After grad­u­at­ing from high school in Lan­sing, Mi­chi­gan, Sell­ers was ap­pren­ticed to a sur­vey­or and ci­vil en­gin­eer, and event­u­al­ly be­came ci­ty en­gin­eer and su­per­in­ten­dent of pub­lic works. In 1895, he be­came a stu­dent at the Moo­dy Bi­ble In­sti­tute in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois. From 1901 to 1905, he was YMCA sec­re­ta­ry in Ma­con, Georg­ia; Wash­ing­ton, DC; and Wilm­ing­ton, Del­a­ware. He then was ap­point­ed di­rect­or of men’s work and as­sist­ant pas­tor at the Eu­clid Av­e­nue Bap­tist Church, Cleve­land, Ohio (1905-07); and as­sist­ant di­rect­or of the Mu­sic De­part­ment and pro­fess­or of Sun­day school pe­da­go­gy at the Moo­dy Bi­ble In­sti­tute (1908-19). He worked for the YMCA Speak­ers Bu­reau in France and Ger­ma­ny dur­ing World War I. Af­ter the war, he was ap­point­ed di­rect­or of the Mu­sic De­part­ment of the Bap­tist Bi­ble In­sti­tute, New Or­leans, Lou­i­si­a­na. The New Or­leans Bap­tist The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­a­ry named the E. O. Sell­ers Mu­sic Building af­ter him. In 1926, he helped com­pile The New Bap­tist Hymn­al. His other works in­clude:

• Personal Evan­gel­ism, 1923
• How to Improve Church Mu­sic, 1928
• Elements of Mu­sic Nota­tion and Con­duct­ing, 1938
• Worship, Why and How, 1941

Sources

Hymns

1. Open Our Eyes, Thy Glo­ry Be­hold­ing (© 1940)
2. Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart

Music

1. Get Ready to Welcome the King!
2. Praise Ye Jehovah
3. Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus