Former lead singer of the Santana Band, Leon Patillo, declares that he believes God has a reason for Michael Tait (dcTalk) to join the legendary Carlos Santana on his European tour this season.

One of the most respected voices of the CCM scene, Tait will make his debut with Santana when the band begins its European tour on July 2 in France. The tour will also make stops in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Michael will additionally take part in the recording of a new Carlos Santana studio album to be released later in 2004, with a U.S. tour reportedly in the works for next spring, according to press reports.

In a phone interview with Rob Holding for his “Home Run” radio show on New Zealand's Rhema in Auckland, Patillo said, “I think that Michael Tait may be just another soldier sent along to encourage and try to help and steer him in God’s direction because I think that God has a real love for Carlos.”

Patillo then revealed that Carlos Santana made a commitment to Christ at a church they were both attending. “It was either in 1989 or 1990 when he was going to a church in Santa Cruz [California] called Christian Life Center and he and his wife and his children got baptized and made a proclamation for the Lord right there at the church that I had been attending for a long time.

“We were both living in Santa Cruz and would come over to his house and play tennis a lot and minister to him. We had an ongoing relationship with him even though I wasn’t with the group any longer but we kept praying for him and asking the Lord to pull him on in. So he decided one day that he would make that commitment to the Lord and get baptized I just believe that God saw that commitment and I believe that when the trumpet sounds, he will go on up with the rest of us.

“Now, he has had an ongoing thing that stirs him up towards Buddhist belief and some of the Eastern philosophy, but I believe that when it just comes to down to it, Jesus is still the top with him …and I really believe that he has a commitment with Jesus.”

Patillo said that he was amazed when attending a concert in Indianapolis, Indiana, last November with his band at what occurred during the show. “What shocked me was that midway through the concert he had this dove take off on the screen behind him and the dove started to fly and then the words came up, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Hosts.’ Then Carlos started to minister. He took five minutes and just started preaching. He was using scripture and he telling people about not to using drugs and alcohol.

“I can’t say that he is a Christian in the sense as maybe as far as maybe we would like it to be as far as his commitment, but I can say that he does have some sort of relationship with the Lord.”