Tributes are flowing for Ron Kenoly who is being remembered as a pioneering Christian worship leader whose anthems helped shape modern praise music and whose ministry emphasised worship as service rather than performance, after he passed away at the age of 81.
Legendary Australian worship leader Darlene Zschech told Vision Radio: “I was super sad to be honest when I heard that he’s graduated to glory, but he’s been unwell for a while so I was like Oh Jesus thank you, receive him well.”
“We love Ron Kenoly. He was one of the great inspirations of my own life when I was very young.”
“I remember sitting in a worship conference and he said this one line that the only person ever to be thrown out of heaven was a worship leader.”
RON KENOLY’S INFLUENCE ON AUSTRALIAN WORSHIP
“He was talking about the enemy and I’m like, oh, okay, and he was talking about pride,” Darlene recalled.
“So that early kind of teaching from Ron really helped set up Australian worship — leaders of worship, not just singers, but bands and anyone who had any platform.”
“It was like he kept reminding us: ‘This is about the worship of God, it’s actually not about you guys.”
“We have lost a great one, but Jesus is happy.”
“I WAS A WITNESS TO A LIFE MARKED BY FAITHFULNESS”
Ron’s long-time music director and close associate Bruno Miranda announced his passing.
“For over 20 years, I had the honour of walking alongside him in ministry around the world, not just as his music director, but as a son, a student, and a witness to a life marked by faithfulness.”
“He was never an artist, never an entertainer. He was a worship leader.”
“And he took all the time necessary to explain what that truly meant.”
“A worship leader’s calling is not to perform songs, but to lead people into true worship in the presence of a King; the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
A CENTRAL FIGURE IN CONTEMPORARY PRAISE AND WORSHIP MOVEMENT
Ron Kenoly who best known for “Ancient of Days,” “Anointing Fall On Me” and “Jesus Is Alive,” rose to international prominence in the early 1990s as a central figure in the contemporary praise and worship movement.
The Christian Post reports his 1992 live album “Lift Him Up” became the fastest-selling worship album of its time.
It introduced a generation of churches to large-scale, congregational worship marked by Scripture-driven lyrics.
Another album “Welcome Home” was named Billboard’s top contemporary worship music album and won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for praise and worship album in 1997.
RON KENOLY’S EARLY DAYS
Ron was born in Kansas and moved to California after high school to pursue a career in entertainment.
He served in the US Air Force from 1965 to 1968, touring military bases as a member of a Top 40 cover band.
Before dedicating himself fully to ministry, he recorded secular R&B music under the stage name Ron Keith and then spent several years seeking a Gospel music path before releasing his first Christian album.
“I was in obscurity for eight years, singing my songs. Wherever the door would open, I would go, and I would sing, making no money,” he said in a 2024 interview.
“But that was the gift that was in me, and I was determined to use it. And I prayed, ‘Father, I’ll go through any door that you open.’”
CONSULTANT ON DEVELOPING WORSHIP MINISTRIES
Ron’s ministry expanded significantly after he joined Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, California, where he became worship leader in 1985 and music pastor two years later.
Ordained in 1987, he focused on teaching worship theology.
In 1993, he was named the church’s Ambassador of Music and began consulting churches nationwide on developing worship ministries.
“There needs to be a balance between worship and the Word,” he told The Christian Post in 2006.
THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORSHIP AND THE WORD
“If you get all worship and no Word, you have fanaticism. If you have all Word and no worship, you have legalism.”
“And you need that balance. That’s what is going to help us to worship.”
Church leaders and worship pastors across denominations credited Ron Kenoly with helping redefine congregational worship.
Pastor Tony Suarez, founder of Revivalmakers Ministries and vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, called him “one of the greatest psalmists of our time.”
“He was a generational gift. The anointing would fall on us as he led us to sing out a joyful song and build a palace of praise to the Ancient of Days.”
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