That was the beginning of a long association between Mr. Graham and Mr. Shea. In 1947 Shea went to Graham's hometown, Charlotte, N.C., to sing in the first of Mr. Graham's city-wide crusades. The fledgling evangelistic team worked together in several other crusades, and in 1949 the famous Los Angeles tent meetings catapulted Mr. Graham and his associates to national attention. From there, the team went on to share the Gospel on every continent. Since the beginning of Mr. Graham's crusade ministry, Shea and Cliff Barrows have been the nucleus of the crusade musical team.
Barrows is choir director, platform emcee, and radio-television program director.
They were joined in 1950 by pianist Tedd Smith, and through the years, organists Don Hustad and John Innes have provided additional accompaniment. Mr. Shea is noted for the simplicity of his faith and testimony. To him, compromise is unthinkable. A man of deep sympathies, he will listen endlessly to the troubles of others but dismiss his own with a word and a smile. Mr. Shea and his wife, Karlene, make their home in North Carolina.