Having endured some serious challenges over the last few years, including losing their lead singer and being forced to change their name, a recent upswing has been sweet for members of This Beautiful Republic.

The Toledo Christian rock group, who will play a benefit concert in Toledo Friday with Glass City Boyz, signed a contract last month with ForeFront Records, a major Nashville-based label that is part of the EMI Christian Music Group.

"I can't even explain to people how excited we all are as a band," said Adam Smith, 24. "We went from, like, having no hope to having every reason to hope. It's just thrilling."

The five-man band - with Mr. Smith and Jeremy Kunkle on guitars, Adam's brother, Andy Smith, on drums, Brandon Paxton on bass, and Ben Olin on lead vocals - has been shuttling back and forth to Nashville lately, working on demo recordings and talking business with ForeFront executives.

The group , whose melodic rock sound has been compared to such mainstream bands as the Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World, plans to go into the studio this fall to get its major-label debut disc ready for release in the first quarter of 2007.

All of the positive news comes after This Beautiful Republic's darkest hour. The first blow came in 2004, back when the Toledo band was called Falling Upward. That year, a Christian rock band from Albany, Ore., called Falling Up released its debut album, and it became a nationwide hit. The Oregon group's success was a problem for the Toledo group with a too-similar name.

"We had some songs spinning on [Toledo station] YES-FM," Mr. Smith said, "and then Falling Up came out, so you had Falling Up and Falling Upward, and it was just really confusing. We knew this would never work on a national scale."

The group members - all graduates of Toledo Christian High School - tossed around countless names until deciding on This Beautiful Republic, he said.

"We looked up 'republic' in the dictionary and it was 'a group of people working together towards a common goal,' and that's really what we're about," Mr. Smith said. "The name basically means that we're all on a level playing field, especially when you think of the body of Christ. We're all equals."

together towards a common goal,' and that's really what we're about," Mr. Smith said. "The name basically means that we're all on a level playing field, especially when you think of the body of Christ. We're all equals."

Then, in September, 2005, just four days before This Beautiful Republic was to perform a showcase in Nashville for Christian labels, the group's longtime lead singer, Peter Burford, decided to quit, citing personal reasons. Mr. Smith had to call the Nashville label execs to tell them the band would be unable to perform.

"Having to call and say, 'Nope, it's all canceled' - that was devastating to us," he said. "Our name was mud with every label we had talked to because we canceled with them. And we had worked so hard. We had been practicing five nights a week, plus playing concerts on weekends. Not to mention all the previous years of work that went into it."

Not knowing what to do next, all they could do was lean on their Christian faith, he said.

"We learned a lot through the whole experience. We learned to trust God even when things look really, really bad. And that holds true for everything in life," he said.

It just so happened Mr. Olin's band, Peter's Cry, split up the week Mr. Burford dropped out of This Beautiful Republic. Mr. Olin sent an e-mail to the group, offering to fill in temporarily while they searched for a new singer.

"When it was all said and done, it was just amazing to us that the first guy we interviewed turns out to be the best thing for the band. We just feel it was a God thing. God completely proved his faithfulness."

This Beautiful Republic will be in concert Friday with Glass City Boyz, a Christian hip-hop/rap band from Toledo formerly known as Breaking Point Rezidoom. The benefit for Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity and Furniture Bank, starts at 7 p.m. at Calvary Assembly of God, 5025 Glendale Ave. Tickets, at $20, are at local Christian bookstores. Information: