For more than three decades, MercyMe has handcrafted songs that have carried listeners through grief and brought them hope even on the hardest days. There’s not much the award-winning group hasn’t accomplished, few honors they haven’t earned, and even fewer milestones they haven’t reached. It would be easy to go through the motions, apply the tried-and-true formula and churn out a new batch of songs that equals their previous work. However, for their 12th studio effort, Wonder & Awe (Fair Trade Services), the band — comprised of Bart Millard (lead vocals), Mike Scheuchzer (guitar), Barry Graul
(guitar), Nathan Cochran (bass), and Robby Shaffer (drums) — found themselves falling in love with the art of making music all over again, while uncovering songs that will surprise even the most devoted fans.

Since launching their career-defining single, “I Can Only Imagine,” MercyMe has propelled 27 songs to the top of the charts, resulting in 63 multi-format No. 1s. Holding the record for the most No. 1s on Billboard’s Christian Airplay and Christian AC Airplay charts, the beloved collective has accrued a shelf full of accolades that boasts numerous Artist of the Year wins, six GRAMMY® nominations, eight GMA Dove Awards, a slew of K-LOVE Fan Awards, multiple American Music Awards and a Billboard Music Award. Named Billboard’s Top Christian Artist of the 2000 and 2010 decades, the 10x-Platinum band has sold out some of the country’s most prestigious venues, including Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Additionally, the revered act has received high-profile media coverage on “Good
Morning America,” the “TODAY” show, “CBS This Morning,” “FOX & Friends,” ABC News, CNN and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as in the pages of Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, USA Today and more.

MercyMe made history in 2014 when “I Can Only Imagine” exceeded 2 million digital downloads, making the now 5x-Platinum hit the first song in Christian music to ever be certified Platinum and double-Platinum in the digital domain. In 2018, the once-in-a-lifetime single inspired a major motion picture based on Millard’s life. I Can Only Imagine 2, the film’s highly anticipated sequel — focusing on the story behind MercyMe’s powerful declaration, “Even If” — is slated to release in theaters Feb. 20, 2026, via Lionsgate.

The road to Wonder & Awe has been paved with more success than MercyMe could have ever dreamed; yet, it wasn’t a list of achievements or a lifetime of experience that shaped the band’s latest 13-track offering — it was their deep friendship and a reinvigorated sense of joy.

“This album had us feeling like we were a brand new band. It feels like we’re kids again,” Millard enthuses. “We’re having the most fun we’ve had in 30 years.”

Admittedly, the reliable hitmakers didn’t realize they were assembling a new record. With time off the road, they found themselves at their log-cabin-turned-studio in Franklin, Tenn., with former producer Tedd T. chasing new sounds just for fun. “Tedd has a band mentality. It took longer to come up with the original sound and play together in a room instead of a producer filling in the gaps on his laptop,” Millard explains, “but it allowed us to break some rules and try new things. And then, all of a sudden, we realized we were making an album.”

Their latest collection serves as the follow-up to 2022’s Always Only Jesus, which spawned two No. 1 singles — “Then Christ Came” and “To Not Worship You” — as well as the Top 5 title cut.

A year-and-a-half in the making, Wonder & Awe returns the band to childlike faith. “When I was young, man, all I did was make stuff up. I just had this vivid imagination. So, at what point did my childlike faith grow up?” Millard reflects. “I just want to get back to that place where I lose my breath when I see glimpses of God.”

That thought is the through line that defines MercyMe’s new project and comes to life most brilliantly on the title track, with a first verse that finds Millard transporting listeners back to his childhood bedroom as he flies off his top bunk pretending he’s in Neverland. His imagination runs wild across the baker’s dozen that make up MercyMe’s most recent musical endeavor, executive produced by Tedd T. and — for the first time — co-produced by all five band members. Additional production credits include veteran Brown Bannister, as well as fresh creative voices Josh Auer, Jarad Atherton and Carter Frodge. Moreover, the album also features musical contributions from legend Gordon Kennedy.

Marked by distinct sonic detours and a clear sense of creative freedom, the LP is bookended by two originals penned solely by Millard, who hasn’t written a MercyMe song by himself since “I Can Only Imagine.”

“We’ve made a lot of music, so for us to kind of push the envelope is a big deal,” Millard reasons. “We’re not reinventing the wheel musically — it all sounds like MercyMe — but there are songs on there that we probably would’ve voted off the island on other albums.”

Case in point — track one. What began as a mischievous voice memo in the car — complete with Millard slapping the steering wheel — evolved into Gospel-tinged opener “Canary in a Coal Mine.” In contrast, hymn-like benediction “Heartbroken Hallelujah” was written in the wake of several friends walking through divorce, as well as the loss of his father-in-law. “I was driving home from the gravesite, and I started humming that chorus,” Millard shares.

