About Us

The heart of Maranatha! Music is to serve the church with the ‘song of faith’. We believe that the church is God’s family; He wants us to do as He did and serve as He served. Maranatha! Music is a pioneer in praise and worship music publishing. Each year Maranatha! Music is dedicated to taking the well-known song of faith as well as new songs heard around the world, and to provide these songs to the church. Classic songs, modern worship songs and hymns are all presented in ways the church can sing effectively. Maranatha! Music has a passion for Evangelism. In 2006, we released the first of many projects dedicated to leading the unsaved to Christ in the “Invitation Series”. Rick Warren, Lee Strobel, Beth Moore and many others have contributed to the “Invitation Series” digital tracts, dedicated to helping people find Jesus. We believe Worship music is vital to bring unity and expression of praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In fact, it is our conviction that worship music is sung prayer to God.

THE EARLY DAYS

Maranatha! Music was founded in 1971 by Chuck Smith Sr. of Calvary Chapel, to promote the “Jesus Music” his young hippie followers were writing and singing up and down the California coast. In the early years, Maranatha! Music started signing artists because of their passionate profession of faith through music. These songs became the influential calling card of the worship music genre of that time; they belong to the Maranatha! song catalog today. Back then, the songs considered unsuitable for the ‘traditional church’ were still being sung by millions of young people around the world. Pastor Chuck Smith, Chuck Fromm and Tommy Coomes were among the leaders of Maranatha! who were serving the church at that time. The mission these faithful men began continues today: It is still the song of faith that leads people into the presence of God.

MARANATHA! MUSIC – THE MUSIC LABEL

Maranatha! Music reaches out to the body of Christ by selling CDs and DVDs featuring their songs in retail outlets like Family Christian Stores, Lifeway Stores, Walmart and Target stores. All our products are also available on our website, along with digital downloads. Currently, Maranatha! Music is in a long-term distribution agreement with EMI/CMG, a leader in Christian Music Distribution. The priority of our label is to deliver the most well-known songs of faith in arrangements the church can easily sing. Our goal is to create recordings that will assist the worship leader to minister to their congregations effectively.

MARANATHA! MUSIC – THE TRAINING & TEACHING RESOURCES

In 2012 and 2013, Maranatha! Music launched an outreach ministry to the Hispanic community with a worship conference called “Convencion De Adoradores”. It was the first time in many years that Maranatha! Music returned to training and equipping the church and worship leaders. We are excited to partner with PROMEZA church ministries to offer the Hispanic church tools and resources that will help build their congregations. In 2013, Maranatha! Music was also proud to partner with Kingdom Bizz ministries and the award winning writer Percy Bady. Percy leads one of the fastest growing churches in Chicago; we are working together to create new album projects, training resources, and a new worship-training event in the coming years.