Published: June 26, 2008 03:44 pm            

Hymns - Stand By Me

Charles Albert Tindley was born July 7, 1851, in Berlin, Md. His father was a slave and his mother was a free black.

His mother died when he was just a child, and he was soon separated from his father because there was no one in the home to care for him.

His father worked long days in the fields and never had time to care for his son.

Charles was born to a free mother but was sent to work in the fields with the slaves after his mother died.

Charles set his mind at a very young age to become someone that his mother would have been proud of.

He plowed in the fields all day and then walked and ran about 14 miles to visit a schoolteacher every night. He studied the Bible and with the help of the teacher he learned to read and write.

After the American Civil War and emancipation the world changed for America’s black people.

Charles married and moved from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Philadelphia, Pa. He took a job as a “Hod” carrier at the Bainbridge Street Methodist Episcopal Church to support his wife and himself.

Charles attended night school and took correspondence courses from Boston Theological Seminary. He felt the call of God to enter the ministry.

The Calvary Methodist Episcopal church gave Charles the janitor’s job in the church.

This gave him more free time during the day to go to school. He received his doctorate from a local Bible Institution.

He taught himself Greek and Hebrew through correspondence courses.

In 1902 Charles Tindley became pastor of the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pa., where he had been janitor.

He was 51 years old. Charles’ greatest asset was his “Faith in God.” It has been said, and I quote, “There was a time during his ministry that he and his wife were facing a bare table, nothing to eat. He told his wife to set the table. Why? She asked, knowing the cabinets were bare. He insisted. Shortly there was a knock on the door, a man brought them dinner, saying his family had cooked to much.”

God rewarded Charles for his faith. First, he had a booming voice and was a great song leader, and then he became the pastor of Bainbridge Church.

When he became pastor, the church had 130 members. After 25 years the mixed congregation experienced a great revival and the church had a great membership growth. The congregation had to build a new and bigger sanctuary.

Not only was Charles Tindley a great song leader and pastor, he was also a great hymn writer.

He wrote many hymns with deep spiritual overtones. One of his best-known hymns is “Stand By Me,” written in 1905. Charles wrote most of his own music.

He died of gangrene that infected an injured foot. He was 82.



Stories Behind the Hymns is taken from “104 Of My Favorite Hymn Stories, Vols. I and II,” written by Warren Shiver of Biscoe. He can be reached by e-mail at wshiver99@embarqmail.com or by snail mail at P.O. Box 775, Biscoe, NC 27209. The book is available for $14.95 plus $3 shipping. Shipping is free for readers of The Randolph Guide. Visit www.myfavoritehymnstories.com for more information.

        

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