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 the 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 Com­pa­ny, cir­ca 1918)
• Revival Prais­es, with Ar­thur Mc­Kee (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Run­yan Mu­sic Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1925)

• Erickson, p. 381
• Hustad, p. 311
• Young, p. 823

1. After the Toil and the Bur­den
2. Again He’ll Come
3. All Will Be Over, Every Grief and Sor­row
4. Angels Sang at the Sav­ior’s Birth, The
5. As a She­pherd Good and True
6. As Night That Flees from the Morn­ing Sun
7. Before the March of Christ the Mighty
8. Called by the Grace That Thy Love
9. Christ Is from the Grave As­cend­ed
10. Come, Bless­ed Lord!
11. Dearer to Me Ev­ery Day
12. Far from the Fold of God
13. For the Mer­cy Je­sus Will Be­stow
14. Forgiven Great­ly, Lord, Am I
15. Forward Still, with Face Full For­ward
16. From the Hills of Far Ju­dea
17. From the Sins That Scar
18. Gates Will Open Wide, the
19. God Will Not For­get Me
20. Hail, Blest Re­deem­er
21. Hail, King of Glory
22. Have You Heard of That Won­der­ful Sto­ry?
23. He Can­not Reject Me
24. He Has It All, the Strug­gle Past
25. He Loves, He Saves, He Keeps
26. How Still Are the Wa­ters
27. I Am on the Hea­venly High­way
28. I Am Sure of a Home in Hea­ven
29. I Am Yield­ing All to Thee
30. I Can See in Vi­sions Fair
31. I Can­not Un­der­stand How God Could Love Me
32. I Have Je­sus in My Heart
33. I Mar­vel, O, I Mar­vel So
34. I Ne’er Have Known So True a Friend as Je­sus
35. I Sing of a Sav­ior
36. I Will Do What I Can for My Sav­ior To­day
37. If We Bright­ly Shine
38. In Child­hood’s Morn of Grim­ming Glee
39. In the Hol­low of His Hand
40. In the Midst of the Hea­ven­ly Home Land
41. In the Way Our Fa­thers Trod
42. Into the Gar­den Where Sha­dows Were Creep­ing
43. It Was Night With­in My Soul When Je­sus
44. Jesus
45. Jesus, Name I Love
46. Jesus Will Keep Me by Pow­er Di­vine
47. Just a Lit­tle While ere the Last Long Mile
48. Just as You Are There’s a Wel­come for You
49. King’s Trea­sures, The
50. Like a Life Line Flung Over the Rag­ing Sea
51. Like a Strain of Sweet­est Mu­sic
52. Like as a Mo­ther Com­fort­eth
53. Live for Others While on Earth You Live
54. Long Time I Wan­dered
55. Lord, I Have Shut the Door
56. Loud from the Moun­tain­top
57. Love Not the World, O Chris­tian
58. Many Are Wait­ing in Dark­ness and Sin
59. Memory Ling­ers in My Heart, The
60. Memory Whis­pers to Me Now
61. More Pre­cious to Me
62. Near, Near to Thee, Help Us to Live
63. O Tell Me More of Je­sus’ Love
64. O the Joy That Here We May Walk with Je­sus
65. Old-Time Bless­ings
66. On the Home­ward Way
67. Only a Lit­tle While
68. Our God Hath Giv­en Pro­mise
69. Our Light Has Grown Dim
70. Our Lives Are Read by Those Who Look
71. Peace That Like a Ri­ver Flows, The
72. Praise His Ho­ly Name!
73. Prayer Is the Breath of the Soul’s Deep Life
74. Proclaim the Glad Tid­ings
75. Revive Thy Work, O Lord
76. Sang the An­gels Long Ago
77. Savior for Me, The
78. Since Je­sus Bore My Weight of Sor­row
79. Since Je­sus Came, My Night Is Turned to Day
80. Soldiers of Je­sus, Clad in God’s Bright Ar­mor
81. Some Say It Is a Fa­ble
82. Songs of the World May Be Ma­ny, The
83. Souls Are All About Us, Know­ing Not the Lord
84. Sweet Morn­ing Comes with Light and Dew
85. Tell It All to Je­sus When the Day Goes Wrong
86. There Is a Fold Where All Se­cure
87. They Tell Me There Is One Who Knows My Need
88. They Were in the Place of Wait­ing
89. Though Foes As­sail Us on the Field
90. Though in Life’s Stress Thy Heart Aweary Be
91. Though My Way Be Swept with Storm
92. Through Ag­es Long Swept by the Tem­pests of Doubt
93. Thy King­dom Come, Is the Pray­er We Are Taught to Pray
94. To Thy Tem­ple Ho­ly
95. Too Long in the Dar­kness
96. ’Twas God’s Own Son Who Came to Earth
97. Up from the Mis­ty Vales They Go
98. Upon the Sea Where Our Good Ship Sails
99. Voice of God Is Call­ing Me, The
100. Walking with My Bless­ed Sav­ior Here Be­low
101. We Are Trea­sures of Christ
102. We Journey, It May Be, Through Tem­pest and Rain
103. We Sing About Hea­ven
104. We Thank Thee for the Brawny Arm
105. What a Glor­i­ous Day for Me
106. When Je­sus First Came to My Heart to Abide
107. When, O When Art Thou Com­ing?
108. When the Calls of Du­ty Are Urg­ing On
109. When the Clouds Over Hang­ing Have Dark­ened the Day
110. Word of God
111. Wounded for Our Trans­gres­sions

1. Gates Will Open Wide, the
2. Faithfulness
3. What God Hath Prom­ised
4. O Spir­it, Come
5. Processional
6. Runyan
7. Sanctuary