This is the Truth Network. This Here's the United States champion. He became my first savior. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one fall. Introducing first from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kola.
Now, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up.
So I have a question for you out there in listening land. Have you ever... Considered or thought about pioneering an entire Brand new industry.
Well, You're not going to want to go anywhere today because my guest did that very same thing, or that very thing, with some of his other band members with me today. Bill Glover. Bill, welcome to The Man Up Show. Thank you.
Well, it's great to be here. It's great to have you with us. Of course, you know, just to put another little teaser out there to the listeners, you know, renowned drummer, percussionist and vocalist with a storied career spanning multiple decades a founding member and drummer of the iconic Christian rock band Petra. Wow. That's amazing, Bill.
Okay.
Well, you know what? Artificial intelligence wrote that.
So you take that with a grain of salt.
Well, we'll take it with the grain of salt. But it's hey, as long as it's all true, that's all that matters. I don't care who wrote it. That's impressive.
Well, that's true because, well, we started abandoned Bible college, you know, as it says, but you said with my uh fellow band members and uh we were all in Bible college uh by God's design in my opinion and uh to get him. Church here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. uh where we started Petra and it was uh Fifteen. What? in the fall of nineteen seventy two, so we're going on what, fifty five years now ago.
Wow. So it has been a while.
So When you talk to any of the founding members, you'll get a different opinion on how How it all began, but everybody will agree that we were in that little Bible college, accredited Bible college at Calvary Temple. in Fort Wayne, Indiana on North Clinton Street. In the fall of nineteen seventy two, I just happened to be the drummer for that church. and was in the Bible college too as a student. And Lo and behold, who was one of my Professors Bob Hartman.
Wow, you got a lot of history there.
Well, and for our listeners, I'm going to take them back just for a moment to, you know, walk through nostalgia per se. You know, it wasn't long ago there was a movie produced called The Jesus Revolution. And, of course, you know, it highlighted in the late 60s and, of course, into the early 70s, you know, the explosion of the gospel message and opened the door really for a lot. I learned from that movie, a lot of musicians like yourself or Petra and other musicians that really then, as I mentioned in the opening, really pioneered an entire industry. Would that be fair to say?
Yeah, but we were you know, we were just rock and roll musicians and who uh gave our hearts to the Lord and wanted to use our craft For him. F five. you know, if it was possible. In any way possible, and it started on a small scale, of course, and uh. And just as you say, it mushroomed into a whole industry, which is amazing.
uh in that because it it's Christian rock and roll and uh Christian rock and roll. At one time, um was in enemies with Christians and and rock and roll did not uh mix. And uh when we started playing Christian Rock, we had a lot of plaque and we we uh You know, we faced a lot of uh challenges, but the Lord, you know, wanted to use it and he did and People all over the world, kids all over the world got saved as a result of it.
Well, and I would imagine I wasn't, you know, I was. I was at junior high school in the 70s when you guys started, and And I was not a Christ follower, you know, would you know, certainly would did not consider myself a a Christian, and so was not really listening to any Christian music, let alone Christian rock. But I would imagine, looking back, and again, from what I learned from that movie, Jesus Revolution. That you guys, you know, I'm sure faced all kinds of opposition, you know, even from, you know, your look to how you dressed, and then obviously your style of music. That there were probably plenty of churches that were not very warm and receptive to you, I'm guessing, right?
Well, you're correct there. Um in fact for church as in general as a whole, rejected Christian Rock. And many there were many books written about it. They said things like that drummer from Petra brought The demon rock beat from Haiti and things like that that were. just absurd and and untrue, of course, and we'd never been to Haiti.
So um of just that whole whole Thing from the Christian point of view, from the church at that point in time and the music industry, the gospel music industry, they were really against what we were doing. But people were getting saved, so you know you Uh you know your Christians um us the term by their fruits.
Well, we definitely were getting some proof from what we were doing. Hard to argue with the results, right? I mean, you can try to, but people are giving their life to Christ. I mean, say what you will. And that's like the one thing, a little side note that I would relate it to, Bill, is over the years I've been involved in what I would call wrestling outreaches.
And by that meaning, we. Churches have brought us in, set up a ring. We've had actual live wrestling matches, and then shared the gospel message. And we've literally seen thousands come to Christ through that. But on the same note, in the same breath, we've had many, many churches reject the idea, you know, thinking God could never use that, but yet.
To your point, with your band and Christian Rock, People come to Christ and argue with the results all you want, but the results are the results.
So. Good for you guys to persevere through that, though, here, you know, five five and a half decades later.
