I thought I was walking into a movie about Christian music.
I saw the first I Can Only Imagine in theaters in 2018. Only once. My eyes ached for hours from the constant leaking over its 110-minute runtime. I never saw it again–not because it wasn't good, but because it was. It was raw. It was heavy. It hit too close to home.
So when I sat down for I Can Only Imagine 2, I braced myself.
As someone who has spent 24 years stewarding one of the largest Christian music archives online, I'm a complete sucker for the history. The songs. The stories. The subtle nods. Even hearing "Audio Adrenaline" echo through a theater. But I was nervous about feeling that exposed again in a dark room full of strangers.
The film continues the story of MercyMe's rise–Bart Millard navigating life at home and on the road, the friendship with Tim Timmons, and the emergence of "Even If." It's well cast. Well paced. Thoughtfully done.
But this isn't a movie about Christian music.
It's a movie about healing.
It's about the lies from our past that haunt our future steps. The sentences we write over ourselves in permanent ink: This will never go away. Scratched across a blank journal page, leaving no room for any other truth.
That line wrecked me.
I thought about years of my own life drained by anger and regret. Friends who operate daily out of unhealed wounds. And I silently thanked God for the kind of grace that waits patiently for us to let Him rewrite what we've carved in stone.
This is a movie about parenting.
A father trying to protect his son from a disease he cannot control. The tension between showing up as a dad and defaulting to managing problems. A mother learning to let go. Parents who desperately want to shield their children from a broken world--but can't.
If you're a parent, you'll feel it.
This is a movie about finding God in the fire.
"God is in the fire," Tim says in a hospital room. "And God is in the storm. And it is beautiful."
And I couldn't stop thinking about the families who didn't get the miracle. The prayers stretched on for years. The dads who would give anything to take the pain away–but can't.
And that's the thing about Christian music.
Behind most songs is a life that's been tested. A story rarely told in full. Hard seasons. Quiet doubts. God-sized faith.
Christian music has had a rough year.
We haven't fueled much of the noise on NewReleaseToday–not because we're unaware or don't care, but because I don't feel called to amplify every failure. There's already enough anger. Enough vitriol. Enough headlines that reopen wounds. We've probably sacrificed clicks because of that choice.
I'm okay with that.
Because I still believe in Christian music. This isn't something that needs to be burned down, rallied against, replaced, or reinvented.
Not because artists are perfect. They're not. Not because the industry always gets it right. It doesn't.
I believe in it because, at its best, Christian music takes the spotlight off the artist and points to a perfect Father. And that beauty outlasts every failure.
We may wrestle for the light. We may stumble. We may fail spectacularly–both on the stage and behind closed doors. But Jesus keeps calling us back. And in the end, His light shines brighter than anything we could manufacture on our own.
I thought I was walking into a movie about Christian music.
Instead, I walked into wounds–and the God who heals them.
Kevin McNeese started NRT in 2002 and has worked in the industry since 1999 in one form or another. He has been a fan of Christian music since 1991.
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