“Being in Tennessee is amazing. We knew we wanted its all-around general values but also knew we would need a smaller community, and that has come through our kids’ school and through church,” conveys Pete Hegseth. “While we are grateful to be in Tennessee, we know it isn’t perfect—no place is—but we love being among like-minded people who are friendly and kind and say ‘yes, sir’ and ‘yes, ma’am.’ I want these things for my kids. I love Nashville’s faith-family-freedom-food-weather-taxes-music—all upgrades from some places we’ve been. Our hope is to create a generational investment in this area. I’ve only been called a Yankee a couple of times, and I deserve that. We weren’t born here, but we got here as fast as we could!” – Pete Hegseth
Education: Faith and Family
Education stirs images of schools, classrooms, students, and teachers. For Peter Brian Hegseth, education tilts in other directions. As a matter of fact, whether it’s in his speaking engagements, television appearances, military service, or his career in general, Hegseth’s being revolves around three foundations he deems vital: faith, family, and freedom.
Pete and Jenny Hegseth live in Middle Tennessee and have seven children—all of whom they pray grow up to love God and country and to value freedom. Hegseth is the biological father of four of the children and stepfather to three; however, he rejects that title—saying they “are a family brought together by the grace of God. There are no ‘steps’ or ‘halves’ in the Hegseth clan.” He believes the lack of fathers—of men—in too many modern American families is a catastrophe. “Fathers chart the course and lead the path for their families and kids; a path that should lead to Jesus Christ.”
Brought up by Christian parents whose beliefs paralleled the Baptist church, Pete’s home life was not political but was very faith and family based. Teen-aged Pete gave his life to Christ, the formative part of his upbringing. In retrospect—partly because of work he has done in education—he recognizes the separation of his church life from school life. He got a secular education with all its influences and concludes, “It’s fair to say I had a Christian veneer but a secular core and thought I was ready to go out into world and profess Christ. I wasn’t.
“My compartmentalized faith went with me to Princton where I got involved in policies and took a class on Christianity that I presumed would explain the gospels. Taught by an atheist famous for studying the gnostic gospels, the prof believed Jesus died, was buried in a shallow grave, and was eaten by dogs. I realized I was not prepared to combat such thinking and went to the library to read dusty books that pointed to and explained the veracity of the gospels. Defending my faith became an academic endeavor because I sensed faith and Bible were good.
“As my pastor pointed out ‘many people miss Jesus by 12 inches—the distance from their head to their heart.’ I fell squarely into that category.”
“About 2018 I entered the Colts Neck Community Church with my wife (who was wary of what evangelical Baptists were like), and faith became real. Within 20 minutes we felt at home. The pastor spoke about his broken family past—I’m broken, you’re broken, we’re all broken and careening around not living our faith and not being deeply rooted. I thought I had to be perfect. Let’s be candid about it: Seek Christ, fully submit to Him, and allow Him Kingship in life! God’s perfect law of liberty that sets me free is Jesus—not perfection, legalism, or anything else.
“Truly inviting [Jesus] into my heart—to command my life—has been edifying and liberating. I’m trying to reverse engineer that into my kids—waking up every day and knowing Who’s in charge, and it’s not me. Nurturing young kids and learning how to prepare them, and educating myself further through traveling to the Holy Land—where Jesus ministered—are vital parts of my life.
“During those days, the message of Christ really went the 12 inches from head to heart.
“Experiences in academia helped reorder my heart and mind. I lived in a world of politics, culture, and fast-paced media that can become a person’s identity. I didn’t want my kids to think of all that first; faith, family, and freedom became three strands of the cord for my devotion—faith in Jesus Christ, kids in their schools, adults in their country and freedoms. I am devoted to preserving the posterity our country has had. I’m grateful to have a voice on Fox, but the question is still ‘What can I [we] do?’ Begin with faith and family. If we aren’t contributing, then we’re a part of the downfall of our tradition. Our individual family stories are the stories of our nation. If in three generations we can go from faithful Christian households to anti-American households, we are toast. We stand in the wreckage wondering if we can rebuild.”
Part of preserving that posterity comes through the Hegseth family’s interest in Classical Christian education. After considerable research and numerous visits to several accredited schools in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the family found and love Jonathan Edwards Classical Academy in Whites Creek, Tennessee—a small, country, blue-collar classical Christian school. “We drew a 20-mile radius around the school convinced that’s what we wanted for our kids, and we moved. We thought we were moving to a school but were also moving to a church that has incredible intentionality about covenant Christianity and living out faith in generational homes. We are a young family trying to draw near to God as He draws near to us (James 1:8).
“In a Bible and book study (Doug Wilson’s My Life for Yours), accountability in meeting with other men who can share openly—not some giant confessional—is a treasure. It’s a fortification of brotherhood. We wrestle with ‘Yes, the Bible is always the answer, but how do you apply it?’ Surrender and honesty—a brotherhood in Christ—something I miss a lot away from the military.”
A commentator on every major FOX News daytime and primetime show, Hegseth, along with Rachel Campos-Duffy and Will Cain, co-hosts FOX & Friends Weekend (6-10 AM/ET, weekends), a spot he has held since 2017. Pete also regularly guest-hosts for FOX & Friends, The Five, Hannity, Ingraham Angle, Jesse Watters Primetime, and other shows, including the 2023 New Year’s coverage from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee.
