Michael W Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman prepare to kick off historic tour

|PIC1|Award-winning and multi-Platinum-selling artists Michael W Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman will kick off their historic joint tour Thursday with plans to hit 19 cities through early November.

Joining forces together for the first time, Chapman and Smith will start off their month-long "United Tour" in Columbus, Ohio, and travel throughout the east coast before concluding in St Augustine, Florida, on November 8.

The unique tour will showcase two of Christian Music's most recognised and beloved artists, who together have garnered a staggering eight Grammy awards, 96 Dove Awards, 77 No 1 singles and more than 30 Gold and Platinum albums. It also marks the first tour for Chapman since his family's loss of their five-year-old daughter, Maria.

"What new world order is this!?!? Michael W Smith and SCC on stage doing songs together? Woo. Well wow and wow," exclaimed Jim Houser, Chapman's manager, in his weblog Wednesday as the two Christian music legends rehearsed.

On Tuesday, Houser estimated that as many as seven tour stops have been sold out so far.

"As I like to say ... we are pushing the tour out the door," he wrote.

The idea for the joint tour reportedly came shortly after Chapman and Smith spent time together in the United Kingdom working on the "Compassionart project", which brought more than 10 of Christian Music's most revered singers, songwriters and worship leaders together to write and record a collection of songs for charity.

According to Compassionart, Smith said the gathering was "one of the most significant weeks of [his] life".

Benefiting from the Christian music stars' upcoming tour will be Smith's long-time ministry partner, Compassion International, and Chapman's adoption ministry, Shaohannah's Hope.

Throughout the tour, both artists will perform music from their current and upcoming albums - Chapman's This Moment and Smith's A New Hallelujah.