Clifton Davis: Finding His Way as Minister and Entertainer
Clifton Davis is an accomplished educator, actor, musician, and producer who made his theater debut in 1967 and went on to appear in numerous movie and television roles. He has been recognized for his musical genius. Among his many achievements is his inclusion in the Black College Alumni Hall of Fame. Appreciating this man is simple if one understands the integrative details of his life in ministry and as an entertainer.
His mission has been accomplished through 40 years of service in ministry and entertainment. Davis says he is a “Christian man like every other man who has proclaimed Christ as his Savior.” He struggles with the complex issues and situations that bombard his life, just as other Christians do. However, he has stated that he “has the peace and contentment of knowing that God has blessed [his] life, and he is at peace with the Lord.”
Clifton Davis is no accidental Christian journeyman. He was mentored and tutored by Christian parents who made sure he received the opportunity to know Christ and the Christian lifestyle made available to human beings who accept Christ as their personal Savior. His parents intentionally shared the gospel and the lifestyle of Jesus Christ with him at a very early age. He matriculated through Christian schools, having graduated from Pine Forge Academy in Pine Forge, Pennsylvania. Davis’s interest in the arts was apparent even while attending Pine Forge Academy. He and another classmate, Walter Pearson, speaker of the successful Breath of Life broadcast, wrote the song for their 1963 graduation class. Davis still remembers that song: “Here We Are Together.” Davis went on to sell his first song in 1970.
After graduation, Davis felt called to ministry, which led him to enroll in Oakwood College, now Oakwood University, in Huntsville, Alabama. His pilgrimage down the ministerial road illustrates the persistently awkward relationship between serving as a minister and pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. Davis struggled with his dual interests. He left Oakwood short of completing his studies for ministry but returned in 1981, exclaiming that he “found his way back home” and graduated in 1984. Davis went on to receive a master’s degree from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. In addition, he has four honorary doctorates.
During his seminary years, Davis reconciled with his dual interests. “He felt that he could serve as a minister and an entertainer.” Davis says he is a man “with a burning passion to tell the world about the grace, goodness, and plan of salvation”; he is a man “eager to share the good news.” His greatest joy is to “tell the story of Jesus in each way God provides an opportunity.” As an entertainer, Clifton Davis proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ through acting, singing, composing, and producing. This means, as an actor, there are some roles he does not accept. When his agent sends him a script and, after reading it, he decides it is not a role he can conscientiously support, he will, without regret, call his agent and tell him to “cancel the audition.” Know this: Davis does recognize that an actor’s role does not often reflect the character of the actor.
Clifton Davis is a husband and father to whom God has given the divine appointment to serve as a “powerful light” in an industry that is often wrought with a “menacing immoral darkness.” In addition to acting in secular movies and television roles for approximately 13 years, God has given Davis the opportunity to be a host on the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s (TBN) Praise the Lord. TBN is the largest Christian broadcasting network in the United States, and is available worldwide.
During the final two years of Davis’s father’s life, he showed him the extravagance of God’s grace. His father was suffering and broken because of his experiences, but he ministered and sought the forgiveness of God. That, says Davis, taught me “more about Christ.” This same Christ fuels him in Christian ministry, and as a very tal-ented entertainer whose “home” is anchored in the Lord.
John 3:16 sums it up for each and everyone of us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
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