I Can Only Imagine

I highly recommend “I Can Only Imagine“, the true story based on the life of Bart Willard (of the band, MercyMe) and the origins of his popular song. The movie performed better than expected on opening weekend.  According to the band’s website, “’I Can Only Imagine’, … the movie based on the life of MercyMe frontman, Bart Millard, …shattered pre-weekend tracking expectations to become No. 3 at the box-office [opening] weekend and the No. 1 faith-based movie of 2018.”

One reason the movie is doing so well is because this Christian hit song crossed over into mainstream media. Movie reviewer, Rusty Wright, explains how this happened:

“I Can Only Imagine” – Bart’s tribute song for his father, performed with MercyMe – eventually became a smash hit on Christian media. Then a mainstream FM radio DJ with a reputation for sometimes crude dialogue played it as a joke for his listeners.  Phone lines lit up.  People wanted “to talk about what the words meant to them and how it made them feel.”

The DJ invited the band to be on his show and the song’s popularity spread among mainstream stations.  MercyMe appeared on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and now has performed at Radio City Music Hall, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, CNN and ABC News.

How to Share Your Faith through “I Can Only Imagine”

In Person

The most obvious way to share your faith through a movie is through watching it together and then sharing about the film afterwards. When you listen and share, focus on exploring the faith journey of your friend. Don’t use this time to defend the movie. Discover through your questions how God is working in their heart.

Here are a few questions you might use:

1. What stood out to you from the film?
2. How closely did “I Can Only Imagine” reflect your view of God?
3. What surprised you about the way spirituality was depicted?
4. Tell me about your spiritual journey.

Need more conversation starters? Try these additional questions.

Through Social Media

Especially now, while the movie is in theaters, try sharing links (include #ICanOnlyImagine) to the movie site itself or various related videos:

• The official movie trailer.
• I wrote an evangelistic review on my blog, The Sovereign. Feel free to share that post. Please also pin it to Pinterest.
• In the following video interview, Dennis Quaid shares about his faith, about his mother, and about the movie.
• Dennis Quaid composed “On My Way to Heaven” for his mother. The movie inspired him to complete it.
• The original song music video.
• MercyMe’s new version of “I Can Only Imagine” for the movie release.
• “I Can Only Imagine” in Spanish: “Puedo Imaginem.”
• MercyMe performs “I Can Only Imagine” with the London Symphony Orchestra and dramatic images of God’s creation.
• An interview with Bart Millard about his story and his song.

Go to one of these and then share on your favorite social media platform. Be available for discussion through your posts.

God’s hand is evident in the writing of the song and in bringing it into mainstream media. Now, His fingerprints are all over the production and success of this movie.

I hope seeing God’s heart in proclaiming His message of love and forgiveness through what He did for Bart and his father encourages you to take time to share your faith through the “I Can Only Imagine” movie. People are desperate for a message of hope and grace for their own lives, too.

NOTES:

• See Rusty Wright’s full review here.
• The photo for the header of this post comes from the movie’s website, ICanOnlyImagine.com.

How to Share Your Faith through I Can Only Imagine by Sus Schmitt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.