Donald Hustad called his life “the pilgrimage of a schizophrenic musician,” his way of describing the tension between the worlds of art music and evangelical church music. He made notable accomplishments as a church musician, teacher, recording artist, composer, conductor, and hymnal editor. He would use these roles to reconcile the gulf between his two worlds, leading to his most notable contribution, his cohesive writing about evangelical church music. Donald Hustad died on June 22 at the age of 94, his death marked by dozens of tributes and articles that called him one of the most influential church musicians of the 20th century. Hustad was born to Peter and Clara Hustad near Echo, Minnesota, on October 2, 1918. Tragically, his father was killed in a hunting accident a year later. When Clara’s second son, Wesley, was born seven months after the accident, she was faced with difficult options. Clara decided to move the family back to the Bible institute in Boone, Iowa, where she and Peter had first met. Founded by Rev. J. C. Crawford, the Boone Biblical College and Associated Institutions began as a Christian service training school but developed into a diverse complex of ministries: elementary school, high school, orphanage, Old Folks’ home, and radio station. These were supported by a cafeteria, grocery, laundry, print shop, and 160-acre farm. The Hustads joined 300 other residents on what could be called a Christian commune, or (during its period of decline) a Christian poor farm. Raised in an era before child labor laws, Hustad’s life at the Boone institution included milking cows, brick laying, and typesetting for the Times of Refreshing newsletter. He would later question the institution’s authoritarian leadership style, but came to appreciate the value of his difficult childhood during the Great Depression. “She did the only thing she could do in pre-Social Security days,” Hustad said of his mother. “She had a good life, as good as she could have, though she was haunted by my father’s death. I had a wonderful time as a child. I enjoyed the hard work. I enjoyed growing up too fast.” The greatest benefit of his Boone years was his musical education. Hustad t quickly took to the piano, absorbing the classical tradition while playing in church services and on radio broadcasts. These experiences were supplanted with weekly lessons in sight singing, music theory, and music history. After graduating from John Fletcher College in 1940, he moved to Chicago and a succession of organ positions at local churches. Later he would confess to being somewhat adrift and perhaps somewhat rebellious. “There was a lot of music in my fingers, but for some years there wasn’t much music in my heart,” Hustad said many years later, when he returned to the Boone campus to speak at a children’s chapel. “I discovered many years ago that you could have a lot of songs in your mouth (and a lot of songs in your fingers if you happen to play instruments), but still have no song in your heart. But there came a day when I had to have the real thing.”
- Listen to Donald Hustad speaking at Boone Biblical Ministries chapel (1976).
- Listen to an excerpt of “Jesus Is All the World to Me,” the theme song performed by Hustad in concerts and on his Moody Radio broadcasts.
- Listen to an excerpt of “A Prayer Before Singing,” composed and conducted by Don Hustad with the Moody Chorale (1957).