Stories Behind Popular Hymns: Gaither HomecomingParaugs

Softly and Tenderly

Will L. Thompson was a successful songwriter, having amassed wealth beyond his greatest expectations when he had first set out from Liverpool, Ohio, trying to sell his writing. Actually, he ended up developing his own publishing company and churned out hit after hit, eventually earning the nickname “The Bard of Ohio.” But it wasn’t until he determined to commit all of his music to the praise of the Lord, rather than continue in the secular music he had been so successful with, that he ended up writing the most significant song of his life. Thompson had a heart for reaching small-town churches with music, and as he developed his ministry of traveling back roads of the Midwest to bring quality worship music to those ignored by other big-name evangelists and musicians, he wrote “Softly and Tenderly,” inviting all of its hearers to “come home.”

The song so beautifully poses the invitation that Jesus offers over and over throughout the Gospels: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28); “Come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22); “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). It quickly became a staple of evangelical meetings and concerts across the United States. In fact, Thompson developed a relationship with famed evangelist D.L. Moody, and as Moody lay on his deathbed, he told his friend, “Will, I would rather have written ‘Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling’ than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.”