@MercyMe provokes thoughts about heaven with the official music video for their new song:
Even when it feels long
Oh find strength in each step
Knowing heaven is cheering you on...
featured in the film are Bowen Hammitt and Anna Timmons - children of fellow artists Matt Hammitt and Tim Timmons.
MercyMe's song "I Can Only Imagine" was inspired by the death of lead singer Bart Millard's father and ended up providing hope, healing and comfort to a country that was still raw with the scars caused by the attacks of September 11.
Now, as they traverse their third decade as a band, Bart, Nathan Cochran (bass), Barry Graul (guitar), Mike Scheuchzer (guitar) and Robby Shaffer (drums) are in it to win it. And their relentless commitment to faith, music and the gospel shows no signs of slowing down on their ninth studio project, aptly titled LIFER (2017).
Speaking about the life events that led to LIFER, Bart says...
"Since making Welcome to the New, our whole perspective has changed ... there was a huge paradigm shift, so to speak, spiritually for us. The gospel didn’t change, but our perspective of who we are because of the gospel certainly changed.”
Bart grasped the concept of the no-strings-attached grace that Christ offers and it literally changed him from the inside out. And now, LIFER serves as the next natural chapter. If Welcome to the New’s central message was grace, LIFER’s core message is triumph and includes the songs "Even If," "Grace Got You" and "Best News Ever."
“It’s a reminder that there is victory,” Bart says of the project as a whole. “Life’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon, and no matter what comes our way, we need to be reminded that we should live our life as if we’ve already read the last page of the book and know how the whole thing turns out. Our eternity is set.”
Welcome To The New (2014), includes the songs "Flawless" and "Greater." They are upbeat tunes that work to combat all the voices that try to put us down and cast doubt into our lives. "We were at church, and some kids were making fun of (my son)," explains Bart. "And he started singing 'Greater' - 'You are Holy, righteous and redeemed.' I just started bawling. That's the reason we made the record."
In 2018, the movie I Can Only Imagine starring Dennis Quaid and J. Michael Finley was released to the delight of audiences, far and wide.
