5 Fun Facts about HOMETOWN’S Ben and Erin Napier
By Movieguide® Contributor
Want to discover fun facts about the beloved couple Ben and Erin Napier from HGTV’s HOME TOWN? Their faith in Jesus, love for each other, and work ethic have made them an unbelievably unstoppable duo on TV. We’ve gathered some of our favorite facts about the couple that will make you love them even more.
Vocal About Their Faith
Ben and Erin Napier are firm believers in God and their faith is interwoven within their show, HOME TOWN. Erin opened up while a guest on the Salvation Army’s new Love Beyond podcast about how their faith inspires their work on the popular series.
“We get a lot of messages from people that tell us they can see our faith even if we don’t talk about it,’ Erin shared. ‘That’s really lovely to hear because you wish you could say more about your faith when you have a public platform. And it often gets edited away.’ She continued, ‘But it’s so lovely that people are still finding light and optimism and positivity, which for us comes from a relationship with Christ, but for them it may be the first step to wanting to learn more about that. And so I feel lucky that that’s what we get to do for a living every day.’”
Ministry Background
A little-known fact about Ben Napier is his ministry background. Ben shared with People Magazine that his parents are United Methodist ministers. “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.”
Ben himself was also a minister before starting HOMETOWN. According to the couple’s bio on HDTV:
Before becoming an HGTV host, Ben was the youth minister at Laurel First United Methodist Church. He resigned in 2014 to further hone his skills as a woodworker and to focus on his businesses with Erin, Laurel Mercantile Co. and Scotsman General Store.
Social Media-Free Family
Ben and Erin Napier are passionate about their children and about preserving a traditional childhood full of running and climbing in the countryside and plenty of imaginative play. The duo co-founded the non-profit, OSPREY (Old School Parents Raising Engaged Youth), a grassroots project to encourage parents to connect with their children by shielding them from social media until they enter high school.
From the OPSPRY website:
We are parents committed to helping our kids achieve social media-free childhoods until they graduate high school. When adolescents have no access to social media, they gain access to deeper engagement with their families, interests and self-assurance. When we change the culture around “everyone has it except my child” by linking arms with other parents in our communities and committing to embargo social media together beginning in the elementary grades, we set our children up for success before peer pressure can take it from them.
The Art of Love Letters
Related: Ben and Erin Napier Announce New HGTV Series HOME TOWN KICKSTART
The couple is known for their sweet chemistry on the show, but they are even cuter off the show! Their story begins with a bang when the two kissed on their first date. Erin shared cute details about their relationship timeline on an Instagram post. “13 years since our first date and first kiss, 2 days after meeting, 4 days before ‘I love you,'” she wrote.
The romance didn’t stop there! They continue to pursue one another each day. Erin revealed a sweet habit Ben works into his morning routine. ‘Every day he’s up before me, and he writes me a letter,’ she said. ‘It’s a short one, but it’s a letter.”
They Built Their Dream Home
The Napier’s home in the countryside in Mississippi is a beautiful reflection of their style and who they are as people.
According to Southern Living:
The Napiers have led dozens of renovations for their popular HGTV shows, Home Town and Home Town Takeover, so it only made sense that this house would be a bit of a project. It needed a more functional kitchen, a new laundry room, and some work on the outdoor spaces, but the fundamentals were all there. Completed in 1930 with huge heart-pine beams, wide plank floors, tongue-and-groove paneling, and custom millwork, the home is as sturdy as it is charming.
“It’s unbelievably well built,” Ben said about their dream home. “Supposedly, all the wood in the whole house—the floors, the trim, the beams—was cut and milled on the property. And that’s pretty cool for me as a woodworker.”
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +1