West Texas is known as the launching pad for such music legends as Buddy Holly, Rob Orbison, Waylon Jennings and Mac Davis. Add Grammy winner, Pete Orta to the list. Hailing from Lubbock, Texas, Orta gained national recognition as the guitar slinger for seminal Christian rock band, Petra in the 1990s. After a brief turn as a solo artist, Pete turned his attentions to other creative pursuits. But he says his entire life has prepared him for his most recent venture, In Triumph.
Mike Parker – You earned a fair amount of accolades in your musical career including a Grammy Award for your work with the legendary Christian rock band, Petra, and you are one of the youngest artists ever to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Not bad for a kid from the streets of West Texas.
Pete Orta – The accolades are nice, but I never pursued fame. I was always more concerned about being a true artist. I think a lot of artists from west Texas are that way. They are considered to be musical purists. I don’t know why the fame came, but I’m happy for it and want to use any notoriety I might have gained to give back to the community.
Parker – You once referred to your guitar as your ‘heart made out of wood.’ What does that mean?
Orta – I had a violent upbringing. When you are raised that way a lot of your senses just shut down. You are afraid to move for fear of the consequences. Music was a safe place for me. I could express my heart through my old wooden guitar. I could express my sadness or anger or happiness through my music, almost in a Morse Code. That is how I spoke for a long time.
Parker – You pursued a solo career after you left Petra, but I know your life has taken you in some different direction. Do you still find time to perform from time to time?
Orta – I’m currently producing a record of new music. I do write and play from time to time, but I took a break and retired myself from the industry as an artist. I had been involved with the contemporary Christian music industry and ten years ago there wasn’t a fit for me there. My testimony was too dark. My demeanor was too dark. I spoke in a street dialect that nobody in that world understood. I was protected by the Petra umbrella, but when I stepped out from under that umbrella into my own career my past and story came out, and that didn’t work in the contemporary Christian music world.
I wasn’t a bad guy, but it was like I was a foreigner to that world. I gave it my best shot. But even though my solo record was nominated for a Dove Award I thought that I was a failure at that point in my life. For a long time I struggled with resentment because there didn’t seem to be a place for me in that world. I’m not saying that was a right attitude – I’m just saying that’s what I was feeling. The older I get the more I realize my attitude was wrong. I was cynical and jaded. In my inexperience I thought a lot of stuff that was going on in that world was plastic, when it wasn’t. I had to repent.
Parker – I know you and your wife have a special place in your heart for kids that have fallen through the cracks. What’s going on with that?
Orta – Kelli, my wife, and I have talked about this for years. The church knows how to give to the homeless, to the addict, to the abused kid – but I’m not sure they know how to integrate those people into the church. That’s really what I’m trying to do with kids from that kind of background. It is a different world.
My testimony as a believer in Christ is worse than my testimony as a non-believer. I have damaged so much in my life that when we stepped into this arena of trying to help young people, I was uneasy because I didn’t feel that I represented the Gospel well enough. I’ve broken every commandment in the book, primarily because of the lack of direction and mentorship in my life. If I had had one man step up anywhere in my life and say, “Pete, you will give up on me before I give up on you” it would have saved me from so much heartache.
I see these kids, and all they need is one person who will say, ‘I will never leave you.’ That’s where we come in. We are offering our own home. We’re not afraid to put our hands to the plow.
Parker – Not everyone appreciates what you are trying to do. Why is that?
Orta – The mainstream world doesn’t believe we are qualified. I don’t have a PhD. I don’t appear to have the educational background they think is necessary to properly help street kids. The mainstream wants to give these kids access to financial success, but these kids can kill themselves with $20. The government’s idea is to throw money at it, so it has become an industry. The government provides transition money to the tune of $25,000 per kid, to these agencies to help transition kids who have never been adopted from the foster care system into the mainstream of society. When you take a young man or young woman out of that environment, even though they are over 18 and are considered legal adults, you are taking money out of the pockets of the people who run those agencies. The funny thing is, we don't take a dime of government money. Our support comes totally from the private sector, from people who just want to help.
The bottom line is - I’m one of those kids. I can talk their language. Those kids are comfortable with that.
Parker – How can people get involved with In Triumph?
Orta – People can get involved in a lot of ways. Mostly we need to just raise awareness of the problem. We want people to get our emails and then pass the information on to others. Word of mouth is such a big part of what we do. Awareness is everything. Not everyone can take a young person into their home. Not everyone has resources to give. But passing the information on is the catalyst for change because it only takes one person to save a life.
Parker – Last words?
Orta – Our mission at In Triumph is Choosing the Unchosen. There are two things that are very clear to me regarding what I am supposed to do with In Triumph. One is to tell my story; the other is to never ask anyone for money.
The Seven Questions
1. What’s your favorite sound?
Orta – My kids laughing.
2. What makes you happy?
Orta – That I have the opportunity to create a new heritage in my family tree.
3. What makes you angry?
Orta – Things I fail in when I know better. My self will. When I cut myself short because of my disobedience to God.
4. What is the secret of success?
Orta – Knowing that success is an imposter.
5. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, living or dead, who would it be?
Orta – The thief on the cross.
6. What is the epitaph that is written on your tombstone?
Orta – “He was a slave to no man, but made himself a slave to all men that he might win some.”
7. When you get to heaven, what is the first thing you want to hear God say to you?
Orta – “I told you so.”
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Heartland Actress Cindy Busby
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Screwtape actor Max McLean
Indie Filmmaker Dave Moody
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Comments
Really great article.
Loved it! Especially the ending! "I told you so"
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