Robert Gibson Rayburn (January 14, 1915 – January 5, 1990) was an American pastor and college president.

Personal life

Rayburn was born in

Newton, Kansas Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 18,602. Newton is located north of Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. The city of North ...

, to James Chalmers Rayburn, Sr. (an evangelist for the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

), and Elna Beck Rayburn. Robert was one of four sons. His oldest brother,

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

, also a Presbyterian minister, would go on to found the Christian organization

Young Life Young Life is a global Christian parachurch organization reaching out to middle school, high school, and college-aged young people based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Young Life's mission statement is "Introducing adolescents to Jesus Christ and ...

in 1941. Rayburn studied at Wheaton College,

Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary The Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary was located at 3303 North 21st Place in North Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Opened in 1891 in downtown Omaha, the institution moved to the Kountze Place neighborhood in North Omaha in 1902 and closed i ...

, and

Dallas Theological Seminary Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) is an evangelical theological seminary in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system of dispensationalism. DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as extension ...

. He served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946, and again from 1950 to 1952, during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. Between these two terms of service, he was pastor of

College Church College Church is an evangelical nondenominational church in the broadly Reformed, congregationalist tradition located in Wheaton, Illinois. It was founded in 1861 by Jonathan Blanchard, who was also the first president of Wheaton College, an u ...

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a city in and the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It is located in Milton and Winfield Townships, approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, Wheaton's population was 53,970, making it the 27th-mos ...

Ministry

Rayburn served as president of Highland College in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

from 1952 to 1956. In 1956, he joined with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in parting ways with

Carl McIntire Charles Curtis McIntire Jr. (May 17, 1906 – March 19, 2002), known as Carl McIntire, was a founder and minister in the Bible Presbyterian Church, founder and long-time president of the International Council of Christian Churches and the Am ...

Bible Presbyterian Church The Bible Presbyterian Church is an Protestantism in the United States, American Protestant denomination in the Reformed tradition. It was founded by members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church over differences on Christian eschatology, eschatolo ...

. He became the founding president of

Covenant College Covenant College is a private, liberal arts, Christian college in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, United States, located near Chattanooga, Tennessee. As the college of the Presbyterian Church in America, Covenant teaches subjects from a Reformed ...

, which belonged to the new denomination, and then founding president of

Covenant Theological Seminary Covenant Theological Seminary, informally called Covenant Seminary, is the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Located in Creve Coeur, Missouri, it trains people to work as leaders in church positions and elsewh ...

. He relinquished the presidency of the college in 1965 after it relocated from

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

Lookout Mountain, Georgia Lookout Mountain is a city entirely within Walker County, Georgia, United States. Bordering its sister town of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, Lookout Mountain is part of the Chattanooga metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,641 a ...

, but remained president of the seminary until 1977. He died of cancer in 1990. Rayburn wrote ''O Come Let Us Worship'' in 1980, in which he "sought to reintroduce

evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

to its history and liturgy." According to

Bryan Chapell Bryan Chapell (born 18 November 1954) is an American pastor and theologian who served as the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America until 2025. He was previously the senior pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois. Pri ...

, Rayburn "became the vanguard" of "modern integrative liturgies", anticipating the work of Robert E. Webber,

Thomas C. Oden Thomas Clark Oden (1931–2016) was an American Methodist theologian and religious author. He is often regarded as the father of the paleo-orthodox theological movement and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th ...

, and

Hughes Oliphant Old Hughes Oliphant Old (April 13, 1933 – May 24, 2016) was an American theologian and academic. Until his retirement in 2014 he was the John H. Leith Professor of Reformed Theology and Worship at Erskine Theological Seminary. Previously he had taug ...

. The chapel on the campus of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis is named in honor of its founding president. Rayburn College, in

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, India, is named after him. Rayburn had four children, including Robert S. Rayburn and Bentley Rayburn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayburn, Robert G. 1915 births 1990 deaths People from Newton, Kansas United States Army chaplains Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni Dallas Theological Seminary alumni Presbyterian Church in America ministers American Calvinist and Reformed theologians Presidents of Calvinist and Reformed seminaries Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Covenant Theological Seminary faculty 20th-century American clergy Deaths from cancer in Missouri 20th-century American academics