Petra’s massive ministry could be boiled down to one simple little motto: Be focused and consistent. They never strayed from this simple live show script of opening with some fan favorites and new material, followed by praise and worship, followed by talking about World Vision and then presenting the gospel during an encore complete with an alter call. Even after 33 years, God moved at almost every concert they played and lives were changed.
Last night, I had the opportunity to go see one of the final Petra shows ever. That’s right; Petra is calling it quits after 33 years. That’s a very long time for any rock band to survive. Petra won dozens of awards, was always active in their community and focused everything on God. In many ways, Petra became jokingly known by one of my best friends and myself as the Christian version of Monudo because only one member stayed with the band for the duration. That man was Bob Hartman.
It’s funny. Despite staying with the band for 33 years, Bob eventually did take a back seat in the final ten years. He was mostly just a studio artist during that time, but with the exception of one album, he wrote almost every song on every album. He, for all purposes, was Petra. He came back as a full member for the band’s final album and he was there last night tearing up his guitar like I had never seen him do before and that’s when it all hit me. Bob’s band wasn’t the best in the world. In fact, he has been known to write some cheese… a lot of cheese actually. Some how though, his music was almost always relevant, well written, and contained a message that always pointed back to his Savior and Lord. When headlining a show, his band always did two things consistently: dedicate time to praise and worship, and give a presentation of the gospel.
Petra’s massive ministry could be boiled down to one simple little motto: Be focused and consistent. They never strayed from this simple live show script of opening with some fan favorites and new material, followed by praise and worship, followed by talking about World Vision and then presenting the gospel during an encore complete with an alter call. Even after 33 years, God moved at almost every concert they played and lives were changed. Their success led to the creation of other Christian rock bands and those led the way for more experimental Christian bands and somehow along the way as DJ Dual Core mentioned in his history article, the Christian dance scene was born. All of this happened because one man stayed focused and consistent for a 33-year career.
One thing I am sure of is that Bob never envisioned that Petra would go so far when he first formed it with some friends back in 1972. He didn’t have any foresight into the future and I doubt God told him about everything that would happen. He just heard God’s calling, acted and never strayed from that calling. Because of this, he (along with the other Christian bands active at that time) laid the foundation for the Christian music scene that we are experiencing today. Yes, it is flawed, but it is here because people like Bob remained focused and consistent when they heard God’s calling.
With the momentum that many of us are gaining now as producers, DJs and promoters in both the Christian and secular scenes, we need to pay attention to the model Bob Hartman set for us. We need to stay focused and consistent on what God has asked us to do. It is clear that God does not have the same plan for each of us, but what should be clear is that God is using us to lay the foundation for the next generation of producers, DJs and promoters in our scenes just like God used Bob and his band throughout the past 33 years.