Two former members of the multi-platinum Contemporary Christian group Avalon have re-recorded their hit single “Testify to Love,” claiming it as a gay anthem.
Avalon was formed in 1995 and quickly racked up the accolades. They were nominated for 23 Dove Awards and won 6, including New Artist of the Year (1998) and Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year for “Testify to Love” (1999).
They went through numerous lineup changes over the years and ultimately rebranded themselves as Avalon Worship in 2022, with original members Janna Long and Jody McBrayer still in the group, along with Greg Long, who joined in 2003.
However, founding member Michael Passons, who left the group in 2003 and came out publicly as gay in 2020, has joined forces with gay country singer Ty Herndon to re-release the hit song. Another former member, Melissa Greene, who was part of the band from 2002–2009 and who officiated Herndon’s gay marriage, is also featured on the track.
The song features an “all-star chorus of emerging LGBTQ artists and advocates,” including Jada Cato, Andrew Mitch, Jessica Rose, and Bryan Rub.
Notably, Passons says he was ousted by other members of the group after being caught in a compromising sexual situation with another man, saying, “they threw me out at the first hint that I violated a scripture in Deuteronomy.”
Current Avalon members Janna and Greg Long are worship leaders at an SBC church in Texas, and there is no indication that they’ve ever intended their song to be a gay-affirming anthem.
Melissa Greene said about the song on her Substack:
It is a song about love without exception, love that reaches every corner of creation, love that testifies through every star in every sky. …this is not just our reclaimed anthem, but also part of the soundtrack of my life and journey. It is about the love we testified to before we knew what it cost, the lines we crossed to find out, the places we had to leave because we realized they no longer honored all, and the people who let us back in.
Likewise Passons told GLADD
For years, I sang these words while hiding who I truly was. To record this now with Ty, Melissa, and this incredible group of artists—standing fully in my truth—is a full-circle moment I once thought impossible. It serves as a testimony that love does not exclude.”
5 responses to “Former Avalon Members Re-record ‘Testify to Love,’ Claim It’s a ‘Gay Anthem’”
It is a terrible thing to be given over to sin by the Lord:
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” Romans 1
They talk about love, but they hate the Lord …
“2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:2-3
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” – John 15:14
“[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” – 1 Cor. 13:6
Any so called Christian song that clearly, and intentionally leaves out Jesus, is not a Christian song in the first place. The DOVE awards are a joke, giving awards to people who do not even claim to be followers of Jesus.
Denying Christ for perverted sexual life is condemning. Turn please from this wickedness. It’s not too late until it is
Big Entertainment and factory pop, along with the warnings of 1 Timothy have come back to roost.
I remember I drew the ire of church members in 2008 for calling out a service consisting of youth dancing and puppets to every pop song on the planet, including “Spirit in the Sky” and “Testify to Love”. The former I called blasphemous for a dangerous lyric, students revolted when I called it out.
These artists exchanged the truth for a lie, and the youth responded back the Bible was not the inerrant Word of God days later when I challenged them.
Now that same church (which I left after the lockdowns because of a family member being caught for refusing to subscribe to hyper-Arminanism) now accepts Cooperative Baptist Fellowship choral books.
Everybody though at the GMA Dove Awards that year “Testify to Love” was nominated it would win. The song is from a Dutch pop artist who recorded it in 1996. When the future Motorsports Hall of Fame of America member (Class of 2003) opened the envelope it was not there.
Big Entertainment’s control of music in our churches has created a travesty. John MacArthur was correct.