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".

[1] His 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, Rebecca St. James, Hillsong United and Third Day.

[2] During the tribute to Rich Mullins' life at the 1998 GMA Dove Awards, Amy Grant described him as "the uneasy conscience of Christian music.

In 1997, he composed a musical called Canticle of the Plains,[4] a retelling of the life of St. Francis set in the Old West.

[9] His great-grandmother taught him to play hymns and sing in four-part harmony when he was very young,[10] and he began to study classical piano with a Quaker teacher while in elementary school.

[13] In his song "Elijah", written around the time of Lennon's murder, he included the phrase "candlelight in Central Park."

[16] Mullins' start in the Christian music industry occurred in mid-1981 when Amy Grant recorded his song "Sing Your Praise to the Lord.

[18] 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.

He then served briefly as a missionary in Thailand, in a town approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Thailand-Chinese border.

As part of his degree program, Mullins served as the choir director at West Evangelical Free Church.

[23] 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.

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.

"[27] The profits from his tours and the sale of each album were entrusted to his church elders, who divided it up, paid Mullins the average salary for a laborer in the U.S. for that year, and gave the rest to charity.

[9][31]Mullins's interest in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi led to an attraction to Roman Catholicism in his final years.

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.

[18] 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.

The song "Awesome God" was written either at Rock Lake Christian Assembly camp in Michigan, or on the way to a youth conference in Bolivar, Missouri in July 1987.

As is often true of the work of touring musicians, a song will incubate for several weeks, months, or even years, before it coheres into something recognizable to the writer.

In 1993, Mullins assembled a group of Nashville musicians (including Jimmy Abegg, Beaker, Billy Crockett, Phil Madeira, Rick Elias, and Aaron Smith) to form A Ragamuffin Band, whose name was inspired by the Christian book The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning.

In 1997, Mullins teamed up with Beaker and Mitch McVicker to write a musical based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi: The Canticle of the Plains.

[5] Mullins had great respect for St. Francis, and even formed "The Kid Brothers of St. Frank" in the late 1980s with Beaker.

On September 10, 1997, nine days before his death, he made a rough microcassette recording of the album's songs in an abandoned church.

[40] On September 19, 1997, Mullins and his friend Mitch McVicker were traveling southbound on I-39 north of Bloomington, Illinois, to a benefit concert at Wichita State University in Kansas, when they lost control of their Jeep.

[41] A semi-trailer truck traveling in the same direction swerved to miss the overturned Jeep and hit Mullins, killing him instantly.

He is buried at the Harrison Township cemetery in Hollansburg, Ohio, alongside his brother, who died in infancy, and his parents.

Mullins' family founded The Legacy of a Kid Brother of St. Frank to continue his mission to develop programs of art, drama and music camps for Native American youth and provide a traveling music school serving remote areas of the reservations.

[45] Musicians Andrew Peterson, Matt Maher, and activist Shane Claiborne have cited Mullins as influential.

[50][51][52] Singer/songwriter John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, an indie folk band, mentioned his appreciation for Mullins' songs during a difficult time in his life.