At 87, music man Cliff Barrows is still the youngest member of the trio. Evangelist Billy Graham is nearly five years older, and bass-baritone soloist George Beverly Shea is 14 years his senior.
The three men joined forces more than 60 years ago, when they were young, spiritually ambitious and on fire to spread the Gospel through music and sermons. Today, they are part of American religious history and linked in the hearts of the millions of Christians who heard them on radio, saw them on TV or packed stadiums for their crusades.
Barrows, who lives in Marvin in Union County with his wife, Ann, was the song leader, choir director and emcee at the crusades. And the one-time radio student at Bob Jones College also became the announcer on Graham's "The Hour of Decision." The radio show, with Barrows still announcing, is in its 50th year on the air.
His voice still clear, Barrows also narrates the new introduction at Charlotte's Billy Graham Library, where he's the subject of a new exhibit - "A Singing Faith" - that will be on display through September.
Recently, we talked with Barrows in a conversation that covered everything from his first brush with church music, to his favorite crusade, to being by Graham's side all those years - "the most exciting privilege I've had," he says.
On his beginnings in music: "My Aunt Helen was a terrific pianist and composer, and she taught me as a young boy how to lead music. When I was 12 years old, she went to the pastor of our little [Baptist] church in Ceres, Calif., and said, 'You ought to let him lead the music on Sunday nights.' He was a brave man, so he said all right. And my dad taught me the best lesson. He sat there and watched me [lead the church choir]. I evidently wanted to get them to sing a little stronger, so I kind of bawled them out. And my dad said, 'Son, you did pretty well. But let me give you a little tip: You'll never get people to sing better by telling them they didn't do too good. Tell them they did well, but you think they can do better.' So, I've always tried in my life to encourage people."
On the role music played in the Graham crusades: "The music in any crusade prepares the people's hearts for the message that's going to be preached. It's like opening the door to their heart. They've come from a busy week or from burdens, grief and struggle. And if you can get them to focus on the message of the song and begin to sing, it's the time in the service that everybody is doing the same thing. Bev [Shea] would sing. And by the time Bill gave the invitation, they were ready to make a commitment to Christ."
On how "Just As I Am" got to be the signature hymn of the crusades: "When Billy came to Christ in the Mordecai Ham meetings here in Charlotte [in 1934], it was one of the invitation songs that was used. The melody combined with the words really encouraged the people to make a commitment 'just as you are.' And Bill always felt that God had anointed that invitation song. And I felt the same."
On the contemporary Christian music so popular in today's churches: "It's great to reach this generation. There are great modern contemporary bands that God is using to reach the young people. They'll go and invite their friends to come and hear the music. I think Ruth Graham said it so well: 'God uses this contemporary music to fill the pond with fish and then Bill can go fishing and preach the Gospel.' And a lot of them are won for Christ."
On his favorite crusade:
"[Prior to the 1957 crusade at New York's Madison Square Garden], reporters predicted it would be a flop. They said people would come to the Garden for other things - a horse show, a dog show or some other secular event - but that nobody would come out to hear a preacher. Well, we broke every attendance record. It was scheduled for six weeks. It went 16 weeks. Two million people came - and 56,000 of them made decisions for Christ. Billy was encouraging everybody to get a Bible. 'Bring a Bible. I want to tell you what the Bible says.' And every night, he'd be, 'How many of you brought your Bibles? Let's see 'em.' Boy, there'd be a sea of Bibles."
On how he describes Graham's appeal: "I like to condense it into the 3 S's. His sincerity of life and the message he has. The simplicity of it. Not a high falutin' message you couldn't understand. He wanted to put the feed, as the old farmer said, down low so they could all reach it. And he had simplicity of life. If we went into a city and he was hungry and there was a steakhouse on one corner and a McDonald's on the other, he'd take the Golden Arches, with a hamburger and a milkshake. He loved simple. He was a farm boy and a lot of the characteristics of that bringing up remained with him. The other S: the sovereignty of God, the obvious hand of the Lord upon him."
On the one big thing left on Graham's to-do list: "I [recently] asked him: 'Bill, if there was one thing you wanted to do in your life, what would it be?' And, immediately, without hesitation, he said, 'Preach the Gospel.' He wants to preach to the people once again the message of hope in the midst of a confusing culture that is being torn in many different ways."
