Meet Rev. Erin Horne!
Our presbytery is pleased to introduce Erin Hatcher Horne, who was ordained on May 30 at St. Johns Presbyterian Church. Erin prepared for ministry under the care of our presbytery. Following her ordination, Erin will now serve on the presbytery staff as Area Relationship Coordinator (Area 3).
Erin has always considered herself to be spiritually aware and her faith journey has taken her in a somewhat circuitous route to get her where she is today! She grew up attending non-denominational churches, and as a teenager she was active in the Young Life organization. It was after a Young Life meeting that Erin sensed her call to ministry, “to go and tell people about God’s love for them.”
During Erin’s years at James Madison University in Virginia, she served as a Young Life leader as she attended Covenant Presbyterian Church, yet her spirit felt restless and battered. Upon graduating in 2003, she took a job with Young Life outside Washington, D.C. Through the organization she received non-profit training and developed her leadership skills. Through mystical experiences, Erin’s spiritual life expanded into new paradigms.
Led by the spiritual movements in her life, Erin quit her job with Young Life and traveled in Europe and Africa for an extended period. She eventually returned to the states and took a job in the insurance business … struggling to “do” the ministry she was feeling called to, while doing work which appeared “non-spiritual” / secular. Erin was also active in a church community that did not celebrate women in ministry leadership roles. After years of meaningful ministry leadership, she was not permitted to express these gifts because of the theologically conservative stance of the church. The injustice of this continued to inform and affirm her call to ministry.
During this same time period, Erin met her now husband, Jon, a Naval aviator. They were married in 2011 and moved to Jacksonville. Erin and Jon settled into worship at St. Johns Presbyterian Church in the Avondale area, a place where she saw that women in ministry leadership were active and valued. Erin returned to work in the Young Life organization in Jacksonville and enrolled in the MDiv program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In 2016, a year after receiving her MDiv degree and completing CPE at Community Hospice of NE Florida, she became an Inquirer with the Presbytery of St. Augustine. Erin served as a pastoral intern at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, learning the rhythm of pastoral life and serving in various pastoral roles.
Erin and Jon added to their family with the birth of the daughter, Ryan (4 years old) and son, Ben (1 year old). Daily life and ministry, especially during COVID, has revolved around caring for her family. In these recent years when military moves and caring for young children has been her primary time commitment, Erin has felt a yearning to serve meaningfully again in vocational ministry. After ordination she is looking forward to again serving the church as an Area Relationship Coordinator, a role which utilizes her gifts while also respecting her time requirements and other commitments. She hopes to listen well, encourage honestly, and share life authentically with church leaders in Area 3 (portions of the greater Jacksonville area).
