1933-Present

Adoniram Joseph King

Music Educator, SWBTS, Fort Worth, Texas    OK/TX

Adoniram Joseph King is one of the few living people thus far discovered who bear the Adoniram appellation today.  Born in 1933 he is the son of a Southern Baptist Director of Missions and graduated from high school in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. His mother was very active in Women’s Missionary Union and, upon hearing the story of Adoniram Judson during a missions study, decided to name her son for this iconic missionary. 

Since pronouncing the word Adoniram is a modern stumbling block, the boy eventually became known as A. Joseph King, a sobriquet that carried him through a career in church music.  Joe graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he taught from 1976 to 2005.  His specialty was conducting and his love was leading the Southwestern Singers.  Though he seldom uses his first name, Adoniram Joseph King, lives in retirement with his wife in Fort Worth and sings each week in the Broadway Baptist Church choir.

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