That week, the music charts started opening back up from their holiday freeze, and Bart had an interview with a morning radio show.

And so my office is now the baby room, but I'm kind of set up in there.

So I'm holding a sleeping baby.

I'm calling, and they're like, they put me on hold waiting for the program to come back from commercials, right? So I'm on hold listening to their music.

My wife walks in and lays down a check and says, it's your dad's last check.

And I was like, are you kidding me? Like, I had not even thought about 10 years.

Bard felt panicked, and he was about to go live on the radio.

It's encouraging advice for each of us.

It's a whole different journey, right?

Yeah, I never dreamed any of this would happen.

We leave for tour tomorrow, and he's out with us, and it's just trying to enjoy every moment because it won't last forever, but it's been really cool.

The first time he says he wants to do what you do is a pretty cool feeling for a dad.

Tell me about just kind of being here tonight, stopping, pausing to celebrate this incredible way that we all get to be entertained and brought closer to the Lord.

I love it just because it's the one time you get to see so many peers and friends because we're always on the road at different times.

And so that's my favorite part of it, just kind of getting to celebrate with them and hug their neck.

And yeah, I've always loved it.

... you know, w- the story behind the song.

Yeah, the, the song was written, uh, after my father passed away, uh, a few years after my father passed away.

My dad was an abusive man for most of my life until my... of my young life, until my freshman year in high school, he was diagnosed with cancer.

And he was diagnosed when I was a freshman, he passed away when I was a freshman in college.

And during that, those years, just saw a man fall in love with Jesus and completely transform, and went from a monster to being my best friend in the whole world by the time he passed away, the dad that I always wanted.

And a- after he passed away, I think it was my grandmother that told me when we were leaving the grave site, she said, uh, "I can only imagine what your dad's seeing now." And I became obsessed with that phrase, and I used to write it down.

If I had a pen in my hand, I would always doodle that phrase, you know, on anything.

And I just think that's so powerful because I've, it's, it's not the first time I've heard you tag a song with, um, it is well with my soul.

No, in fact, one of

the coolest parts have been, I know in movies in the past that Kingdom has done, and this one especially, was uh like um when the cast leaves they're like like it was the greatest environment like it was the best you know and it's a shout out to like the nashville because it's filmed in nashville the the local crew here was like you know all of lionsgate was like this is better than any hollywood crew we've ever worked with yeah i mean they killed it and these dudes and and the whole cast is like i've never had a movie experience like this the way i've been treated you know man what's crazy about milo who played tim timmons When he got the part, he was on Zoom one day with Tim Timmons, kind of learning his mannerisms and he was in his house in the Palisades and his house started to burn down while he's on Zoom with Tim.

He's like, oh, blank.

And he turns and shows Tim the house starting to burn down and all he grabs is a surfboard, runs out.

His house and his in-laws house he just finished building in the Palisades, lost both of them.

And it was Kingdom that said, hey man, this was probably a month and a half, two months before we started filming.

And he was literally homeless.

You just go play I Saw the Light or something? We played

So I just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

Man, yeah, it's...

Yeah, the whole process has been, you know, we, anything we can, I mean, I was called to ministry and to share the gospel years and years ago.

And somewhere along the way, I just was reminded that evangelism, the definition is just to share the things that God's already doing and already done.

And whether it's preaching or making music or making movies, and it's just this, you Yeah, just this idea, like, man, trying to show how flawed we are and the mess that we are and how we serve a perfect God.

And, um, and just any way that we can kind of point people to him.

Um, it's, it's, um, we're just, we're just in a kind of uncharted.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like...

And, and so I really was excited that there was a story there, but man, when Cindy Bond originally wanted to make a movie around Even If, she wanted to just find any story, like fan mail, something, and it was when I met with Brent McCorkle, who wrote, co-wrote Imagine, did Jesus Revolution, and he goes, "Well, where'd the song come from?" And as I told him the story, that's when he had tears in his eyes, and he was like, "This is it.

And what if we literally got the band back together and put it kinda in this universe and made it a sequel?" And, and so I was like, I was a little skeptical 'cause, you know, you never think your life's that interesting, and it's not.

He made it very interesting.

But, uh, but yeah, when I read the script, I was like, "Okay."

What would you say to them?

Man, life is messy.

[laughs]

And then, and that session, that, that one session, I mean, it wrecked me.

It opened so much within maybe a 30 to maybe an hour session that I just kept coming back and coming back.

And, and um, and, and I just, I got this, uh, this new, um...

Gosh, I just, I started understanding what grace is and w- and, and my identity in Christ.

And, and, you know, the biggest thing for me growing up in the church in a kind of a legalistic situation where I thought I, if I, if I'm good enough, if I do X, Y, and Z, then I'm gonna be rewarded, to hearing, to hearing someone tell me, "You know, on your worst possible day, because you know Jesus, he still sees you as holy.

He's still pleased with you on your worst day, 'cause it's not about how you perform.

Uh, the book comes out on February 3rd, but people have seen a, a pre-screening, and you've already heard back stories from them, and I think you were gonna tell one.