Christian Music News

Ron Kenoly, a pioneering Christian worship leader whose anthems helped shape modern praise music and whose ministry emphasized worship as service rather than performance, has died.

Kenoly, 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. His 1992 live album Lift Him Up became the fastest-selling worship album of its time, introducing a generation of churches to large-scale, congregational worship marked by Scripture-driven lyrics.

Another album, Welcome Home, produced by Tom Brooks, was later named Billboard’s top contemporary worship music album and won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for praise and worship album in 1997.

Born Dec. 6, 1944, in Coffeyville, Kansas, Kenoly showed an early interest in music and moved to California after high school to pursue a career in entertainment. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965 to 1968, touring military bases as a member of a Top 40 cover band.

Before dedicating himself fully to ministry, Kenoly recorded secular R&B music under the stage name Ron Keith and later found commercial success as part of a duo with Candy Rae. He ultimately stepped away from secular recording, spending several years seeking a path in gospel music before releasing his first Christian album, You Ought to Listen to This, in 1983.

Kenoly’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.

Church leaders and worship pastors across denominations credited Kenoly with helping redefine congregational worship.

Ron Kenoly Dies at 81 (03-Feb-2026) Retrieved: 26-Jul-2026. From The Christian Post. https://www.christianpost.com/news/ron-kenoly-writer-of-ancient-of-days-dead-at-81.html