Ha! I forgot about that song! Even Petra elevated orthopraxy above orthodoxy. Take that, fundies!

Steve Camp even did!

“Don’t tell them Jesus loves them, until you are ready to love them too.”

But then he repented of actually walking the talk…

I guess we have our own priorities…

I met with the second line up who we had play at our school when i was in high school… Greg Volz in warm ups sounded very plain… but then they hit the stage!

It was a cool time… Sweet Comfort Band’s van broke down… I did not get to meet them but our church helped them get it fixed… Then there was Prodigal… and Randy Matthews and Joe English who asked us to bring all our drugs to the front of the stage and give our lives to Jesus… then took our drugs to his motel room and partied down… (sad but true as he confessed this)

iggy

I saw Petra in 1986, first tour with John Schlitt, Back to the Street. I saw them in Pittsburgh at the Syria Mosque ballroom. DeGarmo & Key opened. It was my first concert ever (I later saw Stryper at the same place). After that, I was a concert freak. I bought two t-shirts that night and wore them until they literally fell apart.

I mean this seriously, one of the nicest things anyone ever did for me was introduce me to Petra. When I think back on the lyrics that Bob Hartman wrote, and how overflowing they were with direct Scripture quotations–I am overwhelmingly thankful to God. I may not have spent a lot of time with an open Bible in front of me during my difficult teenaged years, but thanks to Petra I not only ‘read’ Scripture, but I memorized it!

I agree, Jekyll and Hyde was a great CD. The guitars were vintage Hartman and some of Schlitt’s best vocals. Ahh, I can’t believe how old I’m getting. I feel like just yesterday Beat the System was coming out and I wasn’t yet over Not of This World. Well, thank God for Petra and Bob Hartman and Louis Weaver and the gang. I’m finding some newer bands are really filling that Petra void. Bands like Kutless and David Crowder Band are phenomenal.

Thanks for reminiscing with me. I lost track of my friend Mark after he graduated High School a couple years ahead of me and I haven’t had anyone to talk with about Petra. Tonight, I’m breaking out some Petra and taking a trip. Wow, thanks friends for making this a really nice afternoon! (And thanks for not telling me I’m going to hell for listening to rock & roll with a Christian edge. It is amazing where grace can be found when the eyes and ears are opened.)

In Christ,
jerry

Bob Larson was such a hoot. He still make mel laugh when I’m in warm-ups and play through the Am walkup into Stairway…

I guess that means they were heard and not seen.

Ha! I forgot about that song! Even Petra elevated orthopraxy above orthodoxy. Take that, fundies!

(for all you Petra-deprived folks, the actual song was “Seen and Not Heard”, and it basically said something like “sometimes God’s children should seen and not heard” in the chorus.)

I remember being 16 in the front row at a Petra concert (right adjacent to the speakers). I’m not sure my hearing has returned to this day… It was so cool

Even as a slobbering fanboy, I will admit that Petra seemed to have stretched it too long for a while there. But their last studio album (”Jekyll and Hyde”) and the live album that followed (”Farewell”) were far and away the best of the John Schlitt era, and some of Petra’s best work of any lead singer’s era. Some young whippersnappers at inpop, who grew up on Petra, reminded them how they used to sound.

In short, they finished strong.

Seriously, any kudos you wanna give to Bob Hartman and/or Petra (or thanks to God for them) on one of my posts is most welcome!!