# Testify to Love: Honoring the Journey of Melissa Greene

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/honoring-the-journey-6751564/testify-to-love-honoring-the-journey-of-melissa-greene
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/honoring-the-journey-6751564/testify-to-love-honoring-the-journey-of-melissa-greene.md
Podcast: [Honoring the Journey](https://stenobird.com/podcast/honoring-the-journey-6751564)
Published: 2026-06-22T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.patheos.com/editorial/podcasts/honoring-the-journey
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/afp-13455-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/436ddef1-73dc-47da-9031-10559aad1978/episodes/1a2e81ed-a510-41e4-ba81-2e0f9facdc5f/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=436ddef1-73dc-47da-9031-10559aad1978&awEpisodeId=1a2e81ed-a510-41e4-ba81-2e0f9facdc5f&feed=Swlbwx2u
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/honoring-the-journey-6751564/episodes/testify-to-love-honoring-the-journey-of-melissa-greene
Duration seconds: 3443

## Resource

Today, Leslie invites Melissa Green, a former member of the beloved Christian music group Avalon, for a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation about faith deconstruction, spiritual evolution, and the courage to question inherited beliefs. Melissa traces her journey from growing up in the Southern Baptist church and becoming a member of Avalon, through the pivotal moment when founding member Michael Passons was quietly removed from the group after being outed as gay, to her gradual theological shifts sparked by travel, loss, relationships with LGBTQ friends, and her years at a progressive post-evangelical church. The episode also celebrates the recent re-release of "Testify to Love" — a collaboration between Melissa, Michael, and Ty Herndon — which has unexpectedly become a queer anthem and a message of radical, boundless love. Woven throughout is a tender, raw moment as Melissa shares the grief of walking alongside a beloved family member through the final stages of a terminal illness, reflecting on how joy and sorrow coexist, and how the divine shows up not in miraculous intervention but in the simple, profound act of people showing up for one another.

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## Transcript

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