90s Hit Song Makes a Comeback
Testify to Love Comes Full Circle
All the colors of the rainbow.
That is the first line.
Four words. And somehow, they always held more than they were allowed to say.
Testify to Love was originally recorded in 1997 by Avalon, a contemporary Christian group, and appeared on their album A Maze of Grace. It went on to claim the title of the longest-running #1 song on the Christian music charts of the decade.
For years, those of us who would grow up to claim our place in the LGBTQ community sang Testify to Love with full voices and quiet questions.
We knew every word.
We meant every word.
We just didn't know yet if we were allowed to.
But somewhere underneath the melody, a smaller, harder question lived — one we weren't ready to speak aloud.
Does this love include me?
Now, with Ty Herndon, Michael Passons, and Melissa Greene stepping into a 2026 reimagining of the song, that question finally has the answer it always deserved.
Yes! This love includes you!
Not eventually.
Not conditionally.
Not after you become easier for people to understand.
Now.
Wholly.
As you are.
The Song Was Always Bigger Than the Walls Around It
Every color of the rainbow. Every voice of the wind. Every dream reaching out to find where love begins. Every word of every story. Every star in every sky. Every corner of creation living to testify.
Those are not small words. Those are not careful, hedged, institutional words. Those are words that reach. Words that overflow. Words that sound like creation itself rising up to say what people have tried so hard to suppress.
Love is the testimony.
And yet, for decades, a song this expansive lived inside spaces that taught some of us to make ourselves smaller. We sang every and meant most. We sang all and whispered the asterisk.
This new release does not change the words.
It finally lets them mean what they always said.
This Is Not a Cover. It Is a Correction.
When Melissa Greene, a former Avalon vocalist, reflects on this recording, she says she has sung this song a thousand times — but now it gets to mean what it always said:
Love is for EVERYONE.
Not a rewrite.
Not a reclamation project.
Not a rebranding campaign.
A truth that was always embedded in the song, finally breathing without restriction.
Michael Passons was a founding member of Avalon from 1995 to 2003. Testify to Love is named in his own biography as one of the top inspirational songs of all time and central to Avalon’s legacy — twenty No. 1 radio singles, six GMA Dove Awards, two Grammy nominations, two gold records. His voice helped carry this song into the world. His voice helped build what the song became.
And then he was quietly removed from the group for being gay.
He is not a newcomer returning to borrow something. He is coming home to something that was his.
That is not nostalgia. That is restoration.
The Silence Under the Song
Be a witness in the silences when words are not enough.
Some of us know those silences intimately.
The silence after the conversation that did not go the way you hoped.
The silence of sitting in a pew wondering if the people around you would still love you if they saw your whole self.
The silence after someone used God’s name to push you out the door.
The silence of praying, God, are You still there? after the people who claimed to speak for God told you to leave.
We sang about love while wondering if love had exceptions we were not told about. We sang about grace while grace was being explained to us with fine print. We sang about belonging while learning which pieces of ourselves to leave outside the sanctuary.
And in those silences, sometimes words are not enough.
Sometimes the testimony is survival.
Sometimes the testimony is still believing in love after love has been used as a weapon against you.
Sometimes the testimony is showing up — whole, breathing, unashamed — and letting your life say what others tried to silence.
Restoration, Not Redemption
This is the distinction Melissa Greene makes that I keep returning to.
She writes that Michael was never someone who needed to be redeemed.
He was always whole. Always worthy.
That matters more than it might first appear.
LGBTQ people are not broken people who need fixing before they can be loved.
We are not projects.
We are not before-and-after stories.
We are not testimony-in-progress waiting for an acceptable ending.
We do not struggle because we are queer. Our struggle is with the people who think we should not be.
We need healing from shame — but not because shame was deserved.
We need healing from rejection — not because the rejection was righteous.
We need healing from the relentless weight of a lie that God’s love comes with an asterisk.
Michael’s own biography describes his 2026 reimagining of Testify to Love as reflecting personal healing and a deeper understanding of the song’s message. In 2020, he publicly embraced his identity in a Billboard interview, offering the world clarity about who he is and what he survived.
Restoration does not say: you have finally become worthy.
Restoration says: you were never outside the reach of love.
Restoration says: the song was always yours.
Restoration says: come back to the table — not as a tolerated guest, but as the celebrated guest of honor.
A Testimony That Has Been Lived
Ty Herndon brings his own history into this.
Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning, more than five million albums sold, three Billboard No. 1 singles. In 2014, he became the first mainstream male country music star to come out as gay. His memoir, What Mattered Most, is an unflinching account of addiction, mental health, and learning to live as an openly gay man in an industry that was not ready for him.
When Ty Herndon sings about testifying to love, it does not feel like performance.
It feels lived. It feels like survival. It feels like someone who walked through the darkest possible version of his own story and came out still giving thanks for every breath he gets to take.
Testimony is not polished perfection. Testimony is truth with breath still in it.
It is what you say after you have made it through. It is what you sing while you are still healing. It is what your life declares when you refuse to let fear have the final word.
Love Is Something We Practice
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace. Every simple act of mercy. All the hope in every heart will speak what love has done.
Love is not something we simply believe in. It is something we do.
Love is the phone call to someone who feels forgotten.
Love is the parent who chooses relationship over theology.
Love is the church that makes room without asking people to first become manageable.
Love is the friend who says you are not alone and means it without conditions.
Love is the ministry — the one you are part of right now — that refuses to let people remain at the margins while the table sits full.
If our testimony does not make room for love, then we should ask ourselves what we are actually testifying to.
This Is Why We Are Here
This is the work of Beyond Limits.
We exist to bridge the gap between God and Gay.
We are here for the people who still believe in God but have been given every reason to doubt that God’s people believe in them.
We are here for the people who know every word of every worship song and still wonder if there is room for their whole selves in the room where those songs are being sung.
We are not here to water faith down.
We are not here to pretend the wounds of religion are small or easily forgiven.
We are not here to turn love into a slogan and call it ministry.
We are here to choose mercy. To choose truth. To choose the difficult, authentic, more costly version of love that does not ask people to earn it first.
We are here to remind people that the rainbow was never something to fear.
Listen With Your Whole Heart
Today, I invite you to listen to Testify to Love with more than your ears.
Listen with the part of your heart that still hopes love is stronger than fear.
Listen for the people who were pushed out.
Listen for the people who are finding their way back.
Listen for the sound of restoration.
And if someone comes to mind while you listen — send it to them.
They may need the reminder that they are loved.
They may need to hear that there is still room for them.
They may need to know that love has not forgotten their name.
