Veteran American gospel singer and worship leader, Ron Kenoly, will perform in Nigeria during the Easter celebration.
Kenoly, 79, will perform at the 100,000-seater Glory Dome auditorium of the Dunamis International Christian Centre (DIGC), along Airport Road, Abuja.
He will be a guest minister alongside others at the church’s Worship, Words and Wonders (WWW) night on Good Friday March 29-30.
WWW is a monthly programme of the DIGC.
Senior Pastor of DIGC, Dr Paul Enenche, said Kenoly last performed in the church in 2007 when it held a programme at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, in the nation’s capital.
Previous visits, performances in Nigeria
The charismatic music legend has visited and performed multiple times in Nigeria at different times.
For instance, in 1994, he ministered at Victory Christian Church, Lagos founded by the late Bishop Hayford Iloputaife, performed at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos in 2002 on the invitation of Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo of Kingsway Christian Church, hosted by Pastor Abel Damina in Uyo in 2003, and led worship at the Nite of Splendour organised by Bishop Isaac Idahosa’s Illumination Assembly in 2011.
He was also in Nigeria in 2016 and 2018.
The man Ron Kenoly
Kenoly was born on December 6, 1944 in Coffeyville, Kansas. He is the third of six sons of his parents.
He hardly knew his father, who was in the military. His mother, Edith, almost single-handedly raised him.
When his mother, a former housemaid, was pregnant with him, she would rub her stomach and pray “Lord, let this one praise you.”
He graduated from high school in Coffeyville and ventured out to Hollywood, California.
He later joined the Air Force in 1965 where he was a member of the Mellow Fellows which toured military bases performing Top 40 hits.
He left the Air Force three years later in 1968 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music passion. He became a popular nightclub entertainer there.
But by the mid-70s, the demands of Kenoly’s career began to affect his family and personal life. He attributes the recommitment to Christ in 1975 to the personal crisis he suffered in the early 70’s.
He was later to attend Alameda College, graduating with an associate degree in 1982, and with a bachelor degree in Biblical Studies from Friends International Christian University (1983).
Kenoly went on to graduate study at Faith Bible College (M.Div, 1985) and graduated with a Ph.D in Ministry of Sacred Music from Friends International Christian University in 1987.
Family life
Kenoly met his first wife, Tavita, while serving in the Air Force. They were married for 42 years and had three sons.
As his career blossomed, his family suffered and his marriage became abusive, emotionally and physically. They separated eventually.
“My wife rededicated her life to the Lord in 1975 and began praying for the healing of our family,” he once recounted.
He, however, remarried in 2014 to Diana.
44 years in music ministry, several albums
Kenoly has been singing for God for over 44 years.
Although he sang in children’s choir in his early days, Kenoly began his full time ministry in 1985 when he became music minister at the Jubilee Christian Centre in San Jose, California.
Reports say Kenoly got his music breakthrough after pouring his heart to God one summer evening. He was said to have sat alone in church for hours that evening playing, singing, praying, worshipping and laying his burdens before the Lord.
“From that night on, the record companies ceased to matter. The Lord had met me and shown me so much that I felt I had gone beyond what any company could offer me,”
He subsequently led worship for pastors like Lester Sumrall and Jack Hayford which brought him to the attention of other evangelists including Mario Murillo.
Murillo, it was who commissioned him to lead worship at his crusades. He met Pastor Bernal through Murillo.
In 1990, Don Moen, then the creative director for Integrity Music, invited Kenoly to record an album. That led to the recording of his first album “Jesus is Alive” in 1991, which became an instant hit.
He followed up with “Lift Him Up” which sold half a million copies. His first eight live albums with Integrity Music were said to have sold over 4 million copies. He left Integrity in 2003.
Meanwhile, during these years he has waxed several albums that blessed the Christian world.
They include Jesus is Alive (1991), Lift Him Up (1993), God is Able (1994), Sinf Out with one Voice (1995), Welcome Home (1996), High Places, The Best of Ron Kenoly (1997), Majesty (1998), We Offer Praises (1999), The Perfect Gift (2001), Dwell in the House (2001), Solo Para Ti (2002).
Kenoly is about the most popular American praise and worship leader.
He is the founder of Ron Kenoly ministries and the Academy of Praise, a mentoring programme for people involved in Christian music and in praise and worship.
He regularly attracts a congregation of 15,000 people. His audience includes White, Black and Hispanic.
While in Bangalore, India, he performed for over 200,000 worshippers at a single meeting.
Awards
In his gospel music career, Kenoly has received several awards including Angel Award for “Lift Him Up” (1993) and Dove Award for Praise and Worship Album of the Year (1997).
Since graduating with a Ph.D in 1997, Kenoly has been referred to as “The Professor of Praise
Besides, Kenoly has also written books including Lift Him Up which he co-authored with his pastor, Dick Bernal, in 1996 and Sing Out with One Voice, a songbook.
At almost 80 (by December), Kenoly still travels to speak, sing, teach and record.