While the world rightfully noted and mourned the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Saturday, July 11, 2026 — well, most of the world anyway — another passing from earthly life to eternal glory took place on this date that deserves mention. Christian songwriter Bob Farrell, known during the 1970s and 1980s for his Farrell & Farrell music and life partnership with wife Jayne, told cancer you can have my temporal body in exchange for the incorruptible one he now enjoys in Heaven.
Farrell & Farrell had a lengthy, successful run as soft rockers, with occasional forays into techno and mainstream pop. The duo was never flashy nor trendy, seldom making waves and always being more in the Christian music industry than of it. In 1991, they said they were done with being on the road and went home, raising their family and happily embracing domestic life. Bob Farrell continued to write songs for artists such as Sandi Patti. There were no grand reunion tours, no splashy attempts at reminding people they were still around. Bob and Jayne Farrell were perfectly happy playing with the grandkids instead of playing to the crowd.
The songs remained. Oh, how they remained. While contemporary Christian music lags far behind its secular counterpart in respecting, preserving, and promoting the classic works of yesterday, the faithful few digitized their carefully preserved vinyls. They shared the songs that had been the soundtrack of their lives via YouTube and other channels. They also connected directly with the artists, including Bob and Jayne Farrell, who were not averse to chatting on Facebook. The early generations of contemporary Christian musicians have long put into practice the belief that they and their fans are family, as such reaching out on a personal level. The more social media-savvy (at least in theory) current generation, by contrast, are surprisingly hit-and-miss when it comes to talking with the common folk. Hopefully, when their time in the primary spotlight has passed, they will do better in connecting with the true believers who will remain in lieu of the trendy followers, those who are here in the now for today’s rave fave and will vanish tomorrow as they trot off in pursuit of the next hot hand.
Bob Farrell was a songwriter; a very, very good one.
A former Christian rock artist once described to me what he did as shooting arrows over the horizon. When you are making albums, and even playing concerts, you do not know who you are affecting or how you are making a difference in their life. Not everyone comes to talk after the show, and not everyone writes a letter or social media post talking about the personal impact of an artist’s work. Yet they do exist. I have been fortunate to tell at least some of the artists who have helped me over the decades how much their songs and stories have meant to me along the way. I strongly suspect that even as Bob Farrell’s family grieves their loss, said grief tempered at least in part by the promised coming reunion, today in heaven recipients of the blessed arrows Farrell & Farrell shot over the horizon are making themselves known to the man they love. I was saved at one of your concerts! Your song brought me through the worst time of my life! And many, many more moments previously known only to the one directly affected and the loving God Who uses frail, failing humanity to work His divine will among His children.
When one of the saints graduates to glory, our loss is Heaven’s gain. While not denying our tears and sorrow, we rejoice in knowing that the ones we love who have left are now together not only with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but also with those gained for heaven through their earthly ministry. This is the way we should go, focusing not obsessively or excessively on the immediate cares of life but rather on that which stores eternal treasure. Bob Farrell is now reaping the bountiful harvest of his life’s work. May we continue to work toward one day seeing the fruit of our own efforts.
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