Born: November 1, 1921, Lindsborg, Kansas.

Died: September 20, 2006.

Of Swed­ish lin­eage, Pe­ter­son lost his fa­ther at age four, and came to Christ age 12. He dis­played a mu­sic­al gift ear­ly, writ­ing his first song while a sen­ior in high school. In World II, he served in the Ar­my Air Corps, fly­ing the Him­a­lay­an sup­ply route to Chi­na. Af­ter the war, he at­tend­ed Moody Bi­ble In­sti­tute and the Amer­i­can Con­ser­va­to­ry of Mu­sic in Chicago, Illinois (grad­u­at­ed 1953). In 1954, he went to work for the Sing­spir­a­tion Mu­sic Com­pa­ny in Mont­rose, Penn­syl­van­ia; when Zon­der­van Pub­lish­ing House bought Sing­spir­a­tion in 1963, Pe­ter­son moved to Grand Ra­pids, Mi­chi­gan, where he served as pre­si­dent and ed­it­or-in-chief for over a de­cade. Lat­er in life, Pe­ter­son served on the board of Gos­pel Films, Inc., Mus­ke­gon, Mi­chi­gan; and, af­ter mov­ing to Scotts­dale, Ar­i­zo­na, co-found­ed Good Life Pro­duc­tions and served on the board of Fam­i­ly Life Ra­dio Net­work in Tuc­son, Ar­i­zo­na. He was ad­mit­ted to the Gos­pel Mu­sic Hall of Fame in 1986.

Sources

Lyrics

  1. All Things Work Out for Good (© 1961)
  2. Come, Holy Spirit
  3. Flag to Follow, A (© 1959)
  4. Go Tell the Untold Millions (© 1962)
  5. God’s Final Call (© 1961)
  6. Heaven Came Down (© 1961)
  7. I’m a Soldier (© 1961)
  8. In My Heart (© 1957)
  9. Isn’t the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful (© 1961)
  10. It Took a Miracle (© 1948)
  11. It’s Not an Easy Road (© 1952)
  12. I’ve a Home Beyond the River (© 1958)
  13. Jesus Is Coming Again (© 1957)
  14. Jesus Led Me All the Way
  15. Near to Thy Heart (© 1956)
  16. No One Understands Like Jesus
  17. O Grant Thy Touch (© 1967)
  18. O I Want to Be Like Jesus (© 1964)
  19. O What a Wonderful, Wonderful Day (© 1961)
  20. Over the Sunset Mountains (© 1953)
  21. Shepherd of Love
  22. Springs of Living Water (© 1950)
  23. Student’s Prayer, A (© 1965, 1968)
  24. Surely Goodness and Mercy (© 1958)
  25. Teach Me to Trust (© 1954)
  26. There’s a New Song in My Heart
  27. Walking in the Light (© 1960)
  28. When We All Get Home (© 1956)

Music

  1. Burning Tree
  2. Down From His Glory (a cantata)
  3. Lindsborg
  4. Night of Miracles (a cantata)
  5. So Send I You