Thanks Lockergnome!

Being that 2002 is Petra's 30th anniversary, I can't help but think back to Petra's beginnings.  The events that led up to the formation of Petra have been a part of my personal testimony and I thought many of you might like to know more information so I welcome this chance to fill in more detail from my perspective than what has appeared in our bio for many years.



I grew up in a small Northwestern Ohio town called

Bryan.  I started playing guitar when I was 13.  My older brother was buying records and the Beach Boys and other surf music was very popular at the time and I thought it would be cool if I got a guitar and tried to learn how to play.  So I took my hard earned lawnmowing money and bought a Sears acoustic guitar that came with a book and a record.  It was very hard to learn at first because I didn't know anyone else who played so I really had to teach myself.  After a while I was able to figure out the chords to some simple popular songs.  



About that time, my next-door neighbor brought over a 45RPM and said, "Have you heard this yet?"  On the cover I saw a weird looking group of guys that called themselves the Beatles.  No, I had never heard of them but I was willing to give anything a listen.  The thing that struck me the most about this group was a sound like nothing I had ever heard.  The chord progressions, the melodies, the harmonies, the sounds of their guitars, basically everything was way beyond any other music I had heard and it made me want to learn the guitar more than ever. 



I continued to grow as a musician and was a part of several local groups throughout my high school

years.  It was while I was in college that my life and music changed forever.



In 1970 I was in my second year at Kent State

University (yes, I'm really that old!).  On May 4th, 4 students were killed in an anti-war demonstration and this had a profound effect on the way I viewed the world.  It really made me focus more on the "bigger picture" of what life was all about, about my life, and about where the world was headed.  During this time of great personal reflection, the Lord sent an old friend my way to tell me about the love of Jesus. 



About two weeks later, while sitting alone on a couch in a living room in Bryan, Ohio, I prayed and opened my heart to Jesus.  I had grown up going to a non-evangelical church every week but I had never heard anything about knowing Jesus.  



That night I had a personal experience with the Person of Jesus Christ. I knew that God had heard my prayer and in time He would reveal more and more of Himself to me.  



My first band as a Christian was called Dove.  We were not all Christians so we didn't have much of a mission but it was in this band that I started writing songs about the Lord.  I figured that I was a musician so naturally, God wanted me to be a musician for Him. 



Meanwhile, I had become very involved in a local

coffeehouse ministry in my home town and was having Bible studies at my apartment.  Dove broke up but soon I had formed another three piece band with John DeGroff, Petra's original bass player.  This band was called Rapture and in that band I wrote a few of the songs that ended up on Petra's first album.  But Rapture failed and as I was getting close to graduating from college, I was beginning to question whether or not God had called me to be a musician in a band.  I began to see that I had taken for granted that that was what God wanted me to do without really giving over my music and aspirations to the Will of

God.  I remember praying to God that I was willing to do whatever He wanted with my music.  I even began selling my electric equipment, convinced after two failed bands, that God wanted me to play acoustic guitar for Bible studies.  



Shortly after, I got a knock on my door one day and there stood Greg Hough. 



I had known Greg by reputation as another guitar

player in the area and we had mutual friends but had never met.  He told me he felt God had told him to come see me and "jam".  We got together several times but there was never any talk of a band.  It was a time of fellowship and sharing of music.  We worked up some arrangements of some songs I had written, some of which became early Petra songs.  



John DeGroff was the first to make the decision to

enter Christian Training Center, a two- year Bible

school in Ft. Wayne, IN.  I was convinced my destiny was to graduate from college, get a job and continue working with our fellowship in Bryan.  That is, until I attended a leadership conference in Ft. Wayne and knew for sure God was telling me I needed to enroll. 



This was my "call" to the ministry and when I told

Greg he said "OK, I'll go too!" We both tied up loose ends and packed what few possessions we owned and began apartment hunting in Ft. Wayne.  



Things were very tight financially and occasionally Greg and I would perform as a duo with acoustic guitars.  There was a lot of music talent at our new ministry in Ft. Wayne.  



Honeytree was there as well as several other singer/songwriters and it was an excellent place for development of the "arts".  The Adam's Apple, the coffeehouse ministry begun by the same church as the school, was bringing in CCM every week for concerts.  We regularly saw artists like Phil

Keaggy, Larry Norman, Glad, Lovesong, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Randy Matthews, J.C. Power Outlet, Scott Wesley Brown, Steve Camp and many others who were around at that time.  



We discovered that there was a drummer from Ft. Wayne enrolled at the school named Bill Glover who we heard was very good.  Someone, probably Greg, suggested that we get together and jam.  None of us had played in a band for a while and it was really fun to crank it up and blow!  It was in those jam sessions that the idea of a band was born.  As ministry students, our primary

vision was for ministry.  We knew there were certain people who would only listen to rock music and no one was reaching them with the gospel. We believed that if we were good musicians those people would listen to what we had to say about the Lord out of respect.  But

if we were going to have a band we needed a name.  



We knew we would be doing lots of evangelical work so we need a name with meaning but with mystique as well, so as not to scare off people before they could hear what we had to say.  I was fascinated with Greek and looked up the Greek word for "rock" and the name "Petra" was born. 



Through many twists and turns, members coming and

going, ups and downs, Petra has somehow survived.  We have seen an entire industry grow up around this music.  We have seen good trends and bad trends.  We have probably known every up and every down that this quagmire of music business/ministry has to offer and I remain in the deepest gratitude to God for the opportunity to travel around the world and share His love to all who would listen.



Bob 



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