Brian Jay Fox
Brian Jay Fox was born on January 27, 1971 –the oldest son of Jay and Norma Fox of Reading, PA. He gave his heart to the Lord at the age of 12, and is honored to be the first graduate that completed all 12 years of schooling in Fairview Christian School that his father founded in 1977. He married his high school sweetheart, Sheryl, and feels blessed to have her support as he has followed his calling. They have six children Carissa, (married to Arlin King), Andrea (married to Kenyon Weber), Tamara, Bryce, Blake and Marshall. He loves hanging out with his family and is blessed now to be a grandpa to Chandler, Grayson, and Donte. He lives in Reading with his family in the very house he grew up in. In 1994, he began teaching at Fairview Christian School, and is still there today in the high school, teaching academics, coaching basketball, and developing in the students a love for God and good music.
He has always enjoyed music, especially the 1980’s Southern Gospel male quartets, like Gold City and the Cathedrals. He sang in his first male quartet at the age of 12 in a Christmas program and continued to dream of singing in a quartet in a more organized way. At age nineteen, God opened the doors to begin the Garment of Praise. Brian chose the name of the quartet after paging through his Thompson Chain Reference Bible one evening. (Another name in the running was “Divine Partakers”.)
One of Brian’s favorite things about being in the quartet is knowing someone has been deeply ministered to by a song they’ve recorded or sung in a program. Not nearly so spiritual, but still very fun, is when he can “see sweat drops form on the other guys’ foreheads when I pull something spontaneous out of my hat. I also enjoy listening to Daryl’s comedy, knowing that there are many in the audience feeling more sorrow for Daryl because of the lameness of the joke than for me being the target of the joke!”
Through the years, his favorite songs have been ones he could sing bass on, or the song “We Shall See Heaven Someday”. His current favorite is written by Daryl, “Since I’ve Been Forgiven”, which is on the new CD Restoration.
Daryl Ryan Petersheim
Daryl Ryan Petersheim was born March 13, 1979; the oldest son of Willis and Lydia Petersheim. He grew up in the Oley Valley, and after the age of 10, helped his grandfather daily on the family farm. He gave his heart to the Lord at a young age and enjoyed singing with his family. He loved listening to gospel music and especially the Gospel Greats on the radio every Sunday morning, trying to catch a favorite song so that he could record it on his tape recorder for later listening.
He wrote his first song “I’ll Be There” on the way to Oregon to marry his bride, Renita. They now have six children; Whitney, Guy, Chrissy, Jacob, Darien, and Bryson. He works at an excavating company and is a pastor at Family Harvest Mennonite Church in Fredericksburg, Pa where they moved in 2016.
As a senior in high school, Daryl had already been singing with school quartets and was happy to join the Garment of Praise when two of the original members left in 1997. His first original song that was recorded on a CD, “I Wanna Be a Christmas Light”, was on the Christmas album “The Wondrous Gift Is Given”. In 2007, Daryl entered a songwriting contest sponsored by Singing News, and won first place with the song, “The Empty Tomb Says It All”. The song was recorded and released as an extra on the 2007 Singing News Top 10 Songs of the Year CD, and the following year, The Kingdom Heirs also recorded it on their album. Over the years since then, he has written and recorded 30+ songs with the Garment of Praise and on his two CDs, “Reflections” and “From Where I Stand”.
One of his favorite memories with the group is lying underneath the 1976 Pace Arrow motorhome that they had purchased as their first means of transportation. This was after it had overheated and had blown antifreeze everywhere. It even smoked up the inside so bad that they had to pull over and everyone bailed out. Daryl says, “At this point, this God-given machine had been leaking every fluid possible (engine oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid, and even gas). As Jason and I lay under there prayerfully contemplating our next move and gazing at the sewer holding tank, one of us said, ‘Well, at least this tank isn’t leaking’ while simultaneously reaching up and tapping on it. Without hesitation, the tank decided to crack and start dripping right there on the spot. You can’t make this stuff up!”
His current favorite Garment of Praise song is “Jesus Saves”, but usually, his favorite songs to present to people are the ones that he has written, not because he thinks they are the best songs, but because they contain messages that are very personal to him. It is his desire that these messages can be an encouragement to the listeners.
Jason Clay Fox
Jason Clay Fox was born August 24, 1980 and is the youngest son in the Jay and Norma Fox family. His family lived in Reading, PA all his life, and he still resides there with his wife Denise, and their children, Caitlin, Molly, Brooklyn, Dallas, and Addison. Jason enjoys serving at the inner-city school, Fairview Christian, and is a deacon at Fairview Mennonite Church.
His heart for music was influenced long ago by his brothers’ love for music and by listening to the deep bass singing of his father in church and on his old LP recordings. Jason also enjoyed many male quartets in the Southern Gospel music genre. When he was still young, he remembers singing with all his heart at Christmas programs and every other opportunity. As a teenager, he had three friends in high school that he sang with occasionally, even recording one song to include on the Garment of Praise’s “Bound for the Kingdom” CD. The following year, 1997, when two of the other Garment of Praise quartet members went off the road, Jason was able to join the group. His big brother, Brian, moved over to the tenor position, and he began filling the bass role.
Twenty-two years later, he still loves to sing and do ministry with some of his best friends. He will tell you that he loves the Lord and loves to sing. Nothing makes him more excited than to hear when God has used their music to draw people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Looking over an audience, it’s always a blessing to him to see people being ministered to by the lyrics and sound.
His all-time favorite song over the years, has probably been the song based off the Lord’s Prayer, “As It Is In Heaven”, but his current favorite that they have just begun singing is “Stronger”.
Daniel Scott Petersheim
Daniel Scott Petersheim was born in the Oley Valley on Valentine’s Day, 1990 as the youngest son in the Willis and Lydia Petersheim family. The family loved to sing together and also listened to Southern Gospel music as he was growing up. As younger brother to Daryl, he was asked to join the Little Friends of the Garment of Praise when he was ten years old and he helped to make their first recording.
He went to Fairview Christian School, singing in the choir under the leadership of Brian Fox, and graduated in 2008. He worked at Martin’s Water Conditioning for three years before returning to Fairview as a teacher. He did a phenomenal job of teaching the senior class and leading the choir, until leaving the school in 2018 to pursue his bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He recently married his sweetheart, Rhonda, in October 2018 and lives just a few blocks from the school and church in Reading, PA.
Dan gave his heart to the Lord at a young age and has enjoyed praising Him through song ever since. His love for music developed early in life through family singing and the enthusiastic singing of Fairview Mennonite Church. He was blessed to be asked to join the quartet after his graduation from high school in 2008, right after Marcus Fox closed out his time of singing baritone with the group.
Some of his favorite memories of being with the Garment of Praise are rolling down the road in the bus on trips. Also, larger joint group events like A cappella Gospel Sing are a highlight to participate in. But, some of his most inspiring moments are reading letters from those who say that they have been challenged, convicted, encouraged, or saved through the ministry of GOP.
Besides singing, Dan mans the pitch-pipe and the inexhaustible list of songs. He has created a dynamic power point to accompany the song, “The Cross Still Stands”, and it has been one of his favorites over the years. His current favorite is “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before”.
