Read this very important thought

[I helped Petra]

The way I see it, is that Bob is allowing God to bless people and giving people a chance to get their name out there, so by changing the line up because band members feel that they are being led into other areas that God is showing them, allows other people to become apart of Petra. I feel that there is no BEST LINE UP! As this is Gods ministry and that this is Gods band not Bob's or John's this belongs to God. Bob has blessed
many people to being apart of Petra and either being apart of Petra through playing on stage or allowing people to work with Rock Stars such as
Petra... There is also no song better than the other, God is using all those songs to bless someone or to help someone. Even some of their less
popular songs have blessed thousands.

So to say that this band member or that band member is better is not right, I believe that its wrong to say that. God has blessed other band members to play onstage with rock stars. Who are we too say hey this is better than that, God is using everything that Petra does and everyone
that works with Petra. I work with Petra, I have been a long time fan and it was a dream of mine 13yrs ago to work with Petra and I was able to
design the grey tour shirt with the picture of the band on the backside of the t-shirt. I felt great, I felt like I had the chance to work with Rock Stars... So lets just say that God has a reason for each band member and each person that has some correlation with the band. It does not matter
who is better what matters is the message. No band member is better than the other, they all played a huge part in God's ministry.... Its Gods message that is important not who or what is better...

[LivingRock]

Totally 100% agree with you!! That is right on!!

[brent]

I believe in free will. I believe that we have the option and personal preference to do what we want to do, as we can, both good and bad and reap what we sow. All that God asks of us is to love him with all of our hearts, love our neighbors as he loves us, and make disciples of all men. We are to honor God. Jesus told us that the world is sneaky, and we should find ways to sneak in the Gospel of Christ.

That said, Petra does not do what they do for free. It costs money to get Petra services and goods. The Church does not (well, should not) charge admission to get in. The sermons are not ala cart from menu, for a price. The people support the work of the church and it's staff by free will offerings, out of the abundance of joy in their hearts. Petra charges for shows, and you can buy what you want from a menu on-line. You cannot have it legally and truly be blessed unless you pay for it. We ALL have a ministry, solo and corporate. We ALL have a calling. Petra is not a church, is not sanctioned by a church is not a non-profit ministry. It is a business that makes money doing things that minister. VERY different.

Don't over spiritualize and over think things. Bob is not mapping out some grand plan for people. While he, like us, can see God's hand in restoring relationships, making things work out, etc, he was not the one that put this together. This is Greg Volz's baby and his people are running the show. It is Greg that made the calls and got everything to work. Bob wasn't really doing anything with the other Petra band and wasn't planning on it AFAIK. They were only doing reunion shows as needed.

Petra made decisions long ago for self preservation. There were tons of decisions like this. Because people, money and distractions were involved, lots of decisions had to be made. Now that Petra is on the downside and is no longer viable as a commercially successful band IN THE INDUSTRY (which is NOT a bad thing, in fact that is a compliment), Petra has nothing to lose and can do what it wants, operating in their own bubble. Old relationships that may not have worked for them now can work again. Combinations of people that could not happen before can happen again. To me it is sad because:

1. It took so long for some of the members to get themselves together (individually and corporately).
2. The industry and buying Christian public turn on their own and forget what being Christian means. They would have thrown out Paul from their churches for sure.
3. It came at a time when I have less money to support them via purchases, concerts, etc.
4. Everyone is now older and on the downside and no longer in their prime.

I am happy it has happened. God's ways are not our ways. His timing is not ours. So, it is all par for the course. The important thing is that while the motive was for Greg to assemble the band for a one time show....for money (because that is what drives the promotions business), God used it all of that to create something else.

[Dan]

I believe in free will. I believe that we have the option and personal preference to do what we want to do, as we can, both good and bad and reap what we sow. All that God asks of us is to love him with all of our hearts, love our neighbors as he loves us, and make disciples of all men. We are to honor God. Jesus told us that the world is sneaky, and we should find ways to sneak in the Gospel of Christ.

That said, Petra does not do what they do for free. It costs money to get Petra services and goods. The Church does not (well, should not) charge admission to get in. The sermons are not ala cart from menu, for a price. The people support the work of the church and it's staff by free will offerings, out of the abundance of joy in their hearts. Petra charges for shows, and you can buy what you want from a menu on-line. You cannot have it legally and truly be blessed unless you pay for it. We ALL have a ministry, solo and corporate. We ALL have a calling. Petra is not a church, is not sanctioned by a church is not a non-profit ministry. It is a business that makes money doing things that minister. VERY different.

Don't over spiritualize and over think things. Bob is not mapping out some grand plan for people. While he, like us, can see God's hand in restoring relationships, making things work out, etc, he was not the one that put this together. This is Greg Volz's baby and his people are running the show. It is Greg that made the calls and got everything to work. Bob wasn't really doing anything with the other Petra band and wasn't planning on it AFAIK. They were only doing reunion shows as needed.

Petra made decisions long ago for self preservation. There were tons of decisions like this. Because people, money and distractions were involved, lots of decisions had to be made. Now that Petra is on the downside and is no longer viable as a commercially successful band IN THE INDUSTRY (which is NOT a bad thing, in fact that is a compliment), Petra has nothing to lose and can do what it wants, operating in their own bubble. Old relationships that may not have worked for them now can work again. Combinations of people that could not happen before can happen again. To me it is sad because:

1. It took so long for some of the members to get themselves together (individually and corporately).
2. The industry and buying Christian public turn on their own and forget what being Christian means. They would have thrown out Paul from their churches for sure.
3. It came at a time when I have less money to support them via purchases, concerts, etc.
4. Everyone is now older and on the downside and no longer in their prime.

I am happy it has happened. God's ways are not our ways. His timing is not ours. So, it is all par for the course. The important thing is that while the motive was for Greg to assemble the band for a one time show....for money (because that is what drives the promotions business), God used it all of that to create something else.

Exactly right, all that is really left of what was CCM is fans, well us.