1869–1952

Introduction

portrait

Born: Oc­to­ber 29, 1869, Hast­ings, Mi­chi­gan.

Died: Oc­to­ber 19, 1952, Eo­la, Lou­isi­ana.

Buried: Py­thi­an Ce­me­te­ry, Bunk­ie, Lou­isi­ana.

Biography

Ernest was the son of Will­iam H. Sell­ers and Kate E. Arm­strong.

After gra­du­at­ing from high school in Lans­ing, Mi­chi­gan, he was ap­pren­ticed to a sur­vey­or and ci­vil en­gin­eer, and ev­en­tu­al­ly be­came ci­ty en­gin­eer and su­per­in­ten­dent of pub­lic works.

In 1895, he be­came a stu­dent at Moo­dy Bi­ble Ins­ti­tute in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

From 1901–05, he was sec­re­ta­ry of the Young Men’s Chris­tian As­so­cia­tion (YMCA) in Ma­con, Geor­gia; Wash­ing­ton, DC; and Wilm­ing­ton, De­la­ware.

He then was ap­point­ed di­rect­or of men’s work and as­sist­ant pas­tor at the Eu­clid Ave­nue Bap­tist Church, Cleve­land, Ohio (1905–07); and as­sist­ant di­rect­or of the Mu­sic De­part­ment and pro­fess­or of Sun­day school pe­da­go­gy at the Moo­dy Bi­ble Ins­ti­tute (1908–19).

He worked for the YMCA Speak­ers Bu­reau in France and Ger­ma­ny dur­ing World War I.

After the war, he was be­came di­rect­or of the Mu­sic De­part­ment of the Bap­tist Bi­ble In­sti­tute, New Or­leans, Lou­isi­ana. The New Or­leans Bap­tist Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry named the E. O. Sell­ers Mu­sic Build­ing af­ter him.

In 1926, he helped com­pile The New Bap­tist Hym­nal.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Music