A ’90s Christian Hit Song Is Now Blooming as a Queer Anthem

If you grew up listening to contemporary Christian music in the mid-’90s and early-2000s, brace yourself, I am about to get a song stuck in your head.

You may recall “Testify to Love,” as a bubbly, infectious CCM hit from 1997 by the pop quartet Avalon. Originally a cheery anthem to God’s love, Ty Herndon and former Avalon singer Michael Passons have re-released the song with an added layer: LGBTQ+ affirmation.

For Passons, the re-recording of his CCM hit was a moment for the song to come full circle. The Nashville-based artist left Avalon in 2003, at the time saying it was to pursue a solo career. In 2020, he revealed to Billboard that he’d been fired by the band because he is a gay man. Passons took a long hiatus from singing but kept close friendships in the music industry. One of those friendships was with Herndon, one of the first openly gay male artists in country music. Herndon was the one who invited Passons to re-record the song. At first, Passons wasn’t sure how his voice would respond when he stepped in the booth to record.

“I felt like I sang better than I ever have,” he told Sojourners. “I attribute that to singing in my truth and authenticity.”

After recording the initial tracking of the song, Herndon, Passons, and their producer felt it needed something more. And they knew just who to call—Melissa Greene, Passons’ former Avalon bandmate, a pastor, and someone Passons calls “my fiercest ally and one of my best friends.”

Passons spoke to Sojourners about the recording, his journey, feedback from listeners and critics, and even hearing from the artist who inspired him to move to Nashville and pursue Christian music in the first place.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mitchell Atencio, Sojourners: The first lyric of “Testify to Love” is “All the colors of the rainbow.”

Michael Passons: [Laughs] It is. I have made that reference before, in concert and online, that this song seems to be destined for where it has landed today. Someone said to me recently that this song was “planted” 29 years ago. I gravitate toward that and have started using it myself. It’s finally coming to a full bloom. I love that analogy.

We first tracked this song back in November, so it’s been in the works. I’ve been so excited to release it, just having to wait. But I was not prepared for this. I honestly did not think that it would hit the stride that it hit this week. I’m humbled and overwhelmed, but I’m so grateful.

What was it like re-recording this?

My friend Ty Herndon, who I’m singing it with, he has hosted the “Concert for Love and Acceptance,” during Country Music Association week here in Nashville. It’s been very successful for the last 10 years. And we’ve been friends for 20 years. And he comes up to me last minute and says “Hey, would you like to sing at Love and Acceptance?” I said, “It’s about damn time!”

Now, I haven’t sang in a long time, so of course I’m going back to my old friend “Testify to Love.” I sang it with a live band. That night, I said, “I’m not gonna sing this song as a scared young man. I’m gonna sing this song as someone who has embraced my identity.” The place went crazy; it was a great affirmation moment for me.

About a month later Ty calls and says, “What if we do this song as a duet and put it out there again?” That’s the birth of how this began. A Grammy-award friend of ours, Wayne Haun, produced it. We needed more rocket fuel for it, so we grabbed Melissa Greene—my fiercest ally and one of my best friends.

You’re not the only queer artist re-releasing your old CCM music—Jennifer Knapp made a new recording of Kansas—what does that require as far as rights and permissions? And what’s the goal of putting out a new version of an old song?

There’s always a process of making sure we secure the rights. It’s about licensing and making sure the writers of the song are paid—that’s all in place.

It’s interesting, people will send me articles [about the song’s release]. Someone sent me something from a conservative outlet and—I appreciate all sides, so I read it all—and it said something about “I wonder what the current Avalon thinks about their song being re-recoded.” And it struck me, because it’s not “their song.” It’s not my song. It’s everyone’s song. But if anyone can claim the song, it’s the four gentlemen who wrote it. And they’ve reached out to us independently and given us wonderful feedback on this version. If anyone can claim it, it’s those guys, and I’m happy they’re happy with it.