Now, you were instrumental, Bill, in helping shape the band's. you know, what what what would be called signature sound and can and and wha what take us back for a moment and and to you know, you you said you guys were there at the Bible College. Take us back and share with uh the original band, who who who was in the original band, and then how were you shaping how are you helping to shape that signature sound? That's that's a a good A good question. You know, we were rock musicians, so we were each individually influenced by our favorite musicians.
My favorites were Cream and the Allman Brothers at that time, and bands. of that sort at that point in time, which is more of a a progressive maybe uh blues rock and southern rock flavor. Bob Hartman was heavily influenced by Joe Walsh and James King. And uh 'cause he's from Ohio and um went to uh college They're at, um And um Well, where was that? That was Bowling Green, where he went to college.
So he was heavily influenced by that crowd there. And then you had Greg Hoag, the other guitar player and songwriter of the band and singer. Bob sang his songs, and Greg wrote and sang his. He was heavily influenced by the Doobie Brothers and That type of uh Kind of bubb. Um Midwestern or or um Maricana type of rock and roll.
So, you know, each of us, and John DeGroff, the bass player, he was heavily influenced by all of the. real weird bands like, um, Uh Yeah. Back then it would have been no. I guess Genesis and things like that.
So we all had our influences, and that's what shaped the sound of Petra. We each brought that forward into our rehearsals. And we rehearsed an awful lot. And asked the Lord to bless it, and He did. He did bless our efforts and took us out where we'd never been before as far as playing Christian Rock.
So it I would say that's how each of us individually. including myself, contributed to the overall sound. the unique sound that Petra had. That's pretty amazing. I know of course that can for those who maybe don't know, you know, and and you know, I get a lot of listeners and of course this show goes, you know, all over the world.
And so, you know, there's the potential there that some are just being introduced to the to Petra and the band name Petra and and the Petra sound even just right now. But that to say, um, some of that signature sound that you guys then uh put together led to to four four Grammy Award wins. Yeah. four Grammy awards and multiple dub awards. And being recognized, of course, by the Christian community is a blessing when you're in a Christian rock band.
And um you know, then the the Grammy Awards or came width of the presence of John Slitt in the band. our precious brother and and voice of Petra now. and a good friend of mine, John, is just the real deal. and he was saved out of rock and roll. He was a rock star.
He was saved. And then he joined Petra, and that took him up to the next level. which was in the nineties when we won our Grammy Awards. We all contributed to that. Of course, every member that was ever with Petra contributed to that because it was the history of force of Petra that also was a contributing factor to winning Those Grammys.
Which is quite a tribute to you guys. You know, it's a really way I would look at it, real tip of the hat in terms of you guys. Perfecting what you were doing, and again, just impacting society with a new sound and something that people weren't really. Used to and hadn't recognized, but yet you guys are pioneering the way, right? And making a way for other groups that would then follow you.
And I have to mention, you know, I was jotting down as you were talking. I'm like, man, I know all the Almond Brothers, Queen, Joe Walsh, and the James gang, Doobie Brothers, Genesis. I'm like, man, I know all those names.
So that's pretty cool how you could take the influence of, I guess, of what we would phrase secular music and what you kind of grew up on, and then put a Christian overtone to that. And then, of course, lyrics. Did you guys ever, were there ever any of those types of songs that you guys. either got you know, like maybe got permission or either said, Hey, I I think we could use that same soundtrack and and put some new lyrics to it and and create create in a w in a way a whole new song. Did that ever happen over the years, curi out of curiosity?
But in the early years it dipped. uh we and before the first album was recorded, We covered quite a few secular tunes. and secular bands. And Christian artists as well. Larry Norman, we we covered as far as Christian artists goes.
He was probably the only Christian artist we covered because he was really the only one that was doing um our style of rock then And of course he's another uh Iconic rock star that got saved out of the band people and And he's the one that really, in my opinion, started the whole genre of Christian rock. We just happened to be the first ones to jump on the bandwagon in the Midwest. Which was Um you know significant But In any case, But the um What we were just addressing as far as the music that we came from and the music and the rock. There was no other band that I know of when we started the band. There was.
Uh love song. There was a Larry Norman and there was uh Randy Matthews and there was Barry McGuire.
Now they had each individually had rock tunes, but they were from the West Coast, but their overall song was more of a folkish rock. And what Petra brought is a Midwestern attitude towards rock. which is just in your face, rock and roll. That's amazing.
Now, of course, I have heard I have a dear friend of mine, Bill Murdock, who absolutely does love Larry Norman.
