujahs. But after a series of three solid rock albums – all of which went gold – the band chose a more acoustic path toward praise and worship music. Worship-style ballads such as “My Hope Is You” won over a new crop of fans.

“Their concerts are full of energy and life, but go beyond entertainment and fun by presenting the truth about what Christians believe,” said Todd Keylock, a graduate student who attended the 2002 concert.

Nothing in Third Day’s repertoire, however, comes close to the rap and funk rhythms of the other major draw on the Live Wire card, Toby Mac. Since taking a break from his dcTalk trio, Mac’s solo career has explored his signature brand of music, a style best described as fusion rap. His first release, Momentum, wrapped a mix of Latin beats, guitar solos, and R&B; harmony around rap lyrics. Selections from his yet-to-be-released Welcome to Diverse City album may be performed publicly for the first time Thursday night.