This week with in our Cooking with Christian Music feature, we get not just a simple recipe for Sunday roast from Dorla Schlitt, wife of Christian music artist John Schlitt, but a great story about how John joined the Christian group Petra – and how the two are very much connected!

Dorla Schlitt’s Sunday Dinner Roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope dry Lipton onion soup mix
1-1 1/2 can water
Roast
Peeled potatoes
Peeled carrots
If the roast is large cut it into sections. Lay the meat, potatoes, and carrots in a deep oven roasting pan. Mix the ingredients and pour over the meat & vegetables. Cover and bake 350 degrees for at least 3 hours. Check the roast toward the end of the cooking time to be sure there is still plenty of liquid.
To make gravy: Remove meat and vegetables from broth. Combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and ¼ cold water. Pour mixture into broth and stir. Keep stirring over medium heat until broth thickens.
And here’s Dorla’s story about Petra and pot roast:
Shortly after becoming a Christian in 1980 John had said to me, “The only way I’d ever sing in a band again is if the band was something like Petra!” [John had been the lead vocalist for Head East before becoming a Christian.]
In the late fall of 1985 we received a phone call from John’s brother, Jeff. Bob Hartman, founder of Petra, had called Jeff and wanted to contact John. Jeff wasn’t sure if he should give out our number so he had taken Bob’s phone number; John called Bob back immediately. Bob asked John two important questions – first, was he really a Christian and second, if so, would he consider auditioning for lead singer of Petra? Wow! Would he?!
Soon John made the three hour trip to Nashville to sing for Petra. Following the audition Bob called our home to see if he and a couple members of Petra could come to our home in Evansville, Indiana and meet our family.
John Lawry, Mark Kelly, and Bob came to visit and they put us through the ringer! As John said, “It was Investigating City!” They talked to the family, the kids, me – they looked me over, looked John over, looked our home over. John had commented “Geez, I didn’t know I was joining the FBI!”
After some conversation that Sunday afternoon, it was nearing the evening meal time. I had cooked this gigantic roast; something that was usually good for a number of meals. John had asked me if we should invite the guys to stay for supper, and I agreed.
After talking to them, they had this strange look on their faces. “OH! Ah…. ah…. just a minute, we gotta talk.”
And they went outside and had a meeting! John whispered to me, “They need to have a meeting just to eat roast? I’m not sure if I want to join these guys or not!”
They came back and said, “Yeah, we’ll eat!”
They devoured that roast! John remembers, “That roast was gone before I got a chance to look at it! I mean, I got this little sliver and I’m going: It’s GONE! Between our family of six and those three guys, not a crumb of that roast dinner was left!”
We found out later that they had been fasting for three days before coming to meet with us! They agreed to break their fast because they were convinced that John was the man God had called to sing with Petra. And they were starved! They hadn’t eaten for a while and had decided, “Well, we’ve fasted enough. That roast looks too good!”
They thought it was delicious!
And the rest, as they say, is history.
You can learn more about John Schlitt, and his latest solo release The Grafting, on his website.
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