His father-in-law also inspired chart-topping selection “Oh Death,” an eleventh-hour addition. “If we believe what we say we believe — that death is not the end, but more of a door we walk through — then what are we so afraid of?” Millard says of the message behind the whimsical track he wrote with Walker Hayes, Ethan Hulse and Tedd T. “In fact, we should walk around with a little bit of swagger.”

For fans who think “Oh Death” is unconventional, they need only to press play on Wonder & Awe to realize the lead single barely cracks the surface of what the band uncovers on the sonically ambitious project. Bold horns flare on quirky throwback “All God’s People,” and the same left-of-center creativity flows right into the clever “Fred Astaire.”

“When we wrote the song, and I told everyone I wanted to call it ‘Fred Astaire,’ they thought I’d lost my mind,” Millard reveals. “It’s just about having so much joy that you can’t keep it in, even though you look like a fool.”

In contrast, songs like the anthemic “Sing (Like You’ve Already Won)” and lyrically-grounded ballads like the poignant “So Many Reasons” deliver signature MercyMe. The latter’s bridge succinctly captures the heartache that was happening all around Millard at the time it was written — the sudden death of a pastor’s wife, the birth of a friend’s baby with severe health complications, another friend experiencing an aneurism. Then there’s cinematic crown jewel “Trust the One,” which took the band years to complete and serves up what Millard says are some of his favorite lyrics he’s ever penned, like this golden vow: “I’ll trust in You, trust the One fear answers to.”

With a single line, MercyMe can still stop you in your tracks. Although the depth of their lyrics affirms the longtime friends are serious about their faith, they don’t take themselves too seriously. Turns out, they haven’t lost their sense of wonder after all.

“I didn’t want to be a grown-up on this album. We had so much fun making it. It is a band record all the way to the end. There’s very little that we didn’t create together, and we felt more like a band than we’ve felt in years. After this many years, we needed to be surprised by the music we’re making,” Millard says. “I hope you hear the album and feel like a kid again.”

Known for honest songs that tell personal stories of freedom in Christ, Big Daddy Weave has long been admired for their real-life, real-person openness. With songs like Redeemed, God Is In This Story, Heaven Changes Everything, My Story, The Lion and the Lamb, Overwhelmed, and Let It Begin, Big Daddy Weave has become one of the most beloved bands in Christian music. Millions have taken their anthems of the chain-breaking love of Jesus as their own and sung along to songs about the radical act of redemption. The band’s openness to go through whatever doors God opens for them has kept them going since their early days as students at the University of Mobile. Big Daddy Weave’s testimony is about a deep and personal faith in Jesus, no matter the circumstances. A mainstay at radio, the band has achieved multiple No. 1 singles. RIAA Platinum-certified Redeemed became an anthem of unprecedented impact when it spent 11 weeks at No. 1, was dubbed “Song of the Year” at the first annual K-LOVE Fan Awards, and earned Dove Award and Billboard Music Award nominations. Their follow-up hit, “The Lion and The Lamb,” has become one of the genre’s most-streamed songs. Big Daddy Weave members are Mike Weaver (lead vocals, guitar), Jeremy Redmon (guitar, vocals), Joe Shirk (saxophone, keys, vocals), Brian Beihl (drums), and Raul Alfonso (bass). They have amassed more than one billion career streams and have received numerous honors, including a Dove Award, ASCAP and BMI Awards, and the prestigious Rich Mullins Artist Impact Award, among others.

Tim Timmons is a singer, songwriter, and worship leader whose music carries a unique blend of authenticity, humor, and hope. Diagnosed with incurable cancer over two decades ago, Tim has turned his journey into a catalyst for songs that point people toward practicing life with Jesus every day.

He co-wrote MercyMe’s Grammy-nominated hit Even If, now featured in the upcoming film I Can Only Imagine 2, where actor Milo Ventimiglia portrays Tim. Since his debut Cast My Cares (2013), followed by Awake Our Souls (2015) and HERE (2021), Timmons has released songs that serve as prayers—all reminders of God’s nearness in every season.

Beyond his music, Tim founded 10000 MINUTES, a nonprofit and podcast encouraging people to live out their faith in the 10,000 minutes of the week outside Sunday services. At home in Nashville, he and his wife Hilary raise four children, sharing life in community and practicing daily rhythms of gratitude and faith.

Whether through songs, stories, or ministry, Tim Timmons’s mission is simple: to help people walk with Jesus in the everyday moments of life.

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