Randall Murphree

AFA Journal editor

November-December 2008 – Eric Horner toured for years with Lee Greenwood and once appeared on the stage with President George W. Bush. But the Nashville Christian recording artist now spends his days challenging the church to worship and serve God, and encouraging U.S. soldiers with his motivational on-base concerts. 

He can’t count the number of churches where he has done concerts. And since he began his ministry to the military in 2005, Horner has been in front of close to 100,000 soldiers in more than 20 concerts on military bases. His double-edged approach to ministry occasionally causes unfounded concerns among pastors who hesitate to invite him to their churches.

“They think I’m going to be pro-war and too political,” he said. “Sometimes, they totally miss what I want to do. Nobody likes war. First, I come into churches to worship. That’s what we’re there for, to lead in worship.” 

Horner sees his church appearances as a ministry to the Body of Christ, though he includes patriotic songs and talks about the unique opportunity God has given him to visit military bases. 

Whether he’s singing on an Army base or in a church sanctuary, Horner’s heart is to minister. And he sees the two elements of his ministry not as a conflict, but as a compliment to each other. After all, Scriptural analogies comparing the Christian life to the battlefield are countless.

“We want pastors to see us as coming to worship, to lift up the name of Jesus,” Horner said. “One of the ways we do that is to remind people just how blessed they are to be called Americans and to live in this wonderful nation. We try to encourage them to do what they can to take care of the nation spiritually.”

Over the past few years, Horner has unofficially adopted 2 Chronicles 7:14 as the theme for his ministry: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land” (NIV). 

“This is a pertinent message for America,” he said. “It’s time for America to pray and turn from our wicked ways if we want His blessing.”

An urgency colors his tone as he speaks of his own calling and the calling of the church in the U.S. “Now more than ever, it is time to pray for our country, for our leaders, for our military,” he said. “We need to be bathing this nation in prayer.” That call to prayer is a major component in the challenge he delivers in churches. 

He urges the church to pray for America, to get involved in the world outside their church walls and to support U. S. servicemen and women. His song “God, Bless My Soldier Too,” is a moving ballad from the perspective of a little girl whose dad has gone to war. The chorus goes: 

God bless my mommy, my doggie and me
Bless everyone in my family
God bless our country and, whatever you do,
God bless my soldier too.

Back to faith
Horner had spent 10 years in Lee Greenwood’s band, a career which included concerts on numerous military bases. But he experienced a dramatic milestone in his professional career on the historic date of September 11, 2001. On 9/11, he and Debby, his bride of one year, were shaken to the core of their hearts as they watched the terrorist attacks on the U.S.

He is quick to note that terrorist attacks weren’t new in 2001. Debby’s first husband, a U.S. Marine, was among the 241 troops killed when the U.S. Marine barracks were bombed in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983. Her loss in that attack gave both of them a sobering context for the 2001 tragedy.

Seeking a way to minister to his wife, Horner turned to music. From midnight until about 3 a.m., September 12, 2001, he wrote the song “We Will Stand.” He recorded it the next day, sent it to a Nashville radio station. The bold lyrics stirred the heart of America:

We may bend but we won’t break
We live and die for freedom’s sake
Our liberty was won by God’s own hand
We will not fall, we will not fail, we will stand.

Within two weeks, the song had spread like wildfire, and it was a breakout hit for Horner. God used this season of national emotion and personal success to turn Horner’s heart back to the Christian faith he had claimed as a youth but which he had left on the back burner during his secular career.

He began to sense a strong call to full-time ministry and early in 2003, he left Greenwood’s band to follow wherever God led him. Today, he looks back at various experiences in his life as strands that God wove together, preparing him for where he is in ministry today. 

First of all, his grandfather wrote Christian lyrics. Horner used some of his granddad’s lines (even after his death) to make the two of them, in effect, co-writers. Then, Horner grew up in Paducah, Kentucky, with Stephen Curtis Chapman, one of Christian music’s leading artists. It was Chapman who helped him find his first work in Nashville.

