Long-time associate of US evangelist Billy Graham, Cliff Barrows, has died at the age of 93.
Rev Barrows, along with the late soloist George Beverly Shea, were the core of a worship team that helped set the stage for Mr Graham’s preaching at his evangelistic gatherings around the world.
He first met Mr Graham while on his honeymoon in 1945 and took on a lead role in programming and leading music at the crusades as well as hosting the ministry’s Hour of Decision radio program for more than 60 years. He had served on the board of the BGEA since 1950.
In a statement, Mr Graham described Mr Barrow as one of he and his wife’s Ruth’s “closest friends”. “Along with his wife Billie, and Grady Wilson and George Beverly Shea, our original team was just like a family as we traveled and worked together,” he said.
Mr Graham added that “[t]here wouldn’t be a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in the way it is today without him”.
“He was used of the Lord more than anyone else to keep us together with his strength, energy, devotion and love for the Lord,” he said. “Cliff set an example and was a role model of what a Christian ought to be. His contribution to my ministry cannot be measured in human terms.”
Rev Barrows, who was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1988, died on Tuesday of “complications associated with old age”. A public funeral service will be held in Charlotte on 22nd November.
