For the
Christian worship band MercyMe, leading their fans in praise of the Lord has been an almost life-long calling that has paid dividends in good will and spiritual prosperity. Formed in 1994 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, MercyMe consists of —Barry Graul (guitar), Robby Shaffer (drums),
Mike Scheuchzer (guitar), Nathan Cochran (bass), Jim Bryson (keys) and Bart Millard (vocals). The band first moved to Nashville, but then at the invitation of an evangelist friend in Dallas, they moved to
Texas, quickly playing as many as 200 dates in a year, with a musical focus
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on praise and worship with a modern rock/pop flair. The dates soon attracted record company interest and the band signed with INO Records in 2001, when they released their major label debut, Almost There. The album rocketed up the charts within weeks of its summer release, propelled by the success of the mega-hit single, “I Can Only Imagine.” The record-breaking disc was certified Gold in less than a year, and was the best-selling debut of 2001 in the Christian industry. MercyMe was also honored by the industry with three
Doves Awards (for Song of the Year, Pop Recorded Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year for MercyMe frontman and “
Imagine” scribe Bart Millard).
For their third album, Undone, MercyMe branched out in new directions. They added a guitarist,
Barry Graul, to the band, and they incorporated a new range of pop influences from bands such as
Coldplay. Undone became the most successful album of MercyMe's career, dispelling any notion that the success of "
I Can Only Imagine" was a one-time fluke. At the time, Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album "carefully balances unabashedly holy sentiments with lyrics that could be alluding to a new love just as easily as to God." The album topped Christian music charts and rose to number 12 on Billboard's pop top 200---rare territory for a Christian album. Several albums later, MercyMe’s pull with both the secular and religious markets remains strong. “The shows, the opportunities to play, and the crowds have gotten bigger,” Millard admits. “It’s been amazing…It’s kept us grounded because we’ve been given such a blessing and we don’t want to mess it up.” It’s a sure bet that they won’t.
