Cliff Barrows has died. The National Religious Broadcasters noted the passing and described him as “the voice behind Billy Graham for more than six decades.”
NRB said his death was reported by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Barrows was 93.
According to an NRB statement, Barrows was longtime director of music programming, and later television and radio programming, for Billy Graham Crusades and traveled the world with Graham since the first evangelistic “crusade” in Michigan in 1947.
“From the beginning of Graham’s crusade ministry, he and soloist George Beverly Shea were the nucleus of the crusade musical team,” NRB said. “In addition, Barrows hosted the weekly ‘Hour of Decision’ radio program, heard around the world, for more than 60 years and continued that position for a time through the ‘Hour of Decision Online’ internet radio program, which posts weekly on BillyGraham.org.”
He was a member of the NRB Hall of Fame, the Nashville Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame as well as the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists’ “Hall of Faith.”
According to the Graham Association website, Barrows was on his honeymoon in North Carolina when he met young preacher Billy Graham in 1945 and stepped in to help when the scheduled song leader did not appear. Read more and see historical photos at the Billy Graham site. Graham himself turned 98 this month.
