Soon custom 1971
Hailing from New Milford, New Jersey, on the whole, this LP is pleasant enough to listen to, but definitely sounds like the stereotypical custom job so typical of those days. The band's style ranges from folk ("Do You Know My Jesus") to harder blues-tinged rock ("Maranatha;" "Jesus, Son of God"), including "I Found Jesus," a flat-out rock'n'roller in the "Johnny B. Goode" mold. The rest of the album is balanced by softer ballads and worshipful songs ("Let Us Rise," "Resurrection," "Amen"). Note: "Maranatha" is different from the song with the same title on Maranatha Music's "The Everlasting Jesus Music Concert," and "Amen" is different from the well-known spiritual of the same name.

Maranatha seems to have been a competent 4-piece band: drums, bass, and rhythm and lead guitars. Someone played piano (sounds like they borrowed a spinet from somewhere!) on several of the songs, but there's no way of knowing if it was one of the band members or a "guest." Acoustic guitars are prevalent throughout, as well. The vocals are pretty standard, with 3-part harmonies.

Contributed by Frank Roche:

Charlie Rizzo - Lead Guitar, Vocals, Richard Alvarez - Rhythm Guitar, Barry Gretz - Bass Guitar, Piano, Steve England - Drums, Dave Shannon - Vocals, Isaiah "Ike" McKinnon -Vocals, Larry Stephan - Bass, Acoustic Guitar and background vocals

Others that have been in and out of the band (later renamed Selah)
Doug Adaschefski - Lead guitar (They used two leads at one time)
Gary Daraschinsky - Drummer ( Steve England left)
Kevin Murphy - Drummer (Gary and Kevin made quite the dual drummer team)
Rob Venator - Vocals

The band was "sponsored" by the New Milford Church of the Nazarene (who also sponsored several concerts in New York City. The first one was held in Carnegie Hall and the second was in the Felt Forum ( part of Madison Square Garden), these concerts were called Jesus Joy and had quite the collection of Jesus Music "stars".

Latest info from Rich Alvarez:

Charles Rizzo: lead guitarist pastors Maranatha Church of the Nazarene Passaic, NJ http://www.maranathanj.org/index.html

Richard Alvarez: rhythm guitar is retired from law enforcement and serves the Lord locally and working with an orphanage in Nicaragua. http://www.casabetesda.com/ He lives in PA. Married with 2 children.

Barry Gretz: Bassist, pianist (yep that was Barry on the studio spinet) and all around excellent musician serves the Lord as an elder in his local church. Married with children

Ike McKinnon: vocalist pastors King of Kings Full Gospel Tabernacle in Hackensack N.J. http://www.kingofkingsnj.com/

Steve England: drummer, whereabouts uncertain somewhere in New England?

David Shannon: vocalist, lives in Northern NJ/Rockland County NY area, works in construction sales. 2 children

Larry Stephans: acoustic guitar and vocalist with "Larry & Dave" (Shannon) the acoustic arm of Marantha band. occasional bass. Lives in Northern NJ and serves the Lord as an elder in his local church, married with children.

Note: After recording "Soon" band toured up & down east coast evangelizing for 2 years. I went off to Christ for the Nations Inst. Dallas, Barry, Larry & Dave went on to form "Resurrection" in Ramsey/Allendale area of NJ at Mustard Seed Coffeehouse. Maranatha Band continued on for a year or two with a variety of other memebers and instrumentations continuing the work.