Richard Wayne Mullins (October 21, 1955 – September 19, 1997) was an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter best known for his worship songs "Awesome God" and "Sometimes by Step". Some of his albums were listed by CCM Magazine in their ranking of the 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, including A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band (1993) at No. 3, The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume One (1991) at No. 7, and Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988) at No. 31.
Mullins' songs have been performed by numerous artists, including Caedmon's Call, Five Iron Frenzy, Amy Grant, Carolyn Arends, Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, John Tesh, Chris Rice, Kirk Franklin, Rebecca St. James, Hillsong United and Third Day. During a tribute to Mullins' life at the 1998 GMA Dove Awards, Amy Grant described him as "the uneasy conscience of Christian music." Mullins was heavily influenced by St. Francis of Assisi and in 1997 composed a musical, Canticle of the Plains, a retelling of the life of St. Francis set in the Old West. Mullins planned to convert to Catholicism before his death in a car crash in September 1997.
Richard Wayne Mullins was born to John Mullins, a tree farmer, and Neva Mullins, whose ancestors were Quakers. He had two sisters and two brothers. The family called him by his middle name, Wayne, which he went by until college, when his friends called him Richard. Mullins grew up attending Arba Friends Meeting, a church in Lynn, Indiana. The Quaker testimonies of peace and social justice later inspired many of his lyrics. When Mullins was in elementary school, his family moved and started attending Whitewater Christian Church, which he attended until he graduated. Mullins was baptized when he was in the 3rd grade. His great-grandmother taught him to play hymns and sing in four-part harmony when he was very young, and he began to study classical piano with a Quaker teacher while in elementary school. He graduated from Northeastern High School in 1974.
Mullins was inspired when the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. The event helped Mullins understand the influence of music. He was a fan of the Beatles music, and he was able to identify with John Lennon in particular, despite philosophical differences. In his song "Elijah", written around the time of Lennon's murder, he included the phrase "candlelight in Central Park." This was a reference to the candlelight vigils held in the wake of the event. The places of the vigils went on to become a permanent memorial to John Lennon.
An important part of Mullins' early musical experience was being the pianist, songwriter and vocalist for the New Creations Choir in Richmond, Indiana, which was started by Tim and Bonnie Cummings in the early 1970s. The choir toured numerous states in its own bus and even produced an album. New Creations is a church and school for teens, and Mullins was a contributing factor in its beginning.
From 1974 to 1978, Mullins attended Cincinnati Bible College. He worked in a parking garage to help pay for his schooling. During this time, Mullins performed with a college band, and later the band Zion, who released one album, for which he wrote all the songs.
From 1975 to 1978, he was the youth pastor and music director at the United Methodist Church in Erlanger, Kentucky. Mullins was then focusing on his duties in the church, and performed minimally in public. He considered his music a hobby. His views on his music continued this way until 1978, when he took a group of teens from his church to the Ichthus Festival in Wilmore, Kentucky. He said that during this trip he witnessed the effect of music on the lives of young people, and decided to start pursuing music full-time.
Kansas and the move to Navajo Nation
During the late 1980s, Mullins desired change and formulated a plan to leave Tennessee. He took steps to become a music teacher on a Native American reservation he had visited before. In 1988, Mullins moved from Bellsburg to Wichita, Kansas where, in 1991, he attended Friends University. During this time he lived with his best friend, David "Beaker" Strasser. As part of his degree program, Mullins served as the choir director at West Evangelical Free Church. While in Wichita, he also regularly attended Central Christian Church. He graduated with a bachelor's degree (BA) in Music Education from Friends University on May 14, 1995. His 1991 song "Calling Out Your Name" included a reference to The Keeper of the Plains, a 44 ft tall sculpture in Wichita.
After graduation, he and Mitch McVicker moved to a Navajo reservation in Tse Bonito, New Mexico to teach music to children. Mullins and McVicker lived in a small hogan on the reservation until Mullins' death in 1997.
In 1996, at the Ichthus music festival, Mullins cited personal reasons for his move. He was asked if he made the move because God had called him to proselytize and convert the Native Americans. To this Mullins responded: "No. I think I just got tired of a White, Evangelical, middle class perspective on God, and I thought I would have more luck finding Christ among the Pagan Navajos. I'm teaching music."
Mullins had a distinctive talent both as a performer and a songwriter. His compositions showed distinction in two ways: unusual and sometimes striking instrumentation, and complex lyrics that usually employed elaborate metaphors.
Mullins did most of his composing and performing on piano and acoustic guitar, but he also had a prodigious talent for obscure instruments. He displayed arguably virtuoso skills on the hammered dulcimer (in "Calling out Your Name" and "Creed"), lap dulcimer (in "Who God is Gonna Use" and "Where You Are"), and the Irish tin whistle (in "Boy Like Me/Man Like You" and "The Color Green").
Mullins formed his first band in 1976 to 77 while attending Cincinnati Bible College. In 1983 Debby Boone recorded Mullins' "O Come All Ye Faithful", for her Surrender album. In 1984, the song was also featured in a TV film, Sins of the Past.
His musical career formally began with Zion Ministries in the late 1970s, where he wrote music and performed with a band called Zion. The band released one album in 1981, Behold the Man. While working for this ministry, Mullins wrote a song called "Sing Your Praise to the Lord", which was recorded by singer Amy Grant in 1982 and became an immediate hit on Christian radio.
Beginnings as a recording artist
Mullins' start in the Christian music industry occurred in mid-1981 when Amy Grant recorded his song "Sing Your Praise to the Lord." The decision was made to stop touring as "Zion," and for Mullins to start his solo career. He moved to Bellsburg, Tennessee, approximately 45 minutes from Nashville, to begin his professional recording career. Mullins got engaged sometime between the late 70s and early 80s, and wrote the song "Doubly Good to You" (recorded by Amy Grant on her album Straight Ahead) for his upcoming wedding. However, his fiancée broke off the engagement in 1982. In response to the breakup, Mullins wrote "Damascus Road".
Years later, Mullins shared thoughts about his relationships and personal life in a radio interview with Rick Tarrant: