c. 2003 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Sara Horn may not have a prominent newspaper byline or a familiar TV news visage, but she’s broken new ground as a denominational news reporter.

The writer for Baptist Press recently returned from eight days aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, where she covered the war in Iraq for the Southern Baptist Convention’s news service.

“Our whole purpose of going was to capture the stories of Christians in the military and to explore the idea of patriotism and faith and how all of that works together,” she told Religion News Service in an interview upon her return from the Mediterranean Sea in early April.

Horn, 26, usually writes about retail and Internet issues for LifeWay Christian Resources, the Nashville, Tenn.-based publishing division of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. But in a fairly rapid turn of events, she wound up on the aircraft carrier covering the first days of the war.

“We watched the launch of the first planes that were headed out for the first airstrike,” she said. “It was amazing. … In a way, you’re witnessing history.”

Horn and photographer Jim Veneman worked as a team for the denominational news service. Their dozens of stories and photos featured chaplains, Southern Baptist members of the military and other people of faith who talked about how their time of service intersected with their beliefs.

Horn said she was one of about 20 reporters on board at the time, some on short-term assignments and others “embedded” with the military. But she got a kick out of the secular reporters’ assumption that she _ like members of the clergy _ would have just one serious workday each week.

“Sunday rolls around,” she recalled. “All the reporters, they all came up and said, `Wow, today’s your big day,’ as if that was the only day we were going to be working.”

Like others on the ship, Horn said she didn’t get much sleep. She covered press briefings with the other media along with following the stories on her particular beat.

Her looks at faith ranged from the ship’s first-ever baptism by immersion _ in a crate usually used to carry joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs _ to a profile of Lt. Johnnie “Cooter” Caldwell, a Southern Baptist naval aviator who says a prayer before each takeoff.

“I really, personally wanted to be able to find someone or find a story that represented a patriot’s faith and I really feel that that story did,” she said of Caldwell. “He’s risking his life every time he flies off the deck of a ship. … He stressed to us that no one should take satisfaction in the loss of human life.”

Will Hall, vice president for news services at the Southern Baptist Convention, said Caldwell’s story was his favorite, too. Hall, a former naval aviator himself, used his knowledge of military bureaucracy as well as contacts with Southern Baptist chaplains to make the on-ship coverage a reality.

“I knew that there were a great number of believers in each branch of the military,” said Hall. “This is one way for us to get directly at those stories.”

As far as Hall and a number of experts on religious media know, Horn and Veneman’s voyage to the East Mediterranean is unique.

Former and current executives of Associated Church Press said they were not aware of involvement in a live conflict by a reporter affiliated with their organization.

Doug Trouten, executive director of the Evangelical Press Association, said Christian publications have covered different aspects of the war, including the work of military chaplains and the role of faith and combat, “but to actually have somebody on site sounds to me like a breakthrough kind of step forward.”

Christian journalists working for relief organizations have often served dual roles in the front lines abroad, writing stories and delivering aid after a conflict, he said.

Hall said he is considering additional coverage of postwar relief efforts.

The wartime coverage is getting attention from grass-roots viewers of Baptist Press’ Web site (http://www.bpnews.net) as well as the nation’s official librarians. The Library of Congress recently informed Baptist Press that its site has been chosen “for inclusion in the historic collection of the 2003 War on Iraq Internet materials.”

Both Horn and Hall said the location on the ship provided them with a greater sense of safety as they considered the assignment.

But Horn said she fully appreciates the dangers of war _ on board ship or on the ground. As a mother of a 2-year-old and the wife of a Navy reservist who is expecting to be activated soon, Horn said she felt that she could connect with those she interviewed on many levels.

“One of our main objectives was to put a face with the people who were serving in the military for people to be able to relate,” she said. “These are men and women who have families back home. They’re making enormous sacrifices.”

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