We Shall Behold Him

The Sandi Patty Story is one of forgiveness and grace. The fully redeemed, multi-platinum gospel singer, who is performing at Auburn United Methodist Church in Auburn this Sunday night, has come to a greater understanding of God through divorce and personal trials In 1983, twenty-six-year old Sandi Patti stood on a stage in a periwinkle linen dress, her hair secured into a Farrah-Fawcett-like mop. The occasion was her heroic rendition of “We Shall Behold Him” for the Bill and Gloria Gaither gospel hour.The sky shall unfoldPreparing his entranceThe stars shall applaud himWith thunders of praiseThe graphics on the TV screen, blatantly 1980s (think Wink Martindale and Tic Tac Doe), preceded a pinwheel screenshot of Sandi’s ’81 album, Love Overflowing. That night, Sandi belted the Dottie Rambo hit with such power and grace—her voice zealously climbing to a rare air of octaves only few could summit. By then she was on her way to becoming one of the top Christian performers of all time, on the cusp of a decade-long run of success never before seen by anyone who piped of a poor carpenter from Galilee. But in 1993, details of an extramarital affair began to surface, and its melody rang louder in the gospel music world than any octave Sandi had ever hit.Sandi Patty (the “i” at the end of her last name was chucked a few years ago in favor of her real name) grew up in Anderson, Indiana with music as her center. “My dad was a musician and my mom was a concert pianist,” says Sandi. “That was a great musical foundation for me.”Along with her brothers, Sandi formed a traveling singing group with her parents, called “The Ron Patty Family.” Sandi studied voice at nearby Anderson University, the alma mater of both Bill and Gloria Gaither.“[The Gaithers] heard me singing on campus and asked me if I wanted to be a backup singer,” recalls Sandi. “I told them I’d pray about it first. Pretty soon, I took it, and it was a delight to travel with them and learn from them.”Although Sandi had been performing since she was a child, the opportunities with the Gaithers proved to be a breakthrough. “They eventually gave me the chance to step to the edge of the stage,” says Sandi.With the dawn of the 1980s, musical tastes began to shift from “classic” rock to an arena, power ballad preference, as bands such as Journey—with the mighty, silver-throated voice of Steve Perry—began to fully emerge on the scene. Paralleling these balladeers was Sandi, Christian music’s response, who, like Perry, garnered the moniker “The Voice.”Sandi believes that being exposed to different genres of music at an early age helped her to develop her own style. “I grew up listening to Beethoven, The Beatles, and Ella Fitzgerald,” says Sandi. “My parents allowed us to have the freedom to listen to a wide variety.”Her operatic sound and vocal range ultimately would usher her to the forefront of America, singing the National Anthem at the Statue of Liberty rededication in 1986 and the Indianapolis 500 (five times). She performed on The Tonight Show in front of Johnny Carson and was featured on Entertainment Tonight, crossing the near-insurmountable barrier between sacred and secular. In the 1980s alone, Patty produced 9 records, performed 200 shows per year, won a fistful of Grammys (and enough Dove awards to need a wheelbarrow), and was a regular at the top of the charts. Arenas for Sandi Patty concerts hailed SOLD OUT signs in regularity.Why people responded terrifically to her voice, Sandi can’t surmise. Lyrically though, she tried to remain candid, and raw. “I’ve tried to pick lyrics that were honest, real, and true,” says Sandi. “For me, it’s the faith aspect. The journey and struggle with faith, and I think music often captures those emotions with lyrics.”Sandi’s own Via Dolorosa to the foot of the cross wasn’t always pretty. After her divorce from first husband and manager became public, it was revealed—to the astonishment and chagrin of the gospel music world—that she was having an extramarital affair. Sandi was soon thrust onto a new stage, one where the spotlight was so bright and uncomfortable that even a Grammy-winning artist had to step down. She even boldly stood in front of her church and confessed the blot on her biography to the congregation. This lead to many years of intentional restoration in her life.Sandi’s career was soon hurled into a state of flux and she decided to step away from the spotlight for several years. But, God—The Great Architect—was always working. In the midst of Trial by Shame, God worked through Sandi’s brokenness, eventually helping to steel and restore her.The angel shall soundThe shout of His comingAnd the sleeping shall riseFrom their slumbering place After a long, late-1990s hiatus, Sandi slowly came back on the music scene from her slumbering place. She also penned an excruciatingly honest memoir, Broken on the Back Row, detailing her Pilgrim’s Progress journey to restoration.Now Sandi is back on tour and is performing at Auburn United Methodist Church this Sunday. “I come to Alabama a couple of times a year, and it is always a pleasure,” says Sandi. “I think when you talk about Southern hospitality, you are talking about the hospitality that you find in Alabama.”So when Sandi takes the stage this Sunday, folks will see the new, far-from-perfect, invigorated, and redeemed Sandi Patty.“I feel like the newer Sandi is more real in every area of my life,” she says.Sandi’s voice is now resonating from off the stage, too. When she’s not touring, Sandi counsels up-and-coming performers on the snares of stardom. “I am mentoring this young girl,” says Sandi, “and I tell her that the road is very real, but it’s not the real world. That you should take a visit on stage, but don’t live there. That who we are when no one is watching is the more important than anything else.”The bus chugging Sandi through America will make several stops this Christmas season before returning her home to Oklahoma City on December 24.Through trials, Sandi understands that fame is fleeting, and that the tour is not the Via Dolorosa, nor is the stage or the lights or the ovations. The twisting road leading to the Cross is stained with sweat, blood, and tears, marked with stumbles and scars that we collect as life tosses trials to us like pitching machines, whether we’re ready or not.“I have learned that our God is a God of second chances,” says Sandi. “That grace isn’t just a word. Grace is a marvelous thing, and I am very grateful for the grace I experienced.”O we shall behold HimWe shall behold HimFace to face in all of his glory Through it all, Sandi realizes that you don’t have to wait until you get to heaven to behold Him.You can in this life. 78 Please visit www.sandipatty.com for more information on tour dates and merchandise.