Gregory Brothers, the YouTube Stars Behind Viral Rent Mashup, Are Leaders in LBGTQ+ Exclusionary Church
Updates:
On January 14, Evan Gregory announced on Twitter that he and his family would be leaving Resurrection Williamsburg and going to an LGBTQ+ affirming congregation.
Four Sundays later the live stream of the church’s Sunday service featured Sarah Gregory leading music.
Earlier this week, before the attention of the nation became intensely focused on the riotous insurrection in the Capitol, the Gregory Brothers mashed up Donald Trump’s phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State with “Seasons of Love” from Rent and posted it to YouTube.
“11,780 Votes” quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
I noticed it when a friend from college who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a theater superfan shared the link to Facebook. Realizing that I knew something they didn’t, I messaged them, “If you shared something you enjoyed recently but the creators of it were members of an anti-LGBT organization, would you want to know?”
“Probably,” they replied. “What’s up?”
I used to go to church with Evan and Sarah Gregory. I left the church in 2014 when it kicked out two of my friends for coming out and wanting to get married. The Gregorys stayed and are still in active leadership roles.
I started attending Resurrection Williamsburg (now Resurrection Brooklyn) shortly after I moved to NYC in 2010. Proximity to famous people was part of the appeal at Resurrection. Hillsong, but hipster. The pastor, Vito Aiuto, had a band on the Asthmatic Kitty label and congregants would make sure newcomers knew Vito was buddies with Sufjan Stevens himself. “He wrote a song about Vito’s Ordination,” they’d whisper in awe.
The Gregorys were also quickly becoming minor celebrities. That summer, they released “Double Rainbows Song” and “Bed Intruder Song.” I remember attending “The Gregory Brothers Christmas Show w/ Special Guest” at Rockwood Music Hall with a group of friends from church. When the party transitioned to the bar Sláinte, a friend leaned over to tell me Joseph Gordon-Levitt had walked in. “Don’t look. Don’t turn around, he’s right behind you. He’s talking to Michael.”
Over time, I became less involved with the church. My own grasp on faith was becoming weaker. I enjoyed being part of a community, but the theology wasn’t making sense anymore. In 2013, my home group leader and her girlfriend came out and it became quickly clear church leadership would not support their relationship. (Kristen tells her story beautifully in the New York Times and this Medium post.)
Resurrection Brooklyn had started as a church plant by Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Redeemer’s position on homosexuality is clear, “Homosexuality does not honor the need for this rich diversity of perspective and gendered humanity in sexual relationships. Same-sex relationships not only cannot provide this for each spouse, they can’t provide children with a deep connection to each half of humanity through a parent of each gender.”
Some congregants hoped that when Resurrection became independent, it would be more progressive. Hopes were dashed when the church particularized into the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, whose Position Paper on Homosexuality read “Simply put, the Old and New Testaments consistently condemn homosexual practice and repeatedly affirm that God forgives the repentant sinner.”
I resigned my membership in October 2014.
“If my journey leads me back into a formal Christian community, it must be one that treats women and men equally in all regards, including opportunities to serve, minister, and lead. And it must be one that blesses and celebrates same-sex relationships. As for the present, I can not, in good conscience, remain a member of an organization that fails those moral standards.
“Please remove my name from the membership rolls of Resurrection Brooklyn and unsubscribe my email and home addresses from any mailing lists without delay.”
They did not remove my email from their list. In May 2015, the email newsletter listed Evan Gregory as a nominee to the position of Elder. “His service to Resurrection includes a stint as the congregation’s interim director of music and as a men’s discipleship group leader… Professionally, he produces music and video out of a small studio co-owned with his wife and two brothers.”
The next newsletter announced he had been voted in and formally elevated to church leadership. Currently, he is listed on the church’s website [Archived Link] as the Parish Leader for North Williamsburg. Evan and Sarah both continue to lead music.
When I shared with my friend from college that these were the people who were the people behind the Rent mashup garnering accolades across the internet, including praise from cast member Anthony Rapp, they took down their post. One of their friends replied,
“Imagine being part of that and also having the audacity to put any part of Rent in your mouth.”