Upon Cliff Barrow’s recent death, Billy Graham suggested that his and Cliff’s names should have had a hyphen between them. That’s how much Cliff meant to Dr. Graham and their shared ministry.

Leading music was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Cliff’s ministry at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He did an amazing amount of crucial work behind the scenes that helped make the ministry what it was and still is today. But he was so much more.

Cliff and his family were members of Taylors First Baptist Church, where I served as minister to youth for five years and where my wife, Kathy, and I continued to attend another six years after we started our ministry, Concoxions.

As a boy, I often watched Cliff on TV. To me, he was a famous celebrity, a larger-than-life legend in ministry. When I started serving at Taylors toward the end of my senior year at Furman University, he wasn’t just a celebrity to me — he was the father of sons in our youth ministry and a fellow church member. Sometimes when you see celebrities and legends up close, they lose some of their shine. With Cliff, it was just the opposite.

I quickly learned that he was “Cliff” — never “Rev. Barrows,” “Dr. Barrows,” “Brother Cliff” or whatever. Though he was larger than life, he was also down-to-earth and had a wonderful warmth and humility that endeared him to most everyone. I not only had the utmost respect for Cliff in every way, I just plain liked him a lot.

Cliff was a big encourager and supporter of our ministry at Taylors. My responsibilities included college ministry, and each fall Cliff and his family helped us launch the new school year by hosting an evening for hundreds of college students at their home on Paris Mountain. One year, our music for that event was led by a Furman University freshman who had just released a Christian album that was getting a lot of attention. I confess that I had an ulterior motive in wanting Amy Grant to do the music that night. We introduced her to Cliff, and it wasn’t long before she was singing at Billy Graham crusades.

One of the things I knew and appreciated about Cliff was that he understood and supported the role of contemporary Christian music. He always had a love for young people and for music that appealed to them, and not just to Billy Graham’s older supporters. Besides Amy Grant, Cliff went out on a limb and featured many contemporary Christian musicians in crusades and other BGEA events.

In my early years of working with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, I broke a lot of new ground in using contemporary Christian artists in our youth events. For at least a couple of years, I had to do a lot of explaining and justifying to some pastors as to why we were using music with electric guitars and drums. I mentioned that some of the very same artists we were using were also singing at Billy Graham crusades. I’m sure for some people this young whippersnapper had very little credibility, but I don’t remember anyone suggesting that Cliff Barrows had been misled. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to suggest that Cliff made more of a difference than anyone in helping the church accept new styles of music.

Over the years, a special piece has hung in our home. It’s a hand-crafted coat rack with “Bill” engraved on the left side, “Kathy” on the right side, and a heart-shaped mirror in the middle. It’s a wedding present that Cliff made for us in his wood shop. I think about him every time I look at it. But even without it, it’s safe to say that I’ll never forget Cliff Barrows.

— Bill Cox is executive director of Concoxions, which includes Seesalt and Chillipepper student conferences, Art to Heart productions and other creative ministries. This article, in longer form, first appeared at his blog, perhapsbillcox.com.