As Dr. Christopher Ebert drove through Northwest Indiana between deliveries for his job on September 11, 2001, he noticed the roads were eerily quiet. When he would pop into a store for a drop off, he would regularly witness people crowded around a television.
Wondering what was going on, he finally asked and learned that the U.S. was under attack. Terrorists had taken down the north and south towers of the World Trade Center with two commercial jetliners, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175.
The events of September 11 struck Ebert so profoundly that he enlisted to serve in the United States Armed Forces.
“It was 9/11 that made me join, because I already had a master’s degree,” Ebert said.
In total, Ebert would spend five years on active duty and three years in the National Guard.
During his active military career, Ebert eventually spent time in Mosul, Iraq as a military police officer. His time in Iraq was filled with various emotions.
“I mean it had its good days and its bad days,” Ebert said.
While serving in Iraq, Ebert interacted on many different levels with the population.
“As a military police officer, it was neat because I got to do a lot of things with the local population,” he said. “We trained Iraqi police and Iraqi soldiers, so I was constantly dealing with people. I got to interact with people who I would have never gotten to interact with otherwise.”
However, his service in Iraq was not without danger.
“The occasional bombs and being shot at constantly, that wasn’t great,” he said.
Today, Ebert serves as director of choirs and communications at First United Methodist Church in Valparaiso. Prior to his current role, he served as director of worship, music, and media ministries at First Presbyterian Church also in Valparaiso.
Like his dad, Ebert has a love for music and channeled that love for music into a career in ministry.
“My dad was a church musician, so I kind of followed in his footsteps,” he said.
Ebert has a Bachelors of Science in Music Education and a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Indiana State University in Terre Haute. He also has a Doctorate of Sacred Music from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka.
He’s incredibly passionate about music that he considers it not only work, but also a hobby.
“My life does pretty much revolve around nothing but music,” Ebert said.
A veteran and a patriot, Ebert’s active duty days are complete. He still continues to serve his community through works rooted in faith and in music as a musician.