Breaking the Rules: How MercyMe Found Freedom to Dance for Joy

Join Shannon Bream as she welcomes Bart Millard from MercyMe to discuss their new album, Wonder and Awe. With over 30 years of making music together, 50+ number one hits, and refreshing transparency about rediscovering joy after decades of success, this multi-platinum artist shares how the group “stumbled into” its most authentic project yet. Recording in their cabin studio without initially planning an album, MercyMe felt “like kids playing in a garage band again,” – which became the perfect metaphor for reclaiming childlike faith in our digital age. Bart vulnerably shares the divine timing behind their #1 single “O Death,” which arrived from friend Walker Hayes at the exact moment Bart’s father-in-law was diagnosed with terminal leukemia, and how his father-in-law’s promise to “get down” when he saw Jesus transformed their understanding of celebrating faith. From growing up in an environment where dancing was off-limits to now writing songs like “Fred Astaire” about dancing with joy despite having “no rhythm,” Bart emphasizes that “sometimes with Christ in us, with this joy that we have, it makes you do silly things”—offering hope for anyone who feels their sense of wonder has grown up too much in our information-saturated world.