Now, would Keith Green and Rich Mullens have been kind of in that similar era, or did they come a little bit later? Where would they have fit in this whole Schema thing.
Okay.
And didn't really care for us. But he didn't really care for a lot of Christian artists at that time. until he got saved a second time. And then uh He got a lot more grace and started liking us a little bit more. Praise the Lord.
Amen, brother. But he was an influence to us as we progressed. We didn't hear about him until after we had started a band, so he wasn't an early. Uh, but I'd say to influence our music or anything, you're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. If you would like to support Kola for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration.
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God bless you for making a difference around the world. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Yeah, I had the opportunity quite a number of years ago, probably 20 years ago now. To um uh toured the unfortunate crash site where where Keith had lost lost his life down in Texas and um it was uh it was partnering with a ministry down there that had bought the property and uh and then actually the the the head of the ministry actually bought Keith Keith's uh old house from from his uh From his wife, from his widow there. Wow, interesting.
Yeah, it really was. It was pretty fascinating. On that musical note, my dad and I, just a random thought too, just popped in my head, Bill. My dad and I actually got to walk the crash site of Buddy Holly up in Iowa. Uh, speaking of the Midwest, and uh, we were traveling down to Iowa and saw the sign, and we had time.
I said, Dad. Let's let's let's that's a piece of history there. Let's let's go and he goes, Lo let's go And uh just a little path out into the cornfield there in Iowa with a little tiny sign there, you know, the crash site for for Buddy Holly. And so obviously, you know, those unfortunate things happen in in music as well, right?
So Yes, we were I was privileged to be able to do a memorial uh uh hosted memorial concert for Uh Keith. And they were doing that for a couple of years following It's tragic. Uh going to be with the Lord. And the memorial services and memorial concerts and that type of thing that were going on at that time for Keith were just. Um really uh spiritually and emotionally charged.
And I was honored to do that. With um his wife and um Those that were left behind in the ministry that continued on with the last days ministries for. for I don't know how many years, but years after his His death. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. And of course, I got to meet you.
Uh, ju just not too long ago down down in Florida, we were down, uh you you were brought into a a baby dedication service there, uh a mutual friend by the name of Tim Senseibaugh. Right? Pastor Tim. That's right. Yeah, had had his first childhood.
And I got to hear you guys play, man, like up close and personal. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. And of course, that's where you and I met. And I go, I got to get Bill on the show, man. People are going to love his story.
And I know a lot of people are going to be familiar with Petra. But that was a great, that was a little outdoor service, right? And Tim they just had their first child. That was awesome, wasn't it? Yeah.
Pastor Tim. Pastor Tim, what an awesome brother. And um he Yes. He just uh reached out To me, and he interviewed all of us and everything, and then he goes and wants to have us plate. For his anniversary, that was his anniversary also.
Yeah, it was a combination, yeah. Anniversary and and and their first child, the baby they've been trying and and he probably told you, Bill, they'd been trying 17 years to have a child. Yes. 17 years. Such a great celebration.
Yeah. We were honored to be, of course, be a part of that. And he was. He treated us like kings and put us up like kings. And it was just so much fun.
And it went well. We loved it.
So we're continuing with the was doing the um Petra 72 concert events. Uh as GHF. Which is the band with Greg Hog, the original guitar player, and Jerham de Groff, the original bass player, and myself.
Okay.
And so we're. doing accepting dates and and we have uh we're playing downtown we're In fact, we're headlining this month on the 28th in downtown Fort Wayne a secular Outdoor uh Concert event. It's an annual concert event that Fort Wayne chose on, and they chose us to headline the event. That's amazing.
So, Petra on tour in 2025. Come on. I love it, Bill. I love it.
Now, before we run out of time, so where, like, where can listeners go? Like a website or where can they see your tour schedule? How do they learn more about Petra?
Well, Petra has a website called PetraBan.com. And they can go there and see whatever dates that Petra is engaged in for the fiftieth anniversary concert. Um events. These concerts now are not as numerous as they were. They've been on tour now since we did our first one in August of 1972 here in the Fort Wayne area.
Up at Buck Lake Ranch is where we kicked off the 50th anniversary celebration. And so you can still catch Petra. They're still out there. Our band is called JHF. We are in the process of putting together a website and will be online soon.
And it'll be probably ghfbam.com, just like Petro. Band.com.
So real easy to find and real easy to navigate. It's just going to take us a minute to get that GHF one up because we're just now getting the ball rolling on it, baby.
Well, that's amazing. And for you listeners out there, in case you're wondering, I wonder what GHF stands for: God has forgiven. That's what GHF stands for.