Another major thread was his introduction to military base concerts with Greenwood. Finally, Debby’s military experience gave him a depth of respect for the military that he might not have found any other way. Coincidences? Horner thinks not.

Forward to ministry
Horner’s military programs fall into two distinct categories, patriotic concerts and chapel services. Of the patriotic concerts, he said, “Those are simply to encourage the troops in their service to America.” He writes songs about what the soldiers are going through in their everyday life of training for service. And he writes a kind of theme song for each base where he performs.

“There’s even a song about the drill sergeant they can’t stand,” Horner laughed. “Each song is written to encourage them to press on. We want to tell them, ‘You have one of the most important jobs in our nation and you need to press on, train hard, be the very best you can be to execute that job in the best way you can.’”

In patriotic concerts, he is cautioned not to preach because he has a command audience. However, he is allowed to provide stacks of free Bibles on tables where the servicemen and women can pick them up. That’s a part of his ministry in which churches partner with him – providing funds to purchase Bibles to give to troops.

When Horner does a chapel service on the base, the invitation comes from a chaplain and his audience is not required to be at the event. In that setting, he has more freedom to share his own testimony and his faith. He said there have been cases of confusion and erroneous charges that he is preaching in the patriotic concerts, but he always respects the restraints he is given and carefully guards his relationship with the military.

A faithful volunteer team accompanies him to each base event. In chapel services they assist in counseling soldiers who ask for help or who want to know more about the Christian faith.

“Most of our work at this point is done at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina,” Horner said. “We’ve done about five chapel services. And we’ve had over 165 salvations.” He has also worked at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma; Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Ft. Gordon, Georgia.

He recalled a patriotic concert at Ft. Sill as one of his biggest thrills on a military base. The event was in the Artillery Bowl, an outdoor amphitheater large enough to hold several thousand troops. 

“I thought it would be neat for the young soldiers to have an opportunity to meet those who went before them,” he said. “So I invited a big group of veterans, especially Vietnam vets, and a large group of them showed up.”

He didn’t know exactly what to expect, but when he asked the Vietnam veterans to come down to the front of the stage, the display of honor and respect from the troops was overwhelming.

As the young soldiers applauded and demonstrated their gratitude to the veterans, Horner spotted a group of soldiers climbing to the back of the amphitheater. At the top of the stairs sat a lone Vietnam vet in a wheelchair. The soldiers carried him down to join the other honored vets front and center.

“We’re definitely going to do that again,” Horner said excitedly. “We want to invite World War II veterans to the concerts.” He believes that bringing the generations together this way helps them appreciate each other even more. 

Of course, another favorite event was performing onstage when President George W. Bush made the first presidential visit in 50 years to Ft. Jackson. “When it was explained that we came as a ministry to the troops, he just lit up,” Horner said. “He appreciated the fact that we came for other reasons than just entertainment.”

One of Horner’s most moving experiences occurred when he sang at Ground Zero in New York City to honor the fallen firefighters from 9/11. “As I stood and sang, I was flanked on one side by 343 firefighters and on the other side by as many members of the military, representing the 343 rescue workers who died in the Twin Towers that day,” he said.

He would love to visit the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, but he also knows the ministry God has given him for now is urgent as well. He gets to plant the seeds of God’s love before troops get in harm’s way.

“That just humbles me like nothing else,” he said, “to stand before them and love on them and let them know God loves them.”  

Eric Horner Ministries
P.O. Box 68, Mt. Juliet, TN 37121
877-968-3742 • www.erichorner.com

Enduring hits
We Will Stand
God Bless My Soldier Too

New 2008 CDs
I Will Not Go Quietly (contemporary) 
Battle Lines (Southern Gospel)

New videos at Web site
Watch Over Those Who Are Watching Over Me
Be Still and Know

Patriotism
U.S. President’s 2005 Call to Service Award