Good ol' Sandi Patti! Man, I remember those days when I had come free of legalism! Frank Garlock had visited our church, and he was solid when it came to exposing the wickedness found in Rock 'N Roll, but then he went on to attack Christian Music as well. We were sold on Patch the Pirate, and I find it amusing that many fans of Patch were worried that he might have too much rock beat in his music. I was a kid who would walk out of the sanctuary in protest of some songs. How dare the Gaithers come up with a song about "Can He, Could He, Would He, Did He"!!!
Such was my upbringing. I enjoyed the church orchestra though, and after the Dave Hyles incident, church leadership, under the new pastor, was in love with anything Gaither related. We hired a new worship leader, who started an orchestra, which I was privileged to be a part of, and I'll never forget rehearsing for the Clydesdale arrangement of "In Majesty, He Will Come". My youth pastor was a HAC grad, who had married Andeson's daughter. He would go on to become the pastor of the group that split from that church, which I was a part of for a few years. He helped me understand why legalism strays from Biblical truth, when I was still a youth there. I ran into him at a Wayne Watson concert one year, but I haven't really kept in touch with him. The home I was raised in, was a Gothard devotee home. I myself had been to four of his seminars, and the youth pastor himself, was enthusiastic about Bill Gothard. I have often wondered if Gothard had understood what Paul was saying in I Cor 7, he might have avoided his pitfalls.
Steve Green and Sandi Patti both were a part of the Gaither group, and both went on to have incredibly successful solo careers, as did Wayne Watson. The church I and my family attended for many years, when I lived in the DFW area, had an orchestra director who had been part of the Gaither group, and he had also been a part of the group Truth. He also led the band for PTL ministries, before that all fell apart with the Jessica Hahn scandal. Now that I think about it, if Jim Bakker had married Hahn, she would not have been able to allege rape. I remember when he came out with the book, "I Was Wrong", in which he claims to have been set up.
Any ways, back to Sandi Patti....I was a huge Wayne Watson fan, after I got discharged from the military, and through my early college years. One morning, my alarm went off, and "Another Time and Another Place" was playing on my clock radio. That was the first time I heard that song! Who would have thought that song would take off to #1 on the CCM charts! Sandi had some good Christmas music as well. "Come Let Us Worship the King" comes to mind. Then of course, there was "The Star Spangled Banner"! A couple of years ago, our church invited Sandi Patti to come, and she performed that song, alog with our choir and orchestra. That Clydesdale arrangement was difficult to read, because all three Trombone parts were written on on sheet! She also sang "Love in Any Language", which is a song, I had a friend sing at our wedding, which seemed fitting since my wife is from Romania, my best man was from Japan, and the Maid of Honor, was from Russia.
Then of course, she ended up divorcing her husband and marrying the man she is currently married to. One of my sisters was a huge Amy Grant fan, and we were all sickened by her divorce and remarriage. Then of course there was what happened with Micheal English, and his adultery with the woman from "First Call", whose name escapes me, and then there was Jaqi Valesquez. So many vocalists with great talent, had a platform where there were able to show that they were no less human, than the pastors who preceded them in failed marriages and even scandal. It is no wonder that the world we live in, is teetering on the brink of the cliff, when so many of our own church leaders have had such moral shortcomings!
