John R. Gunn
Then following a successful ministry he became for The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana a columnist whose daily messages inspired readers for over 36 years.
Reverend Gunn’s work, written and audio, is still available at Day1,[1] a ministry of The Alliance for Christian Media transitioning from Facing Life.
[2] Gunn was born in the wake of the Civil War in the humblest of circumstances in Camak in Warren County Georgia.
His mother, Mary Elizabeth Gunn, was a daughter of Reverend Thomas J. Veazey, a widely known and much beloved Baptist preacher through whose efforts many churches were founded in middle Georgia.
During these years young Gunn attracted the attention of Col. W. L. L. Bowen, one of the owners of the cotton factory and a deacon in the Jewell church.
During his high school and college years, he frequently preached, supplying pulpits and assisting pastors with revival meetings.
At SBTS he studied under theologians Archibald Thomas Robertson, John Richard Sampey, Edgar Young Mullins, and William Joseph McGlothlin.
In the Spring of 1900, following graduation from Mercer, Central Baptist Church of Atlanta extended a call, and this is where he found his beloved wife and life companion, Nellie Higgins.
This assignment was interrupted when an urgent request came from Dr. C. H. S. Jackson, President of Bessie Tift College (Forsyth, Georgia) to raise an endowment fund.
Enrolling in the seminary at Louisville was next, after which the Georgia Industrial Home in Macon beckoned Gunn to become their General Manager.
Congressman David Hogg recalled: Within the memory of the present generation no pastor has ministered to the spiritual development of the people of Fort Wayne as has Reverend John R. Gunn.
Some years later, on March 21, 1928, Congressman Hogg invited Reverend Gunn to join him at the White House for the Medal of Honor presentation to Charles Lindbergh by President Coolidge.
[3] A remarkable editorial by Frank Roberts appeared in The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne following Dr. Gunn's death.
His column entitled "A Short Sermon for Today" demonstrated Dr. Gunn's unique talent to interpret Christian thought in a condensed fashion and in a way that attracted people of different faiths.
In later years as a news- paper columnist and author, his interest took on an interfaith dimension that brought the Christian faith to his readers in the public arena.
(More biographical information can be found in Volume 3, Baptist Biography, published in 1923 by Index Printing Company, the source of part of this document).
The marriage was solemnized by Reverend R. E. L. Harris, who was the pastor of the Jewell Baptist Church where Gunn was licensed to preach eleven years earlier.
Nellie Gunn was also a writer, contributing many articles to the Atlanta Constitution on a variety of topics, including history and bird photography.
Be kind, just, and good, and when you depart this world you still leave a name fragrant with blessed memories, which will be a heavenly benediction in all the circles in which you have lived.” The Internet site of Day1 [1] features a large collection of Gunn’s original messages in written form and in audio as produced for a nationwide series for the Presbyterian Church USA.
The web site offers in convenient form some of the thousands of messages originally published in newspapers, books, and over the radio.
Reverend Gunn said, "Throughout these thirty-six years I have sought through my daily writings to point out God's answer to human needs as revealed in the Bible....
