MercyMe – Bigger than us

CCM: You mentioned earlier that you recognized the songs you were writing meant a lot to people. Was there an earliest moment when you realized this thing was picking up steam?
NC: We used to do a lot of church camps in the early days. We’d be gone all summer hopping week to week doing camps and we would lead worship quite a bit at those camps. It was usually cover songs of popular worship music at the moment because we hadn’t written enough of our own songs at that point. But we did get to a point where we wanted to try writing our own songs, so we would hole ourselves up in somebody’s church Sunday school room to work on them.

Like I said, if we were honest and tried to write from the heart, whether it was very sing-along or not, people responded to that. I remember being at camps early on, we would sing a song we’d just written the day before and it would actually connect with people. One day, you’re standing in front of a group of kids that you’ve never seen before and they start singing along. Then the next day, you’re in front of a retirement community singing along to the same songs. You realize it doesn’t matter what walk of life, apparently what we’re doing really means something. It’s bigger than us. It’s a fortunate thing that I can look back and have 100 different memories of how we were having an early impact on people.

CCM: These songs have taken you all over the place. Is there an experience that’s most surreal for you personally?
NC: We got to do the last few crusades of Billy Graham, and that was a little surreal. You’re aware of Billy Graham and the legacy that he did. I honestly am not saying this because he recently passed away. You’d stand on the stages and realize the legacy that you’re a part of all of a sudden. I never saw that coming. That was pretty surreal.

CCM: What about the movie surrounding the song? Is that surreal as well in a way?
NC: Yes. It was about seven or eight years ago that somebody ended up contacting Bart and said, “Hey I’ve heard you talk about the genesis of the song and I think it’d make a great movie.” We were all like, “Okay, great. Thanks for calling.” [Laughs] Then a few years pass and scripts are being written and you realize, “Gosh, these things are going to happen.” Then it comes out.

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