Son of a Meth­od­ist min­is­ter, Run­yan showed an in­ter­est in mu­sic when ve­ry young, and by age 12 oft­en served as church or­gan­ist. He be­came a Meth­od­ist min­is­ter at 21, and held var­i­ous pas­tor­ates in Kan­sas, 1891-1903. He was ap­point­ed evan­gel­ist for the Cent­ral Kan­sas Meth­od­ist Con­fer­ence, and served for some 20 years.

Runyan wrote his first Gos­pel song in 1915 and was great­ly en­cour­aged by Dan­iel Town­er of Moody Bi­ble In­sti­tute. In 1924, Run­yan went to John Brown Un­i­ver­si­ty, Si­lo­am Springs, Ar­kan­sas, and served as pas­tor of the Fed­er­at­ed Church, and ed­it­or of the Christ­ian Work­ers’ Mag­a­zine. Mov­ing to Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, he was as­so­ci­at­ed with the Moody Bi­ble In­sti­tute, and served as ed­it­or for Hope Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny un­til his re­tire­ment in 1948. He re­ceived an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Let­ters from Wheat­on Coll­ege, Il­li­nois, in 1948. His works in­clude:

• Songs of the Great Sal­va­tion, with Dan­i­el Town­er (Wi­chi­ta, Kan­sas: The Run­yan Mu­sic Pub­lish­ing Co., cir­ca 1918)
• Revival Prais­es, with Ar­thur Mc­Kee (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Run­yan Mu­sic Pub­lish­ing Co., 1925)