Theories That Work R E M E M B E R I N G L E G AC Y
C H U C K O F
F R O M M ’ S
I D E A S
August 3, 1950 - July 27th, 2020
C
huck Fromm needs no introduction if you’re a regular reader of Worship Leader, or if you attended a National Worship Leader Conference (NWLC) over the past 25 years. You already know Chuck was a key contributor in shaping the worship movement that we are all part of these days. Chuck always had something on his mind; his brain just worked that way. He thought about worship, music, the Church, the arts, theology, communication theory, ministry, markets, and musicians. But most of all, Chuck’s mind was on the Triune God; Jesus was the fixed point in the midst of a thought-world constantly in flux. “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isaiah 26:3, NLT) Jesus is the heart of worship. Chuck often spoke and wrote about the mediation of Christ in worship found in the letter to the Hebrews. Jesus is both the New Song given to the Church for its worship of the Father, and he is the true worship leader who faithfully leads his people to the Father‘s throne of grace and constantly prays for them.The big ideas that were on Chuck’s mind flowed from his life in Christ, his experience of the risen Lord Jesus, and by God’s grace they became the tools he used to help us understand worship, community, and our work in service of the Triune God. Those tools are now the legacy he has left for us. 6 W O R S H I P L E A D E R | W O R S H I P L E A D E R .C O M | VO L . 29, N O. 4
NEW SONG Even before the beginning of Maranatha! Music and his tenure there, Chuck knew, as did everyone involved, the Jesus Movement was about far more than just new kinds of music; it was the movement of God to refresh and renew the Church in worship. To be sure, the In-church concerts added another component to commercial concerts and festivals, which drew large crowds, and the crowds that gathered included many young people who had never been to church or who had stopped going. Thousands of them accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. Calvary Chapel, where Maranatha! began, erected a giant circus tent to accommodate the growing numbers while they built a bigger sanctuary. Personally recorded cassettes from church services traversed the country along with professionally recorded albums, spreading the music and the movement. Churches grew and planted more churches. Bible studies formed in the wake of concert tours by bands. The movement was spreading, impacting established churches, and gaining national media attention. By the late 1970s, Chuck began speaking and writing about the worship renewal taking place in the Jesus Movement. The renewal involved new musical styles and new ways of engaging
