HIGHLAND, Utah — The Bishopric of the Highland 19th ward from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints used Billy Joel to welcome people back to church services in a video posted on October 7.
In their musical parody video, the three church leaders sang along to the melody of "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel.
Shawn McLelland, Bishop of Highland 19th Ward said they worked on the video one evening and just wanted to share their excitement with fellow ward members.
"We received direction that we could resume meeting weekly both via broadcast and some small live things and we were super excited about that so we thought we would share that excitement with our ward," McLelland said.
He discovered his counselors were musical on their first Sunday serving together as a bishopric.
"The week we were sitting on the stand our first Sunday as we were singing the opening hymn, it hit me, 'oh, these guys can both sing,'" McLelland explained. "So I thought, we can have some fun with that.
Earlier in October, it was announced in-person church services could resume with COVID-19 precautions in place, depending on local conditions.
The church is enforcing social distancing, face masks and sanitizing in order to try and keep members safe.
The Highland 19th Ward had their first in-person meeting since the beginning of the pandemic on October 11.
The video has over 380,000 views and nearly 600 comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
McLelland explained they never expected their video to get this kind of traction, but he hopes it puts a smile on people's faces.
"We certainly didn't expect all the attention and we are very embarrassed by it, but we are very happy that it's putting a lot of smiles on people's faces around the world...something we all need right now," he said.
