Cliff Barrows, music and programme director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, died last year at the age of 93 after a brief illness.
A long-time director of music programming, and later television and radio programming, for the Billy Graham crusades, Mr Barrows travelled the world with Billy Graham since the first crusade in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, in 1947.
For more than 60 years, Mr Barrows hosted the weekly radio programme, Hour of Decision, which was heard around the world.
Mr Barrows and Mr Graham met in 1945 while Barrows was on his honeymoon. The two men soon formed the first team of what was to later become the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
For his significant contributions to gospel music, Mr Barrows was inducted into the Nashville Gospel Music Hall of Fame in April 1988, the Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame in February 1996, and the inaugural class of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists’ Hall of Faith in 2008.
Franklin Graham said: ‘Cliff Barrows was the voice behind my father for 60 years, being master of ceremonies for his crusades and the Hour of Decision. Not only was he one of my father’s closest friends, but he was a friend to all of us on the team and in the family. Growing up, and until the day of his death, I called him Uncle Cliff. He was very much a part of our family.
‘His counsel and suggestions were invaluable. He was a great friend and will be missed by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Ann and the entire Barrows family’.
