Alfred B. Smith

Used pseudonym B. C. Laurelton

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In 1930, he began playing on radio broadcasts in Jersey City, New Jersey, on "The Old Fashioned Gospel Hour." After meeting Wendell P. Loveless, Alfred enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and became a member of the WMBI staff.

During service as Minister of Music at The Church of the Open Door in Philadelphia, he taught at The Philadelphia School of the Bible in the fall of 1938. During that year, he wrote "For God So Loved the World" after visiting the ninety-four year-old hymn writer George C. Stebbins.

Smith met Billy Graham when they were both students at Wheaton College. During their long collaboration, they founded Singspiration in 1941.

After graduating from Wheaton, Smith, Graham, and George Beverly Shea started "Youth for Christ" in Chicago.

--Daniel Mahraun (from livinghymns.org)