O, How He Loves You and Me

September 1, 2019 (Sunday)

Kurt Kaiser was born Dec. 17, 1934, in Chicago. He studied piano from age 4, and he gave his heart to Christ at the age of 7. He held degrees from the American Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University. He and his wife Pat and their family moved to Waco in 1959. They were longtime members of Seventh & James Baptist Church before they helped to start Dayspring Baptist Church in Waco. Kaiser was instrumental in the launch and growth of Word Music, where he was vice president and director of music. He composed more than 300 songs, including “Pass It On” and “Oh How He Loves You and Me.” He and Ralph Carmichael pioneered Christian youth musicals such as “Tell It Like It Is” and “Natural High” in the 1960s and 1970s. He was soloist George Beverly Shea’s accompanist at Billy Graham Evangelistic Association crusades. He developed the habit of writing down things he heard people say and filing them away to be reviewed later. One such phrase was “O, How He Loves You and Me.” He wrote the song in ten or fifteen minutes in 1975. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and was elected to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He was a longtime supporter of Baylor University, which all four of his children attended, and the university awarded him its Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service in 2017. He died in 2018 at the age of 83.

I never met him but I met his daughter, Mrs. Kris Olson, a lovely lady who loves the Lord, when we served together on the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.