A lot of Christian music fans of “a certain age” probably remember the first time they heard a song by Petra and were probably startled.
There’s a hard-rock band that sounds this good and still sings music for The Lord, they probably wondered.
Petra was led for nearly 20 years by John Schlitt, whose powerful vocals defined the band’s sound and was a perfect complement to Bob Hartman’s guitars and the band’s overall straight-ahead rock n’ roll attack.
Long before DC Talk did the same, Petra “was Christian rock when Christian rock wasn’t cool!”
But they started out a long time before Christian performers used rap and thrashcore to express the Gospel message, and Petra took plenty of heat … some believers even prayed that the group playing “the devil’s music” would somehow be stopped.
God’s answer was no … and Petra won countless awards, was a staple of CCM radio and made inroads in popular music before calling it a career three years ago.
But the awards for Petra, and Schlitt, haven’t stopped.
Schlitt this summer joined Michael W. Smith, David Meece, the late Dottie Rambo, the band Stryper, Ed Enoch, Lou Wills Hildreth and the Staple Singers as one of the newest inductees in the Christian Music Hall of Fame.
The honor for Schlitt, who was inducted last year as a member of Petra, comes as he has just released a new CD, “The Grafting.”
Produced by his son-in-law (!) Dan Needham, the 10-song record is playing to good reviews, and has an initial hit song, “Face of God.”
It features the same strong voice from Schlitt, now 58 (! again), that Christian-music listeners grew to love on huge hit songs like “Beyond Belief,” “Just Reach Out” and “Wake Up Call.”
He wants his new CD to “appeal to folks who grew up on Christian rock ‘n’ roll, an album for folks who want some tension in their music, but not too much.”
Petra started in the early 1970s as a rock band that could “reach those around them in a way that they could relate.”
And in their late-2005 farewell tour, they performed at an appropriately named church here … Petra Christian Fellowship, near New Holland.
Schlitt was once a singer on mainstream radio, also facing a major drug and alcohol problem, before he was saved.
If you’ve ever listened to a classic-rock station, you probably heard him singing on the band Head East’s “Never Been Any Reason.”
In May, Schlitt toured India, playing eight dates in six cities with an all-new backing band, playing a mix of Petra favorites and songs from his solo CDs.
And in the often-tumultuous world of music, from which the lives of Christian music performers aren’t exempt, Schlitt’s home life has been a model of stability … he’s been married to his wife Dorla for 37 years, and they have four children.
He remains down-to-earth, and has some excellent advice for young would-be music performers: “Don’t despise small beginnings. Know that if God has put it on your heart to be a musician, it is an awesome responsibility and takes a lot of preparation and work. But, it is very rewarding in so many different ways.”
Sounds like someone well worth his new honor.