Courtesy of Erin Napier/instagram
‘Home Town’ Stars Erin and Ben Napier Keep Christian Faith at the Forefront of Everything They Do
The stars of HGTV’s hit show Home Town, Erin Napier and Ben Napier, are home improvement experts with strong family values. The duo first met when they were students at Jones County Junior College in Mississippi. They quickly fell in love and dedicated their lives to making other people’s dream houses become a reality. As they navigate their lives in the spotlight, one thing they will always keep at the forefront of everything they do is their Christian faith.
Ben, the son of two Methodist ministers, grew up in a religious household. After meeting Erin and tying the knot in 2008, the couple moved in together in Laurel, Mississippi. It was there that he began to pursue a career as a youth minister of Laurel First United Methodist Church. In 2014, he resigned from the position to focus on growing a business with Erin.
“When I started professional youth ministry 10 years ago, I knew that it was not a ‘forever’ career,” Ben wrote in his resignation letter posted on Erin’s blog in August 2014. “This has been the most educational and fulfilling chapter of my life, but it is time for me to move on to the next one and take up a full-time role in the business Erin and I started back then. Once again, we feel that God is calling us to make another step with him.”
Ben discovered a true passion for woodworking after refurbishing old furniture. He knew he wanted to further develop his skills and took a nod from his wife who left her job to follow her dreams a few years prior. Erin worked as a designer at a tech company and ran a blog on the side to showcase her designs. The mom of two received calls from several brides and magazines who fell in love with her stationery designs online. It was then that she realized she had to make a big decision about leaving her full-time job to become her own boss.
“I prayed. Boy, did I pray. I sought counsel from Ben, our friends, our family and our church,” Erin told Guideposts in October 2018. “The answer came from a devotion that my best friend from high school e-mailed me: ‘Wherever God’s finger points, his hand will clear a way.’ I had to trust. Even so, on that first day of self-employment, January 1, 2010, I felt like two different people merging into one: equal parts fear and hope, small potatoes dreaming big.”
Ben and Erin were discovered by a producer from HGTV who had been keeping tabs on the couple on Instagram. Home Town premiered in 2016 and began to take off in 2017, something that Ben and Erin never predicted would happen. They welcomed their first child together, Helen, in January 2018. The woodworking expert shared his favorite memory from his first Father’s Day in a June 2020 interview with People.
“My parents are both ministers, and my mom and dad baptized my firstborn on Father’s Day,” Ben said. “It’s going to be tough to top that.”
The HGTV stars welcomed their second daughter, Mae, in May 2021. The couple still regularly attends church with their children in their hometown. They continue to hold their Christian values close to their heart.
“Faith has been part of my life for as long as I have been alive, and it’s the guiding hand in every decision we make together as a family,” Ben said in an interview about their book, Make Something Good Today, in October 2018.
