Clifton Ayers Baker, Jr.

Clifton Ayres Baker Jr. was born May 8, 1924 in Greenville, South Carolina and passed away September 16, 2012 in Dallas, Texas. Memorial services were held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 22, 2012 at Presbyterian Village North in Dallas, followed by a visitation with the family. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Gaston Oaks Christian Center (In memory of Clifton Baker), 8515 Greenville Avenue Suite #205 Dallas, Texas 75243, or Caring Fund of Presbyterian Village North Foundation (In memory of Clifton Baker) 8600 Skyline Drive Dallas, Texas 75243. Mr. Baker was preceded in death by his wife, June Todd Baker; parents, Clifton and Mary Baker; and brother, Herbert Baker. Clif is survived by two daughters, Mary Catherine Baker Grisham and husband Bill, Jean Annice Baker Ryden and husband Don; son, Clifton Ayres Baker III and wife Lana; 7 grandchildren; and 10 great grandchildren. Clif lived a life that was so touching, it could be described no better than in an article that was written by Orville Scott for "The Baptist Standard" upon his retirement. Following is that article published on February 16, 1994. On his way to an operatic performing career, Clif Baker felt God leading him into church music and spent the next 47 years helping lay the foundations for the music ministries Southern Baptists enjoy today. Baker, who has retired after serving as minister of music at some of the denomination's foremost congregations; was honored on February 6, 1994 with his wife, June, at Gaston Oaks Baptist Church in Dallas, where he served for 19 years. The Bakers were given a book of letters along with a love offering and a CD player. He will spend about six weeks resting and recuperating from surgery before returning part-time as Gaston Oaks' Director of Adult Ministries. Gaston Oaks, before moving to its new site at Greenville and Royal Lane in northwest Dallas about three years ago, was then Gaston Avenue Baptist Church and once had more former members serving as missionaries than any other southern Baptist congregation. In the mid-forties, Baker was studying at Baylor University to become an opera singer while struggling to support his wife June and their first-born, Cathy. When Arcadia Park Baptist Church in Dallas asked him to be their minister of music, he commuted to and from Waco by bus. Although few churches had ministers of music, the experience gave the young musician a vision of how he could use is God-given talent in churches. While finishing his bachelor of music degree in voice at Baylor (which he completed in 1949), he served as minister of music at Highland Baptist Church in Waco. Then, when earning his master of sacred music degree at Southwestern Seminary, Baker served in a similar capacity at College Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth. After seminary, he was called to be the first full-time minister of music at First Baptist Church of Beaumont, where he served with Pastor T. A. Patterson, who would later become executive director of the Texas Baptist Convention. Under Clif's direction, the number of members involved in the music ministry increased to an unprecedented 900 members. In 1961, Clif was called to serve at First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City. The next two years, while the church's pastor, Hershel Hobbs was president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Clif planned and directed the music at annual sessions of the SBC in San Francisco and Kansas City. During Baker's 14 years at FBC Oklahoma City, he led its choirs to minister around the world. The chapel choir learned to sing the "Good News" musical in Spanish and performed before large audiences in Latin America, South America and Europe. In Spain, officials were so impressed that they allowed the musical to be aired on television, the first televised religious program in that country. Baker was also one of the first to blend drama with church music, beginning with "The Seven Last Words" of Christ by Dubois. Across the years, June worked alongside her husband singing in the choir and also directing children's choirs. "Not only was Clif an excellent musician and a great choir leader," Hobbs recalls, "He was a team member who made a real impact on all facets of the church's ministry. Clif and June are two of the greatest Christians I've ever known." In 1967, Clif was asked by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to be part of an evangelistic team that shared the gospel in East Africa soon after Baptist mission work was begun in Kenya. He played an autoharp and sang in Swahili. The effort resulted in 1800 professions of faith. Baker also became a charter member of the Centurymen, ministers of music who sang on Radio and Television Commission programs and did concerts in foreign countries, including singing at the Great Hall of China in 1983. When Clif was called to Gaston Avenue Baptist Church in Dallas some 19 years ago, he continued his pattern of presenting the gospel internationally through music. In his second year at the church, he led the youth choir to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula where Baptist work was beginning to blossom. Often a pioneer in the development of the music ministry, Baker always sought to maintain a balance. He once said, "We'll do anything from Bach to rock, but we will not focus on either Bach or rock. We must make room for all kinds of Christian music." Sam Prestidge, director of the Texas Baptist Church Music Department, who studied at Baylor University and Southwestern Seminary with Baker, and also worked closely with him across the years, sized up Baker's ministry. "Clif had a model music ministry and was interested in helping people to develop their spiritual gifts." You are invited to share your thoughts and memories of Clif in our memorial guest book found at www.aderholdfuneralhome.com.