Lessons from the Movie
I Can Only Imagine

Bart Millard grew up in East Texas. He loved music, but his father, Arthur, loved football. Arthur was a godless troubled soul who mentally, emotionally, and physically abused his son and his wife. The abuse was so severe that Arthur’s wife left the marriage. And when Bart was young, his father beat him severely, which deeply wounded him physically and emotionally.

When Bart was in junior high, his mother took him to a church summer camp. He learned to journal, was challenged to forgive his father, and met Shannon, who would become his mate for life. Shortly afterward, Bart’s mother abandoned the family—a seminal painful moment for Bart.

Left with his father, young Bart tried to please him. Arthur was a former high school football star and envisioned his son following in his steps. Bart tried to live up to his father’s dreams, but he didn’t have his father’s gifting. Though he tried hard, he was injured and unable to continue with his high school football career.

Unable to play sports, Bart was placed in a music class. Though he loved music, being in the music class seemed awkward, perhaps because he tried so hard to please his father but failed and now music class was a daily reminder of his disappointment. Nevertheless, music touched Bart’s soul. The music teacher recognized his potential and, to Bart’s surprise, commissioned him as lead singer in a school performance. This experience was exhilarating and confirmed his musical gift. Bart was reenergized with passion.

After high school, Bart left home and his girlfriend, Shannon, to pursue a career in music. He pursued his passion not money. Initially, the band didn’t have a manager and they struggled to find performance bookings. Finally, Bart found a manager who also became a father figure. The manager helped Bart find the song in his heart—a song of pain about his past. In finding his song, the manager helped Bart understand that he had a block in his life—he was running from his dysfunctional father.

Spiritually, Bart had grown cold and was running from his past. He knew he had a problem with his father but was unclear what to do about it. He couldn’t envision forgiving his father.

Unbeknown to Bart, Arthur had come to know Christ but was nascent in his understanding of Christianity. He did know, however, that he needed to restore his relationship with Bart. Arthur wrote letters to Bart seeking forgiveness, but Bart’s painful relationship with his father was so deep that he could not read the letters.

Nevertheless, Bart returned home and was warmly greeted by Arthur. He asked Bart if he had read the letters; Bart replied no. Arthur began to share his testimony and asked his son to forgive him. Shocked, Bart became enraged and told his father that he couldn’t forgive him but God would. In anger, Bart tried to run but then discovered that his father had pancreatic cancer. This was the turning point that broke Bart’s anger. The forgiveness process began.

Bart read his childhood journals and began to journal again. The final days of his dad’s life were healing balm for both. As they talked, Arthur discovered that Bart and Shannon were no longer together. Surprised, Arthur told Bart that Shannon and he were made for each other.

After Arthur died, Bart continued to journal and called Shannon to apologize. She did not answer the call but was moved by his voice mail message.

Bart returned to the band and on the tour bus he continued to read his journals and found the words “I can only imagine” written repeatedly—words that he had written long ago. This inspired him to write the now famous song dedicated to his father.

He gave the song to Amy Grant as a “come-back song.” The night Amy planned to sing the song for the first time, Bart was in the audience. As she prepared to sing, she publicly acknowledged him as the writer. Then she paused, captured by an internal struggle. She was convicted that Bart should sing the song; after all, it was his story. She called Bart to the stage and invited him to sing.

Unbeknown to Bart, Shannon was in the audience. While singing, he saw her. As soon as he finished, he could hardly wait to get to her; he pushed aside well-wishers and raced to embrace her. Soon, Shannon and Bart were married. As Bart’s father had told him, “they were meant for each other.”

Bart’s story is about pain, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. He experienced God’s redemptive nature through natural and spiritual parents. His spiritual parents included a youth pastor who challenged him to forgive, a high school music teacher who called out his musical gift, and a band manager who saw a song in him and helped him remove character blocks in order to release the song. His spiritual parents and, in the end, his natural father, sowed seeds to help Bart align with God’s purpose for his life. God worked through the collective efforts of Bart’s natural and spiritual parents to heal and release his purpose.

This movie is a poignant artistic presentation of a real-life story that illustrated some key biblical lessons:

These and other timeless universal principles of Scripture are illustrated in a touching way in the presentation of Bart’s life. The pain, struggles, and difficulties of life were strongly displayed, but God’s redemptive nature through all these experiences was also clear.

The powerful role of Bart’s commissioning agents was evident—his natural father, his childhood youth leader, his high school music teacher, his band manager, and his childhood girlfriend who became his wife. Each played a vital role in preparing Bart. With their support, Bart was able to work through the pain to align with God’s purpose.

God’s timeless universal principles are efficacious for empowering people to find and fulfill their divinely ordained purpose. When engaged, these principles impart wisdom, heal wounds, restore relationships, resolve conflict, illuminate strategy, provide guidance, produce life, release potential, and empower calling. May the Lord give us all grace to value God’s timeless universal principles so that we can fulfill God’s purpose for our lives.

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1. Philippians 3:13-14 ESV; Matthew 18:21-22 ESV.
2. Exodus 20:12 ESV; Romans 13:1ff.
3. Matthew 6:24 ESV.
4. 1 Samuel 17:32-37 ESV.

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