Hymn #530: God Our Author and Creator | First Congregational Church

Carl Pickens Daw Jr. entered this text in a hymn contest on the theme of missionary work as part of daily living. The competition was held for the centennial of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Women’s Missionary Union in 1985. Daw’s entry won the contest.

Carl P. Daw Jr. succeeded Thomas Smith as executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 1997. Prior to his appointment, Daw conducted workshops on hymnody, liturgy, and music, and consulted on those topics for the Protestant Episcopal Church.

This tune, named JEFFERSON, was first printed in Southern Harmony (1835), a tunebook published by William Walker. Although Walker compiled the tune collection with the aid of his brother-in-law, Benjamin Franklin White, only Walker’s name appeared in the book, published in New Haven, Connecticut.

William Walker (1806-1875) was a Baptist music teacher who lived in the area of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He traveled throughout the southern United States, teaching singing and sharing tunes. He published the tunes he compiled in two major volumes: The Southern Harmony (1835) and Christian Harmony (1867).