here are people in the music industry – both Christian and secular – whose names cause one to start singing a particular song that they have recorded. Then there are those in Christian music whose ministry overshadows their music and whose words draw us into worship wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

Dr. Ron Kenoly, or Doc as he says he’s called these days, got his first taste of singing in the Baptist church in his hometown of Coffeyville, Kansas. When he was 21, he joined the U.S. Air Force where he met his wife Tavita. He traveled with a band that entertained troops at various Air Force bases. When he left the Air Force, he went to Los Angeles looking for an opportunity to get into the music business. It didn't take long for him to catch the attention of a major label where he started recording R&B and soul music. He appeared to be headed in the right direction, but things were not as they seemed and soon led to an impending divorce.

ATTL: When you first got in the business, what impact did it have on your family?
Doc: Well, the entertainment industry is very demanding. It makes a heavy impact on all of your domestic life – especially on your family. That was one of the things that I was having a problem with back then. The travel, the people you are involved with just have a negative effect on a positive family life.

Ron Kenoly

ATTL: I understand that your wife had a lot to do with your change of heart.
Doc: Yes. She got really serious about serving the Lord, and it caused me to come to the realization that the way I was living wasn't the way I was raised. So, I made the decision to rededicate my life to the Lord, and I haven't looked back since then.

ATTL: There are a lot of people who try to get into the music industry, both Christian and secular. What advice would you give to someone in that situation to help them avoid falling into the same trap that you did?
Doc: It doesn't matter whether it is Christian or secular music, the first thing is that we need to build character. Anybody who lacks strong character will be swept away by the evils of society. If you don't have a strong constitution about what you are going to do and have good morals and a good focus on your goals, then you will be distracted by all those things that can distract you and eventually tear you down.

ATTL: It sounds like talent can get in your way sometimes.
Doc: The bottom line is that, if you are not careful, your talent can take you places where your character cannot sustain you. We see the evidence of that all the time in people in the entertainment industry – like a superb athlete with a multimillion dollar contract who goes to a nightclub with a gun and shoots himself. Another goes into the business of fighting dogs and loses everything. It's all about character. If you don't have character, your talent will not sustain you. You may get attention with talent, but your career is established by having a strong, positive character.

Ron Kenoly

ATTL: Was the rededication of your life what caused you to move from R&B and soul music to praise and worship music?
Doc: You know, to be honest, I didn't really know what praise and worship was back at that time. All I knew was that, as I was studying the Bible, God was giving me songs. I was writing songs. I was inspired to write songs from the scriptures that I learned or those that stood out to me. I wasn't even in pursuit of a praise and worship ministry. Yes, I did want to eventually do some recording; but most of all, I just wanted to sing my songs. All I knew was that these were songs that came right out of the Scriptures and I was singing them. My disappointment was that they wouldn't let me sing my songs at the church that I was attending. They just didn't like them.

ATTL: Where did you end up singing your songs?
Doc: I had a brother who had gotten into some trouble and gone to prison. I would go to visit him at the prison, and he told the chaplain there that I could sing. So, the chaplain invited me to sing my songs there in the prison. That's when I realized that God had given me something that was valuable to the Kingdom of God. I saw these hardhearted, professional criminals giving their lives to the Lord – giving their lives to the Lord and weeping before God and bowing and surrendering their lives. I didn't know what was going on, but God showed me that he had a plan for my life and a plan for the music he had given me.

ATTL: Isn't it wonderful how God works – even in a prison?
Doc: So many times, we want things to happen overnight, but those eight years were a character-building experience for me. I had come out of the military and had been in the secular music business for several years, and God needed – first of all – to establish his word in my heart. From out of there, for the next eight years, I made my own cassettes and used them to promote my own ministry. Those were some difficult times for me from 1977 to 1985. If I had an audience of more than 50 people, I had a big crowd.

ATTL: What would you say was the turning point in your journey?
Doc: I went to Bible college and went on to get my music degree. It was during that eight years that God turned things around. Then I went to Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, California. It was a fast-growing church and I got involved there as music director and was ordained as a music pastor. It was a few years after that Don Moen and Mike Coleman came and got me involved with Integrity Music. From 1989 on, it has been an interesting journey.

Ron Kenoly

ATTL: I understand that your church looked on you as their ambassador of music when you were going out on tours with Integrity Music.
Doc: That's right. The first seven years at Jubilee I served as music pastor; and then in 1993, they changed my title to Ambassador of Music. They began to send me around the world promoting the balance between worship and the Word.

ATTL: Where did you get the moniker of "Professor of Praise?"
Doc: (laughter) I didn't create that name. Some radio guy did that and it just kind of took off. When I received my doctorate – Doctor of Ministry in Sacred Music – back in 1996, they started throwing those titles at me like that. Now I actually have a PhD.

