ATLANTA — After days of being in the social media spotlight, the Atlanta pastor seen "Swag Surfin" with his congregation at a New Year's Eve worship experience is sharing the meaning behind his message.
Bishop William Murphy is the lead pastor of the dReam Center Church of Atlanta. Clips from his Sunday night service went viral as the crowd was seen dancing to the famous rap songs "Walk It Out and "Swag Surfin." The internet was divided over the moment, with some in support of the move and others calling out the church for doing so.
Now, Murphy is sharing his take on what happened. He said it was an organic moment.
"This wasn't some manipulated thing that we did trying to go viral. This was prophetic ministry at best that's been misjudged," he said.
The dReam Center has been around for 18 years, and Murphy said what people saw on New Year's Eve is an example of one of the pillars they stand on: to change the world's expectation of the church. Murphy said some people took 30 seconds of a clip and tried to summarize 18 years.
"It's my conviction that when people walk into church, that it should not be as if they walk into a foreign country," he said. "That church should have some point of relativity where when people walk in they feel like 'ok this does actually have something to do with my life."
Since day one, Murphy said they've infused what some might consider as secular songs into the sacred space.
"What's happening in the streets needs to be at the forefront of what we're talking about in the sanctuary," Murphy said.
Murphy made sure to mention while they included the rap songs into their worship, they made sure to use the clean version.
He said his message that day came from a passage out of the book of Acts in the Bible.
"The spirit of God was there, the power of God was present so much so, that 150 people said, 'I gotta have this in my life." That's the miracle of our New Year's Eve service, not that the room was jammed packed, but that the alter was filled with people," Murphy said, describing the worship experience an amazing time.
He said he's at peace with his decision to do his message this way, even with the negative attention some gave.
"For those of you who saw the 30-second clip and you said, 'Wait, this ain't right, I want you to meet Sunday at 10 or 12 (at the church) so you can get a glimpse at what God is doing."
He said his church demonstrates the balance of Christian life that some people haven't been exposed to.
"I can be Christian and swag surf," he said. "I can be saved, sanctified, and full of the Holy Ghost and still 'walk it out.'"
He challenged people to go back and watch the full service to hear the message about how to "work the prophecy."
"You gotta 'walk it out' and you're not going to have to walk it out alone. There are people around you that God has sent to help you 'walk it out.'"
At the end of the day -- even behind the backlash -- Murphy stands by what happened because he said 150 people decided to connect with God on that day.
"I wouldn't change a thing," he said.