In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when churches were shuttered and spirits were low, I decided to channel a little Broadway energy into a message for my congregation. What began as a quirky parody of “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton became an unexpected viral moment—and earned a spot on the Today Show. Here’s the full interview, where I got to chat with Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer about ministry, music, and the strange grace of that season.

Transcript

[0:00] Dylan Dreyer: Welcome back. During tough times, many people lean on their faith. But when you can’t actually attend church in person, that can be difficult.

[0:09] Al Roker: That’s right. We watch it in our family room all the time, and our youth minister sent us this video by Georgia Reverend Lonnie Lacy. He was missing his congregation, so he decided to send a message of hope through song by putting his own virtual spin and spiritual spin on “You’ll Be Back” from the musical Hamilton. Check this out.

[0:29] Song Lyrics (Fr. Lacy’s song): You’ll be back. Wait and see. Just remember how it used to be. You’ll be back. Time will tell when we’ve kicked this virus back to hell. Oceans rise, empire’s fall. We have seen each other through it all. When we finally open the door, we will get back together even better than we ever were before.

[1:03] Al Roker: Reverend Lacy’s version has more than 1 million views on YouTube, and he is joining us to tell us all about it. Reverend Lacy, good morning. Thanks, thanks for being here.

[1:15] Fr. Lonnie Lacy: Well, thank you for having me, Al. I appreciate it.

[1:19] Al Roker: You know, I understand now you recently hadn’t even seen Hamilton until, until just a little while ago. So how’d you come up with this idea?

[1:26] Fr. Lonnie Lacy: Yeah, well, that’s true. So my family and I have wanted to see Hamilton for years, and we actually finally had tickets to see it in Atlanta. And then, of course, the virus hit, and so that’s been postponed. But like a lot of Americans, we finally got to see it [on Disney+] on July 3rd. It was everything I hoped it would be. And when King George came out and started singing “You’ll Be Back,” I laughed harder than I’ve laughed in a long time. And something clicked. I know he meant it as a breakup song, but in my heart and mind, I thought, “Man, ‘You’ll Be Back’ is the makeup song that my folks need to hear.” So I spent a lot of nights in the church by myself with a tripod and an iPhone, and here we are.

[2:14] Dylan Dreyer: I have to say, I watched your parody with my son this morning, and he loved it. So where was your mindset when you were writing the lyrics for this parody? I mean, what message were you trying to share? Did it come to you like that?

[2:27] Fr. Lonnie Lacy: Yeah, so actually, the lyrics did come pretty easily. Things are easy when you’re working with something like what Lin-Manuel Miranda put together. But as I was writing the lyrics, it honestly felt like writing a love poem to my congregation, because I want to reassure them that there will come a time when we will be back together, and we will make it through this.

[2:53] Al Roker: You know, it’s had over a million views on YouTube. Reverend, why do you think this thing has gone viral? And by any chance, have you heard from Lin-Manuel Miranda?

[3:06] Fr. Lonnie Lacy: No, I have not heard from Mr. Miranda. But Lin-Manuel, if you’re out there, thank you for the contagious joy. So, no, I think people are starved for hope and joy right now. And I’ve received hundreds of emails from people of all faiths and some of no faith at all from across the world who have just said, “Thank you for a word of hope and joy and a little bit of laughter. I really needed it.” And one pastor in particular, I remember, wrote me and said, “Look, man, this has been the hardest season of ministry in my life. I was ready to throw in the towel, but then I watched your stupid video, and when you opened the door,” he said, “I sobbed because I realized I can’t give up now. I want to be there when we open the door for my people.” So to all you pastors out there who are feeling the pressure of these times, hang in there because people need you and God’s got you. Whatever you’re doing is enough. I promise.

[4:07] Al Roker: Reverend, I understand your church not set to open for in person services for a while, but your newfound skills have come in pretty handy for online services.

[4:17] Fr. Lonnie Lacy: Yeah, that’s true, Al. I think that clergy across the nation and the world have really had a sort of baptism by fire when it comes to working with media. So thank goodness for things like, you know, Mac computers and editing software. We’re able to put together some worship packages for our people to be able to stay connected to one another and to God.

[4:42] Al Roker: Well, Reverend Lacy, you brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, my family included. We watched it a bunch of times. Thank you so much for being with us. God bless. Thank you.

[4:53] Fr. Lonnie Lacy: You too, Al. Thank you.

[4:55] Al Roker: All right, you bet. Craig?

[4:57] Craig Melvin: Wow. Reverend Lacy. My kind of pastor. Al, thank you for that.