Known for boldly sharing his perspective on myriad cultural and political issues, 43-year-old Pete Hegseth says, “using my platform to share my Christian faith is the most valuable use of my time and resources,” a realization sparked, in large part, by his role as a father. “I’ve got a bunch of kids and realize the only thing that matters is introducing them to Jesus Christ. I spend time teaching them how to dribble a basketball or to love America—and those are all great—but they’re utterly insufficient.”
It’s that perspective that inspired Hegseth’s latest special, The Life of Jesus, streaming on FOX Nation. Knowing he was utterly inadequate to tell the story, the anchor co-hosted the series with his hometown pastor from New Jersey, Chris Durkin, of Colts Neck Community Church.
First and foremost, “this passion of mine reminds me, my family, and our culture . . . that underneath holiday pageantry is the truth and the birth of a baby in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago and the life that Jesus—fully God and fully man—lived.”
In the series, Durkin and Hegseth chronicle some of the most significant stories from Scripture—the inspired Word of God—retracing the steps of Jesus in the Holy Land as accurately as they can. Hegseth clarifies: “To make it a little different, the goal of The Life of Jesus film is not to prove the Scripture since we know they’re true but instead to take people to the places recorded in the Scriptures—we know more now than we did 10 or 20 years ago about where the events unfolded in the Gospels. People saw Jesus’s miracles, and they still said, ‘I don’t buy it.’ Or they saw the miracles and said, ‘This is the Man, this is the Savior, our Messiah.’ As we were telling the story, I almost got heart palpitations.”
Education: Country and Freedom
More than a FOX Nation host, Hegseth is an Army combat veteran, who served 12 years as an Infantry Officer in the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge for his time in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hegseth also held the position of CEO for Concerned Veterans for America—a veterans’ advocacy organization.
On a side note, Hegseth reminisces about being a young platoon leader: “On our first night-time air assault mission in enemy territory, we soon realized our helicopter had dropped us off in the wrong spot. We didn’t really know where we were, and it was my job to get us to the objective. I remember feeling a sense of peace and calm that I had no business having in that moment. I didn’t think much about it until weeks later when my mom said she had felt a strong urge to fall on her knees and pray for me. We realized she was praying at the exact time I was on that raid with my platoon. The power of prayer is real. Parents plant seeds that may take a while to sprout and grow, but God uses it all to make us into who we are. I’m so grateful to belong to God and be His servant.”
Hegseth explains, “Cultures are defined by what they celebrate and honor. Too often, our culture celebrates actors and professional athletes and influencers who have no grasp of history or how special and exceptional this country is.”
His flagship annual, “The Patriot Awards,” held in Nashville, Tennessee, November 2023, is meant to shine the spotlight on those who really are the best and brightest of our country—everyday heroes.” Personal for Hegseth, “The opportunity to host the Patriot Awards is my favorite assignment. I’m always humbled and honored. It’s unique, and it’s unifying.”
Education: Author
In addition to his accomplishments as veteran, compelling speaker, and news personality, Hegseth is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His most recent book—Battle for the American Mind (June, 2022)—spent over 12 weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including four straight weeks at #1. Battle for the American Mind is a field guide for remaking school in the United States. Two of his previous books—American Crusade and Modern Warriors—were also best-sellers.
Hegseth and David Goodwin explain: “We need to recover a lost philosophy of education grounded in virtue and excellence, equipping future generations to fight for freedom. Today, after 16,000 hours of K-12 programming, our kids come out of government schools hating America. They roll their eyes at religion and disdain history. We spend more money on education than ever, but kids can barely read and write—much less reason with discernment. Western culture is on the ropes. Kids are bored and aimless flailing for purpose in a system that says racial and gender identities are everything. Battle for the American Mind is the untold story of the plan to neutralize the basis of our Republic by removing that which has sustained Western Civilization for thousands of years.”
Classical Christian education is the Hegseth family choice.
Pete Hegseth is the host of multiple ongoing series including Modern Warriors (military), Battle in the Holy Land (Israel), Untold: Patriots Revealed (history), The Life of Jesus (Christianity), and The MisEducation of America (education: the five-part series examines how the American education system has evolved over the last hundred years and the current state of progressive content the classroom).
Sharing his heart, Hegseth says, “To me, patriotism is not about love of government. It’s about love of our founding ideals that have pursued a more perfect union from the very beginning. It goes back to basics for me as a Christian: love of God and an understanding that my freedoms come from God—not from government—and that this nation was created as an experiment in self-governance and human freedom that every generation must perpetuate. Being patriotic doesn’t just mean waving the flag or cheering for Team USA. It requires teaching, instructing, and celebrating. In the most difficult times, the best thing we can do is go back to basics: faith, family, freedom—shining a light on those values—what this nation was founded on. If not America, then who? then where?”
“Godlessness ends great nations. The one thing we can all do is get on our knees and pray.”
Hegseth has a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics from Princeton University (2003) and Master of Arts degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (2013, although he mailed this degree back to Harvard).
Sheila E. Moss: author of Living to Matter: Mothers, Singles, and the Weary and Broken; Interrupting Women: Ten Conversations with Jesus; and international publications derived from teaching Bible and Christian ethics in Africa, Ukraine, Venezuela, and England; teacher of Bible classes for 35+ years; mother of five adult children and grandmother of eleven
