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“We saw God touch the lives of people. We saw miracles every night,” Mike shares. “Jay would put his hand on people and pray in the name of Jesus. We would see cancer run off and emotional baggage drop. When his health started to suffer, he was still praying for people to get miracles that he needed in his own body. He never lost sight of what God was doing and just thanked God.”

   In the wake of Jay’s death, Mike told his wife he wasn’t sure he could continue. “I told her, when I get messed up like this, Jay Dawg is the first person I would have called,” he says using his nickname for Jay. “I would call Jay Dawg or my dad. They are both with Jesus now. I was telling Jesus too, but I wasn’t hearing a whole lot back at the time. I just really needed to talk to my brother. Kandice said, ‘The brother that you want to talk to isn’t available to you, but you do have brothers,’ and I knew she was talking about the guys in Big Daddy Weave.”

   Those brothers rallied round Mike. With the help of his bandmates—guitarist Jeremy Redmon, Joe Shirk on sax and keys, drummer Brian Beihl, and bassist Raul “Rowdy” Alfonso—Big Daddy Weave slowly began working on their new record. “I can’t really thank them enough,” Mike says. “I can’t really put into words how they’ve ministered to me by walking with me and being patient with me.”

In the decades since the group formed at the University of Mobile in 1998, Big Daddy Weave has become one of the most beloved bands in Christian music, well known for populating radio with such memorable songs as the award-winning “Redeemed,” which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 as well as “The Lion and the Lamb,” “Overwhelmed,” “My Story,’’ “God is in This Story” and many others.

   Another brotherhood that rose up to help Mike on his healing journey was the Nashville songwriting community. “I feel like the entire songwriting community leaned in and sort of locked arms with us in a special way. The very first write I had for the record was with Matthew West and Jeff Pardo. They just let me talk and talk and talk, and Matthew was nodding along and typing on his phone, which isn’t uncommon for songwriters.” Mike smiles. “At the end of our session, Matthew turned his phone around and said, ‘Mike, this is not a song. This is a record,’ and he had nine song titles written down. We only wrote one of them that day, but that first song was ‘Heaven Changes Everything.’ It became a manifesto for the entire record. We may hurt, but we are not done, because Jesus is our hope. We don’t grieve like those without hope.”

   In the wake of heartbreak, hope remained and provided the inspiration for the collection of songs that became Big Daddy Weave’s 10th album, Let It Begin.

   Fans have already embraced the chart-topping first single “God is in This Story,” a duet with Katy Nichole. Mike shares, “Katy brought ‘God Is In This Story’ that encapsulated what we had just been through. We didn’t even have words, then this song become the words that we couldn’t say,” shares Mike. “There were nights on the road where songs like this one pulled me out of a dark place. I’d look at that part of the stage where Jay used to be every night, even after he was a double amputee and had to sit on a stool, and think, he’s supposed to be there. Then I’d feel like, ‘I can’t do this,’ but by the end of singing ‘God is in This Story,’ something had lifted, and we’d carry on.”

   It’s that blend of vulnerability, hurt, strength and hope that inform the songs on Let It Begin. “We went into the studio while we were wrestling with all this, but the process was so good for us, because by the time we were done wrestling with it, it felt like some things had been put to rest,” says Mike.

   There are songs on Let It Begin that find the band wrestling with loss and hurt, while other songs soar with joy and celebration. The hope and faith that sustains the group infuses each track with a buoyant purpose.

   “Free” is a song written before Jay’s passing while the group were traveling in Zambia. Mike shares, “This song is a reminder for when I feel bound by something or overcome by something, to remember I’m free because of what Jesus has done for me, and not just in the sweet by and by, but right here, right now. That realization was so encouraging to me.”

   “Lions and Eagles” is another song that celebrates the freedom to be found in Christ. “I love the line that says, ‘Can you find the courage to believe you are meant to be wild and free?’” says Mike. “I love the idea that we weren’t made to be bound up in shame or sorrow or whatever the enemy throws at us.’

   Yet another powerful song on the album is “I’ve Just Seen Too Much,” which serves as a gentle reminder to hold tight to what you know to be true about God, even in trying times. The potent lyric pays tribute to God’s faithfulness. If you ask me why I trust Him when it feels like everything has come undone, all I can tell you is I’ve just seen too much. . . of His kindness, of His goodness, of His mercy that always follows me.

   Though the title “Good Grief” might seem to be an oxymoron, the lyric makes a profound statement. “Grief is a path to healing,” Weaver says. “If you try to push grief out of the way, you’re going to make yourself sick over it. Jesus is not saying, ‘Buck up, son!’ Jesus is saying, ‘You can bring me what’s already in there because I already know.’ And when you lay that in front of him, the tears are a healing thing. The bridge of the song says, ‘You are my comfort and my healer.’ There’s a relief that comes from good grief.”

   Emotionally riveting and spiritually nourishing, this collection of songs is destined to leave a lasting impact. Penned by Matt Maher, the title track, “Let it Begin” is a vibrant anthem about moving from heartache into a new season of hope and joy that Mike feels is “the title for this season in our lives.” Zach Williams sent Big Daddy Weave “Stranger No More,” a song of invitation Mike describes as “calling people home, people who are wayward or maybe have never known the Lord.”

   The song Jaybird” is a poignant tribute to their beloved Jay. “That’s the song I never wanted to write,” Mike says. “I heard him take his last breath over the telephone. That one moment has hurt me more than anything I’ve been through, but I knew that his last breath here was his first breath in heaven. That brought a lot of peace to my heart.

   The album closes with “This is Not the End,” a celebration flavored with sounds from Africa and the Caribbean. The idea for the song came to Mike while he was staying with his mom in the hospital near the end of her life. “I kept thinking, ‘This is not the end. It’s only the beginning.’ And the music sounded to me like something out of a Disney movie. It’s like a party song about dying,” says Mike, who finished writing the song while driving from Colorado to New Mexico with his family. “I literally asked, ‘Jesus am I losing my mind?’ Jesus said clearly in my heart, ‘No, no, no. What you are getting is heaven’s view of dying. When your daddy came home to me, nobody cried here.’  He said, ‘You cry and do what you’ve got to do. I understand, but nobody’s crying here.’”

   The process of creating Let It Begin ministered to the members of Big Daddy Weave, and their hope is for it to do the same for others. Mike says, “Jesus isn’t afraid of our pain. He wants us to embrace the pain and give it to him. He wants to walk through it with us. He wants to carry us through the parts that we can’t. We’ve experienced that firsthand.”