The Hurt & The Healer

This is the first single and title track of the eighth major label, full-length studio album from Contemporary Christian Music band, MercyMe. Lead vocalist Bart Millard remarked that the song, "is a celebration of that moment when these two worlds collide - the deep need for healing and the God who provides it." In our interview with Millard, he told the story: "It was written a few weeks after my cousin, who was a firefighter in Dallas, was killed in the line of duty. And I found myself speaking at the funeral. Just a few minutes before I got up to speak, I realized, Man, I've got to stand here and explain to 3,000 firefighters how somehow God is still in control. And there was this overwhelming feeling, because at the time, I wasn't quite sure myself, to be honest. I remember getting up there, and what kept going through my mind is, Man, I felt like I had as many doubts as they have, but somehow I'm able to stand here and speak truth. It was just that moment of, I don't have it all together, but the truth remains the same. If I were to ever wait until I had my life lined up and perfect to be eligible to stand at a pulpit and speak the gospel, I'd never get a chance to do it. So I kept praying before I got up there with God, We don't need an encounter with you, we don't need our paths just to cross, but we need a full blown collision to where we just live one and the same; we're so mingled and intertwined. And I don't know if that was pain we needed, or just acknowledging that we're in the middle of it. That thought stayed with me for a while, and probably two or three weeks later we were starting a tour. It was the first time I really found myself by myself during the season. I was sitting in the arena on one of the first tour dates, and I just fell apart. I pulled my iPhone out, started talking lyrics, and 10 minutes or so later I was done. I was freaking out, because it went so fast. I started texting all the guys different lines, going, Man, this is stuff is just rolling out of me. It did come out of a really difficult time, and I'm just hoping that it connects with people that are going through similar situations."

The Hurt & The Healer album was produced by Brown Bannister and Dan Muckala and is centered around the concept of bringing healing to the hurting. "For whatever reason, God has called us to help people through the healing process, so as we began this project, we thought, 'do we even try to fight it, this is kind of who we are,'" said Millard. "The idea is to create an album to help bring healing to people, but not just healing; even in the midst of life's worst moments, there's this irony of feeling more alive than anytime before; that moment when we embrace our kids a little tighter and we re-evaluate what's important in life. The whole album revolves around this common theme," he added, "but it's not all really heavy. We hope it helps people get to a better place in these moments that seem to cripple us at times."