William J. Reynolds obituary

I will have more to say in a later post, but suffice it to say that I aspired to emulate Dr. Reynolds in as many ways as possible.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090329/NEWS01/903290374


tennessean.com

March 29, 2009

Hymn composer William J. Reynolds dies

By Janell Ross
THE TENNESSEAN

William J. Reynolds, creator of Southern Baptist hymns such as "Share His Love," died early Saturday in Nashville.

For Mr. Reynolds, a man born in Iowa to parents who met at a Chicago Bible institute, Baptist worship music was a family tradition, a vocation, a form of ministry and a matter fit for life-long study.

Mr. Reynolds, 88, published his last book, Songs of Glory: Stories of 300 Great Hymns and Gospel Songs, in 1996 and saw hymns that he composed included in the 1956, 1975, 1991 and August 2008 editions of the Southern Baptist Hymnal.

"Dad really loved music," said Timothy Reynolds, Mr. Reynolds' son, who lives in Nashville. "But it wasn't about him, or his voice.

"During the 15 years that he handled the music for the annual Southern Baptist Convention, Dad put the focus on the choirs he brought in and ... tried to get as much variety in as possible to let people who were coming to the convention see the diversity of Southern Baptist music programs."

In the early 1950s, Mr. Reynolds moved his family to Nashville to complete a doctoral degree and lead the music department at the organization then known as the Baptist Sunday School Board. The board later changed its name to LifeWay Christian Resources.

In 1973, Mr. Reynolds hired John Gardner to work in the board's music department. Mr. Reynolds became a friend and mentor, and Gardner came to admire Mr. Reynolds' ability to use simple and spare language to create moving songs.

"He taught me a great deal about the art of worship and how to lead worship to make it a meaningful experience," said Gardner, who is retired, lives in Franklin and leads Clearview Baptist Church's senior adult ministry and missions.

While with the Baptist Sunday School Board, Mr. Reynolds worked with other composers under at least 36 pseudonyms to expand the denomination's children's music catalogue, Timothy Reynolds said.

Mr. Reynolds edited the 1975 edition of the Baptist Hymnal, and in 1978 wrote A Joyful Sound: Christian Hymnody, a textbook recently published in its fourth edition.

Moves to Texas

In the late 1980s, Mr. Reynolds left Nashville for Fort Worth, Texas, where he taught at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a school founded in part by his grandfather, for at least 20 years.

Mr. Reynolds was featured in the 2006 documentary Awake My Soul. It has aired on public television in Nashville and explores the history, music and traditions of Sacred Harp singing, an early American music form of unaccompanied group singing.

Mr. Reynolds, who returned to Tennessee after he retired, was hospitalized most recently in connection with heart failure and pneumonia, Timothy Reynolds said.

Details of a service for Mr. Reynolds had not been set Saturday, but one thing was clear. "Oh yeah, there will be a lot of music," said Timothy Reynolds.