Now there's a name you mentioned, Gene Cotton's band, Eli. You still you're doing some things with with his group, but i i is gene who is Gene a me a member of both the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Christian Rock Hall of Fame, Bill? Petra is. Petra is. Okay.
Gene Cotton. Got it. Correct. Gene Cotton is. I played with.
He was one of the first artists to give me a job playing the drummer for a Christian band. And the name of the band was Eli. And I I was already playing on the road with my uncle. uh Beau, who was a lead guitar player for Tommy Rowe and the Romans, and that's how that's the first gig I had was a secular gig right out of high school. But I didn't like it and I prayed and the Lord uh got me the job with Gene Cotton miraculously uh through uh Doug Oldham, who was an old gospel artist.
who was at our church and told my mother who had Who went up in desperation and said, My son is with a rock band on the road, and he wants to be in a Christian rock band. Do you know anybody? And he said, Gene Cotton in Nashville is looking for a drummer. This was in St. Wow.
I I called Gene on the phone. He said we had prayed that a drummer would contact us. This very day that you're calling, since you're contacting us, you're hired. He didn't have a clue who I was, and that was my first. Gig with Christian Rock was with Gene Cotton.
I moved to Nashville and that was the start of my career. Wow, Bill, that is a God story right there, man. Wow, that's amazing. That's amazing.
It was amazing. It was amazing. It is amazing. If you just make yourself Available, what the Lord can do, man. Boom, you just hit.
Well, we in our closing moments here, you just hit the nail on the head. Hey, all of you out there listening, did you hear what he just said? If you'll just make yourself available, there's no telling what God will do.
Well, Bill Glover, member, original member of the group Petra, members of both the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Christian Rock Hall of Fame, on tour, Petra on tour, Petra Beta. Band dot com. Of course, Bill himself, a writer. Musician, poet. performer Who continues, if you can't tell, loves the Lord after five and a half decades of playing music and traveling the roads, continues to inspire audiences.
Bill, I can hear your passion for music, man, and your faith. That's amazing.
Well, thank you. I really appreciate you calling me today. And I'm wanting to ask you. How or what? I I need to ask you.
How do I pronounce your name? Is it Nikita? Nikaida? I haven't said anything because I didn't want to embarrass myself, but I'm going to have to because I've got to say your name. It's all good.
I've been called all kinds of things.
Some we don't err on Christian radio, but that said. It is pronounced Nikita. It's pronounced Nikita. And there's a whole story there, Bill. I'll give you just a snippet before we run out of time.
There's a whole story there. When I broke into professional wrestling, I was partnering with a guy named Ivan Koloff, and I was going to be his nephew. That was going to be part of the story, okay? And I was given Nikita as an option. To this day, don't remember the other name that I could have chosen, but I remembered a little bit from my history days in school of Nikita Kolof.
Khrushchev, right? Way back when. And I'm like, Nikita Koloff, that's got a great ring to it. I like that.
So, I like it. Yeah, so Nikita Koloff was born in the hallways of Charlotte. In 1984, and that launched me into a whole meteoric wrestling career with Ivan and Dusty Rhodes and many other legendary wrestlers. But man, I am, yeah, it was a crazy journey. But man, your journey's been amazing, Bill.
What an amazing.
Well, in our final 60 seconds here, you know, you already challenged the audience with just making yourself available. Last word. What else would you like to share? I want to share that Learning who we are in Christ. And learning who God is are the two most important things a Christian can achieve and it'll change the person's life.
God is our Heavenly Father. And we are his children. Our identity is in Christ. He is our identity. He is the firstborn son, and we are his.
We are his brothers and sisters. And God has chosen us just like He did. Just like he did his own son. We are chosen in Him. And we will be with him, and we will be like him when we see him.
Man, Bill, that's a good word learning Who we are, and learning who He is, learning who we are in Christ, and learning who He is. And one day, let that sink in what Bill just said. One day. as a Christ follower, blood washed, Born again. You'll be with him.
We'll be with him. We'll all be with him. Go check out Petra on tour. Again, one last time: PetraBand.com. Go figure out, go find out where these guys are playing.
And I assure you, you will not be disappointed. Bill, thanks for being with us today. You're very welcome, Nikita. You have a great day. Hey, and you nailed the name, just so you know.
I got pretty good short-term memory still. You did good. To all you out there listening, Land, you know my challenge each and every week. Hey, I challenge you to go out today and you live a God-filled and have a God-blessed day. Until next time.
This podcast is made possible by the grace of God. and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to colof.net and donate. Good day.
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