#ccm

Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist:

If you were into Christian music about three decades ago, you wouldn’t have been able to escape Avalon. The band, co-founded by Michael Passons, earned multiple gold records, Grammy nominations, and a long string of #1 hits on the Christian charts. Their most famous song was “Testify to Love,” which includes lines like “With every breath I take, I will give thanks to God above. For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love.” A reader who grew up in evangelical culture told me, “you could summon this whole generation with this one song.” But as anyone who’s ever had to deal with white evangelicals can tell you, love is always conditional in that environment. In 2003, around the height of their fame in the Christian world, Passons announced he was leaving the band to pursue a solo career… which made some sense. The band continued with different members. Yet Passons never released any kind of solo album. In 2020, we learned why. He didn’t actually leave the band of his own volition at all. He was kicked out of it for being gay.

[“Avalon showed up at my house and told me I was no longer in the group,” he said. “And it was all because of who I am.” “They came alone, but they had been speaking with management and record label before they visited my home,” Passons continued, adding that he was “blindsided” by the decision.]

They attempted to salvage their working relationship by having Passons attend “conversion therapy” sessions, and he went along with it for about a month. But he knew he wasn’t going to magically turn straight and said as much. So the band moved on without him. When Passons finally went public with all of this, 17 years after his ousting, he had finally come to terms with his sexual orientation and knew it was nothing to be ashamed about. But that was the culmination of a long journey. In fact, he only came out to his family earlier that year (in 2020).

The reason this story matters now is because Passons, former Avalon member Melissa Greene (whose tenure briefly overlapped with Passons’), and Country Music singer Ty Herndon have just re-released “Testify to Love” with an official music video on the way. This time, however, they say they’re taking the whole “love” thing seriously, instead of defining it in the Christian-y judgmental way like in the past.

2000 - Stacie Orrico (Genuine)

Format pictured: Advertising

I caught Monte Mader talking briefly about this song on her YT channel and I only halfway listened to her thoughts, so I didn’t realize what the big deal was. I’ll admit I was a little curious about why someone like Mader was playing such a religious song by Avalon, though. I remember back in my Christian days listening to this song and this band quite a bit. I missed hearing about Michael…

Choosing the right remote care platform can make or break your practice’s success with chronic care management and remote patient monitoring. HealthArc vs Cadence comparison reveals two very different approaches to healthcare platform user experience – one built for small practices seeking comprehensive support, the other designed for large health systems with protocol-driven care models.

The house is a little quieter today. A little emptier. It’s just the two of us now. Youngest Son bought a house a few weeks ago, and we knew that meant that Middle Son would be moving out of our place and into the house YS had been living in for the last few years. That happened Saturday. Middle Son’s snack shelf in the pantry MS has moved out before. He shared an apartment with at least…