After grad­u­at­ing from high school in Lan­sing, Mi­chi­gan, Sell­ers 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 YMCA sec­re­ta­ry 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 ap­point­ed 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. His other works in­clude:

• Personal Evan­gel­ism, 1923
• How to Im­prove Church Mu­sic, 1928
• Elements of Mu­sic No­ta­tion and Con­duct­ing, 1938
• Worship, Why and How, 1941

• Reynolds, pp. 402-03

1. O Taste and See
2. O What Grace
3. Open Our Eyes, Thy Glo­ry Be­hold­ing
4. Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart
5. Till We Get Home

1. Colporteur
2. Fly to Thy Ref­uge
3. Get Rea­dy to Wel­come the King!
4. Great World Task, The
5. His Grace Is Suf­fi­cient for Me
6. Philadelphia
7. Praise Ye Je­ho­vah
8. Riverside
9. Wonderful, Won­der­ful Je­sus