After nearly three decades of recording music, Bart Millard of MercyMe uses album titles to pinpoint specific times in his life.
The band’s current release is “Inhale (Exhale),” and it speaks on so many different levels, said the lead singer of the group, who will be in concert at 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at the James Brown Arena.
“We were at the height of everything,” said Millard of March 2020 when closures and cancelations related to the pandemic began. “And two weeks later, my biggest concern was what kind of ice cream I was getting with my 11-year-old daughter.”
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The band started in the 1990s and has soared with songs such as “I Can Only Imagine,” which earned Millard the Dove Award for songwriter of the year in 2002. In 2018, a biographical film of Millard with the same name as the song title was released.
The band was hitting it on all cylinders.
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“Right before the pandemic hit, because of the movie, we were at an all time-high. The tours were never better, but it all came to a screeching halt.”
In the midst of the pandemic, Millard and band members, like many others came to judge life and success in different ways. Priorities shifted, and while they still love to perform, Millard said they also realized those precious, small moments with family that can never be replaced.
The pause in performances allowed Millard to exhale, and the mundane things of life were paramount.
During this same time, a longtime friend of the band had a life-threatening condition.
“He was our first merchandise guy,” said Millard of Gary Miracle, who was airlifted to a hospital on New Year’s Eve 2019.
According to Miracle, who appears in the MercyMe video of “Say I Won’t,” he fell into septic shock and 107 days later, he left the hospital without his hands and feet. They had to be amputated while he was in the hospital fighting for his life.
Millard said the song had been one that he’d worked off and on for several years, but he kept coming back to it.
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The song has its basis in the scripture Philippians 4:13 NKJV “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Threaded throughout the video is Miracle’s story and his determination to walk again with the use of prosthetics.
Millard said Miracle told him he went through “so many dark days,” but the process of the video and sharing his story helped him during those times.
Written across the screen at the end of the video is a statement that Miracle would walk within a year of getting his prosthetics.
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“He was walking within three months,” Millard said.
Millard said the band is glad to finally be back on stage, but now they plan to be more selective about concert dates and not be on the road so much so they can be at home with their families more.
Tickets to MercyMe are $28.50-$68 and are available at aectix.com.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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