Christian rapper and songwriter Lecrae Devaughn Moore, more commonly known as simply Lecrae, took to Twitter on January 18 to express his disappointment over the "institutional" form of Christianity and revealed losing tour dates for doing so.
The Christian Post said Texas-born Lecrae, who founded Reach Records and specializes in Christian hip hop, was supposed to have a "We Are Unashamed" tour this spring but lost it because of his tweet last week.
"Just lost a show because of this tweet. Point proven," Lecrae said on Wednesday.
The said tweet included a screencap of his tweet on the previous day that stated, "Once upon a time I thought I was done with Christianity. But the reality was I was just done with the institutional, corporatized, gentrified, politicized, culturally exclusive version of it."
Lecrae's tweet was received warmly by his fans, garnering 16,400 likes, 1,509 retweets, and 218 quoted tweets as of writing. Fans were asking which specific tour he was referring to though he did not reply. He did afterwards, added a succeeding tweet about being canceled by the very "exclusive" institution he was disappointed about. He noted how different this was from the example set by Jesus Christ.
"Vulnerability gets people kicked out of exclusive tribes. Jesus welcomes the outcast and seeks to bring healing," Lecrae pointed out.
With a Twitter cover photo stating, "No Church In A While," Lecrae's Twitter bio describes him as one who is, "Trusting God & figuring it out as I go." He also pinned, "God is never late. We're just impatient," to his Twitter profile. And his latest tweet, which was on Saturday, was a biblical verse taken from 1 Cor 15:58.
The Christian Post highlighted that Lecrae wasn't alone in deciding to deconstruct from Christianity due to doubts encountered in their faith for there are "some notable Christian figures" who have done so in the past. The outlet pointed out that in 2017 Lecrae almost lost his faith after feeling he was abused by fellow Christians. However, after much soul searching, the Grammy Award winner turned out having a stronger relationship with Christ.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Lecrae explained that his tweet last week came from being "inspired" by those who disassociated themselves from Christianity, which he "sometimes" could relate to.
"What inspired the tweet was that a few people that I know this year, who've been professing Christians for years, have decided they no longer claim Christianity. I just thought to myself, 'Man, I know that feeling.' But sometimes we throw the baby out with the bathwater, and I wanted to just encourage people that, 'Hey, I know where you're [at], what you're feeling. But sometimes the problem is not with the faith; it's with the distortions of the faith,'" Lecrae disclosed.
"It was actually a tour date. Not only did it affect me, it affected all the artists on the tour," he added.
Lecrae revealed that the tour was canceled by a Christian venue who perceived him wrongly and his tweet differently that is why they backed out. He cited rumors about him, as well, as an incident involving a performance he did in December 2020 for pro-choice Democrat Raphael Warnock in line with the U.S. Senate elections. The event was held in Atlanta and was entitled, "Get Out The Early Vote Rally & Concert."
He said the event has a negative effect on him until this day.
"I think people have a lot of assumptions about me, some of the things that they've seen, really it's been rumors. There's been so many rumors about me that people look at everything that I post like a confirmation of a rumor," Lecrae stressed.
"Whether that is that I'm supporting candidates that they don't like, which I've never publicly supported any candidate, but whatever it may be, they look at anything I post as a confirmation of a rumor they've heard versus getting clarification from me," he continued.
Lecrae went on to explain his Twitter cover photo to have nothing to do with his constant belief in the church, but refers to a new album in collaboration with 1K Phew. He said the album intends to "reach people who don't go to church, who don't understand or can't relate." He said he is aware that there's a lot of people who don't go to church "for multiple reasons" and the album is "reaching into the community."
Despite the canceled tour, Lecrae revealed he has other offers and have received the support of his co-celebrities, as well as other athletes.