ATTL: Tell me a little bit about Ron Kenoly Ministries and your Academy of Praise.
Doc: The Academy of Praise is a mentoring program for pastors, praise and worship leaders, and anyone else who is involved in the praise and worship or music ministry of their church or organization. The purpose of it is to help those people realize a higher level in their praise and worship ministry experience. The bottom line is that we teach a proper balance between worship and the Word. We try to do at least two or three every year – one here in Orlando, Fla., and then in different parts of the country and around the world. We have one scheduled on the Treasure Coast in South Florida for this year.

Ron Kenoly

ATTL: I understand you had a heart bypass in 2001. How are things going now?
Doc: Well, I am getting back on my feet, but 2008 was a difficult year for me – a very difficult year. I was hospitalized again with congestive heart failure and pneumonia. I had a rough time. I had to take off five months, and right now I am still not back to 100 percent. But, praise God, I can keep on going. It isn't like I was before, but God gives me the strength to do what he wants me to do.

ATTL: Let's talk a little bit about your family. What are your sons doing now?
Doc: They are all involved in ministry. My youngest son is the church administrator and worship leader at a church in California. My middle son is the music director at a church here in Orlando, and my oldest son is an ordained minister. He has his own ministry called Kingdom Praise.

ATTL: I read an interview with your son, Bingo, and he spoke about his earlier years in the music business. It sounded like he had some problems and made some bad choices early on.
Doc: That's true. My two oldest sons had a period of time when they just put their foot in the world. But, you know it is like Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and, when he is old he will not depart from it." They had a little taste of the world, but then they realized that there was no hope and there was no future in the things that the world has to offer.

ATTL: That must have been a difficult time for you.
Doc: Yes, it is always difficult when you see your children doing something they have no business doing. I know it was difficult for my mother because she didn't raise me to live the kind of life that I lived when I was in Los Angeles. But that didn't stop her from praying. She went right on praying, and I thank God for her prayers.

Ron Kenoly

ATTL: How did this time affect your relationship with your boys and with the rest of your family?
Doc: It was strained but, the bottom line was that the door was always open for them to come back home – but they knew what to expect at home. They knew that I had established standards and principles based on Scripture and if they were going to come home and they were going to be in a right relationship with me, and they had to live a certain way – period. They understood that, and they realized that there was safety and security that they could count on. My son Bingo traveled with some secular groups, and he realized the same thing that I realized – that the way those people were living was not the way he was brought up. He had to make a decision: am I going to live like that or am I going to live a life of victory and honesty and morality and productivity. He chose to live for God.

ATTL: You have to be proud of a kid who decides to straighten out his life and gain custody of his kids so he can raise them in a Christian home. That says a lot about how he was raised.
Doc: If you look at the prodigal son, he knew when he made up his mind to go back to his father, the quality and the standard of life that he would have to live. He was willing to go back and be a servant. He was willing to go back and be anything he needed to be in his father's house. He went back expecting only to be a slave, but he knew that it was a place of provision and a place of hope. My children were the same way. When they came back, they knew what to expect from me.

ATTL: What advice do you have for parents whose children stray?
Doc: Just keep on loving them, but maintain a standard of godliness and set boundaries so that they know what they are coming back to. There can't be any question about how they live and what they can do and what they can't do. That's what we all need. We all need to know what our boundaries are – especially children. When you have no limits and when you have no boundaries, you have no restraints. You've got to establish boundaries so people can know how far they can go and know when to stop.

ATTL: That sounds like good advice for everyone – not just prodigal children.
Doc: The very first thing God did with Adam and Eve in the garden was to tell them, "You have all these trees to eat from, but that one tree you have to leave alone." He set boundaries and he set punishments and penalties as well. It is the same way with our children. We have to tell them, "If you do this, there will be punishment," and you have to stay true to your word. You can't make empty promises. If you promise punishment, you have to deliver punishment. If you promise reward, you have to deliver reward – and it all must be bathed in love. God says whom he loves, he chastens [Hebrews 12:6] – but that is a big part of love.

Ron Kenoly

ATTL: Where do things go from here for Ron Kenoly?
Doc: I continue teaching, and other opportunities come up. I did a movie last year. I thought it was going to be just a cameo appearance, but it turned out to be a principal character. I had several speaking parts, and it was a good experience. It is a full feature Christian movie called "The Bill Collector." It hasn't been released yet, but it should be coming out later on this year. That's not to say that I am in pursuit of a movie career. I am still doing praise and worship and teaching – that's where my focus is. This was just something I had an opportunity to do and God released me to do it.

ATTL: Are you still doing some writing?
Doc: Oh, absolutely. Always. I've got three books now and I am in the process of writing a fourth one. I also have at least 150 undeveloped songs that I need to take in the studio and record. I write them faster than I can record them.

ATTL: Do you have any recording schedules coming up?
Doc: Absolutely. We haven't set a recording schedule yet, but I am planning on doing some other recordings this year. I am taking my teaching ministry to several other parts of the world. I've got several overseas dates that I am doing this year with my teaching ministry in Africa and then in Europe, but plans are to work in some studio time.

By design, God called Dr. Ron Kenoly to not only be a lead worshiper but to teach people how to blend worship and the Word. All of his experiences and education uniquely provisioned him to understand the place of praise and worship in our everyday life.