J. Edwin Orr

He died on 22 April 1987 after preaching at Ridgecrest, North Carolina, United States.

Orr was influential in Campus Crusade for Christ from its founding in 1951, serving as one of the five original board members of the organization. In 1966 or 1967 Orr became a professor at the School of World Missions, in Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. He remained a professor there until 1981, and was a professor emeritus thereafter. Of him Billy Graham wrote, "Dr. J. Edwin Orr, in my opinion, is one of the greatest authorities on the history of religious revivals in the Protestant world."

During World War II he served as a chaplain in the US Army Air Forces in the Pacific. After the war he continued his studies and took his Ph.D. at Oxford University in 1948, with a thesis on the evangelical awakening of 1859 in Britain. In 1949 he and his wife made the United States their permanent base, while continuing to travel the world promoting church revival and renewal. They eventually travelled to 150 countries.

In 1930 or 1931, after spending some years as a baker, Orr began evangelising, not only in Britain but also elsewhere in Europe, as well as North America, Australia and South Africa. During these years he also wrote several accounts of his tours of preaching. On 15 January 1937 he married Ivy Muriel Carol Carlson; they would have four children. The Orrs evangelised in Australia (1939), China, Canada and the United States of America. In 1939 Orr enrolled at Northwest University. On 15 January 1940 he was ordained at Newark, New Jersey, into the Baptist Christian ministry. He received his MA from Northwest University in 1941, and his Th.D. from Northern Baptist Seminary in 1943.

Orr wrote numerous books, many of them histories of evangelical revivals, and a number of hymns. One of the hymns—"Cleanse Me"—was selected for inclusion in Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions and The One Year Great Songs of Faith. The words of "Cleanse Me" are based on Psalm 139:23-24 and Psalm 51:2; it is set to the Maori folk tune "Po Ata Rau" (translated as "Now Is the Hour"). "Cleanse Me" was written in 1936 when Orr was at an Easter revival meeting in Ngāruawāhia, New Zealand, where he heard and was enchanted by the Maori Song of Farewell. "Cleanse Me" has been recorded numerous times, including performances by Bill and Gloria Gaither, Irene Bridger, Kenon D. Renfrow, Lloyd Williams, the El Paso Wind Symphony, and Nick Reynolds and Tom Parsons. Nowadays "Cleanse Me" is commonly referred to as "Search Me, O God", and the "Po Ata Rau" tune attributed as "Maori" in hymnals.

James Edwin Orr (January 15, 1912 – April 22, 1987) was a Baptist Christian minister, hymnwriter, professor, author and promoter of church revival and renewal.

James Edwin Orr was born on 15 January 1912 in Belfast in Ireland (present-day Northern Ireland), of American-British parentage. He was one of the five children of William Stewart Orr and Rose Orr (nee Wright). He studied at the College of Technology, Belfast.