David Horner

Biographical Information on David H. Horner
Updated Spring 2022

David currently serves as the Executive Director for Equipped for Life, a ministry established to equip men and women to grow in Christ and learn to excel in their ministry callings. Until the beginning of 2016, he pastored Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina since its beginning in 1978. During that time, well over a hundred international missionaries were sent out and several churches birthed here in the area (Capital Community Church, Christ Baptist, North Wake Baptist among them.)

A native of Graham, NC, he received a Bachelor of Arts from Wake Forest University, holds a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he has also lectured in classes on pastoral ministry and biblical leadership. His dissertation documented and analyzed the factors contributing to leadership succession failures in perpetuating an institutional legacy in Christian churches and organizations.
With a focus on Christian leadership, Horner has taught courses at a number of colleges and theological seminaries over the past few decades, including Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary in Amman, Jordan; colleges and seminaries in Romania, Poland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and Indonesia; and in the United States at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Anderson University’s Clamp Divinity School. Beyond the classroom, Horner has preached, taught, consulted and in many other ways engaged in ministry in over forty nations during the past thirty years.
From February 2019 to August 2020, he served as interim and consulting pastor for Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, preaching and overseeing the pastoral ministries of this multi-staff congregation.
David has authored four books, including Firmly Rooted, Faithfully Growing (2003), which is devoted to equipping churches for principle-based ministry, Dad's Words of Wisdom (2004), a weekly devotional for fathers and sons, and A Practical Guide for Life and Ministry (2008), which offers help for people in ministry who are trying to maintain a biblical balance in their lives. That book has been re-released under the title, 7 Challenges Pastors Face (2019) His latest book When Missions Shapes the Mission (2011), helps churches refocus to make missions a priority and gives them practical tools to make the transitions needed.
He has served as a trustee at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and at Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee. Since 2005 he has served as a council member of The Gospel Coalition. Until 2019, he served a three-year term on the board of Trinity Academy of Raleigh. Currently, he is serving on the American boards of Emanuel International Ministries (supporting Emanuel University in Oradea, Romania) and Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary in Amman, Jordan.