In this Podcast, John Gonzalez interviews guitarist Mike Scheuchzer of MercyMe. (It was recorded April 3, 2018.)

They talk about the movie "I Can Only Imagine," as well as the current "MercyMe and Tenth Avenue North Live' Tour." The tour stops April 8, 2018, at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

On baseball (Listen at 2:45): We talk about his last name, which is pronounced Soyt-ZER, and how someone once thought he was Max Scherzer, formerly of the Detroit Tigers. (Mike is a Texas Rangers fan: "It's hard to call that baseball these days.").

On 'I Can Only Imagine' song/movie (Listen at 6:13): "For 25 years I've heard Bart Millard say, you know, I saw my dad turn into a monster into to my best friend. Literally, Jesus didn't just his heart, he changed everything about the man. That's what the movie is mostly about. It's about what led to Bart writing the song, which was him imagining what his dad was now experiencing in heaven. It was easier to think about that than to think about the empty room down the hallway."

Listening to the song for the first time (Listen at 8:43): "We were riding down the road in the bus, and he was like, 'I got an idea for a song.' Grab your guitar..... It wasn't the right vibe for him. I was trying to make it like "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2 ... A couple days later we were working on our independent record 'The Workshop Project' and ....we had like 9 songs recorded, and we really felt like we needed a 10th song. Then Jim was goofing around on the piano, and he played that lick, and Bart said that's the vibe I'm looking for.... He was singing and we were putting in the chords behind it. We weren't putting a whole lot of effort into writing it. It was something that been on his heart for 10 years. For it to come out so quickly was only because it had been on his heart for so long."

Bart had moved on (Listen at 10:38): "We, as a band, didn't even play the song for like 8-9 months after we wrote it. We thought it was a song for Bart; it was going to mean a lot to him and therapy for him. We didn't think it would connect with anyone else."

Faith-based movies (Listen at 13:00): "I Can Only Imagine" has been a surprise hit at the box office, grossing $55 million in 3 weeks. It is one of three faith-based movies on the market, and national media is paying attention. Scheuchzer said a recent ABC-TV report surprised him. "They were talking about the weekend box office (after week 2), and the reporter said 'I Can Only Imagine' is still hanging in there and Hollywood is scratching their head. And the journalist said this is obviously an untapped market for Hollywood."

Learn more about MercyMe at mercyme.org.

Van Andel Arena info https://vanandelarena.com/schedule/mercyme-and-tenth-avenue-north-live