Why now? I was given the opportunity. I was given the chance to do this, and I think it’s all serendipitous. I spent many years not singing. I wasn’t quite sure what would come out when I went into the studio. I wanted to reclaim myself. Who I am today is not the person I was 29 years ago. Whether only 10 people heard it, I wanted something out there that says who I am and the person I’ve become. That was a big motivator.

What did it feel like? What emotions did you have in the studio?

In between saying I had to go the bathroom but going in there to ugly cry for a second, I felt like I sang better than I ever have. I attribute that to singing in my truth and authenticity. Years ago, now that I look back on it, I think I was shrinking. I was not singing to my full potential for a lot of reasons—it was an intimidating environment; the other singers in my group were phenomenal vocalists who can technically outperform me. So, I shrank.

I felt like I was able to authentically be myself in every way and hopefully that came through.

What’s it like to record music with your friends, as you did with Ty Herndon and Melissa Greene, who is a former bandmate?

I recently posted some behind-the-scenes footage of us in the studio, and my caption I borrowed from Willie Nelson, “The life I love is making music with my friends.” That really sums it up. We are very much closely bonded. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they hear an excitement and exuberance in this version that they haven’t heard from me before.

Going with Melissa, we share this bond over all these years. She was in a different place then. We have both made this incredible journey together, and we have met up down the road and reunited and have this wonderful strong friendship. There’s few people on the planet I admire more than these two people.

I will say, originally, when Ty asked me to do the song together, the little baby voice in my head said “mine, mine, mine!” I didn’t want to share it. If you do believe in God and a higher power working in your life—I do—I just believe this is the way it was meant to go. It’s only through it happening that I see the power of the collaboration. That’s what this song needed. It’s bigger than any one of us.

What did “love” mean to you when you first recorded this song? What do you understand “love” to be now?

My lens is very different than it was then. I was in a very conservative sub-culture, and I subscribed to it because it was all I knew and all I was taught. Honestly, when people you love and respect, like my family, teach you something you take it on as yours. There comes a time, hopefully in everyone’s life, where you exercise critical thinking and you sit down and say, “This is what I was taught, I respect that because the people who taught it to me love me and did so from a place of love, but what do I believe?”

Through living life, I’ve come to see life through a different lens. God’s love is for everyone, not just a select few. I feel like “God’s love only applies to a select few,” is what the narrative has become these days, unfortunately. I just want to reiterate, honestly, the great commandment. And “faith, hope, and love” but “love is the greatest.” Our culture needs to hear that now.

Have you been inspired by other artists who have made music at or near this intersection of faith and queer identity?

My inspiration, Amy Grant, she heard the song yesterday and sent a message to me that it made her smile and put a little lump in her throat because she was so proud. That just means the world to me because if anybody knows me, they know she’s the reason I ever moved to Nashville. I told myself, if I can ever make music that makes someone feel like her music makes me feel, then that would be a dream come true.

This week, after reading all the comments—I literally cannot keep up with all the comments, and I’m reading them all, please print that I’m reading them all! It’s a humbling moment to me, that I’ve achieved what I set out to do. People are not just sending a little thank you with an emoji; these people are sending paragraphs of their lives to me and trusting them with their stories—how this song is moving them, they’re ugly crying in the kitchen singing along. I’m overwhelmed in the best possible way.

Jennifer Knapp and I are both part of this new documentary, Safe for the Whole Family. It follows me, Nikki Leonti, Jennifer, and a few others in Christian music with similar stories. I’ve seen the rough cut of the documentary, and it’s going to be quite an interesting film.

Does this make you want to record more music at the intersection of faith and queer identity?

Definitely. There are plans for more music later this year. I’ve been writing my ass off. I’ve been so inspired lately. I’m my own worst critic, and I kind of like what I’m writing [laughs] if that tells you anything.

I’ve got this song, “Not Broken,” and the opening lines of the chorus are, “You can’t fix something that’s not broken / you can’t heal a heart that’s whole / all the colors of the rainbow shine brighter than their monotones.”

“I felt like I sang better than I ever have. I attribute that to singing in my truth and authenticity. Years ago, now that I look back on it, I think I was shrinking. I was not singing to my full potential.”—Michael Passons