Born, Nancy Henigbaum, in 1952 (Henigbaum is German for Honeytree) and raised with classical music and folk music, Nancy Honeytree has played guitar since early childhood. Her guitar technique and songwriting style reflect a refreshing variety of musical influences.

Nancy was a quiet, thoughtful young person who battled with a sense of rejection from "straight" high school kids. She was drawn to the "hippie" kids and became involved in drug abuse during her high school years.

In the spring of 1970, Nancy met some Jesus People, former hippies who had given their lives to Jesus Christ. Nancy became a born again Christian, and abandoned drugs in the pursuit of Jesus. She has continued to follow Christ since then, finding Him able to fill the empty places of the heart.

After high school, Nancy, (or Honeytree, as many of her friends call her) went to work in the youth ministry called Adam's Apple, a part of the Jesus Movement of the 70s. During those years she began to write songs that reflected her personal relationship with Jesus. Nancy's songs like "Clean Before My Lord" were recorded by Evie Tornquist Karlsson and "Rattle Me, Shake Me," recorded by David Meece. Joni Eareckson Tada recorded a song called "Joni's Waltz," specially written for her by Nancy. Honeytree made an album of her own songs in 1973 which was distributed by Myrrh records, a division of Word Music. She became one of the pioneers in the field of contemporary Christian music. Her voice was heard through recordings, through radio, and through personal appearances all over the world in the 70s. Many young Christians grew up with Nancy's music, and identified deeply with her uniquely vulnerable lyrics. She toured with some of the legendary figures of the Jesus Movement, including guitarist Phil Keaggy, and comedian Mike Warnke.

Nancy continued to grow as a Christian, not just as a musical performer, but as a minister of the gospel. She credits the influence of her home church, Calvary Temple, for this part of her life. In 1983, Nancy was ordained officially by her church.

At this point in Nancy's life, the Lord opened the door for her to aid the growing Prison Fellowship ministry as it was establishing itself. She sang in many prisons in preparation for Chuck Colson to speak to the inmates. Colson wrote in his book "Life Sentence" about one of these adventures when he and Nancy ministered in the Atlanta Penitentiary.

In the 80s, Nancy found herself dealing with passing her 30th birthday and still being single. Her struggles and triumphs related to this issue are reflected in two albums released during this period, "Single Heart" and "Every Single Day." Nancy senses God's call to be a spokesperson to and for single adults in the body of Christ today. She devotes much of her time to ministering at singles conferences, not only singing, but teaching workshops as well.

The 90s brought more changes into Nancy's life. In June 1990, at the age of 38, she married John Richard Miller (known as J.R.). J.R. is an ordained minister of the "tent maker" variety. He makes a living working with computers and the Internet, but loves to sing and preach the gospel more than anything. J.R. runs his own computer business so he can travel and minister with Nancy as often as possible.

J.R. and Nancy experienced God's faithfulness through times of loss in 1995 when their baby boy died only two and a half hours after birth. Two weeks before the birth, Nancy's doctor told her about one of his patients who needed to place a child for adoption. Three months later, when little William came into the world, the adoption had already been arranged. Since Nancy had planned to nurse her child, she was even able to breast feed the adopted baby when he was only 45 minutes old. "He's been our own son since the first day," J.R. and Nancy rejoice.

Another door opened in the 90s for Honeytree. She has learned to sing many of her songs in Spanish and had released a Spanish recording called "Dios Ha Abierto La Puerta," ("God Has Opened The Door.") Since '91 she has made many trips to Mexico, plus visits to Honduras, Peru, and Nicaragua, spreading the good news of Jesus in Spanish. She also works with many Spanish speaking congregations in the States.

1993 marked 20 years of recording for Honeytree. To celebrate, Nancy wrote 11 new songs and released a CD. The title cut, "Pioneer," reflects on the privilege of being part of the beginnings of contemporary Christian music, while challenging today's pioneers of faith to keep pressing on to their own frontiers. Honeytree is also featured on an awesome CD and video project called "First Love," which includes such pioneers of contemporary Christian music as Second Chapter of Acts, Andrae Crouch, Love Song, Barry McGuire, Randy Matthews, Randy Stonehill, Darrell Mansfield, Jamie Owens Collins, Terry Clark, and Melody Green Sevright.

Honeytree's latest CD, "Change You Made in Me," reflects her increased focus on missions. Nancy pours out her heart in delightful acoustic style, challenging believers to get serious about fulfilling the Great Commission.

Whether singing in English or Spanish, speaking to women's groups, being a wife and mother, traveling in the States or abroad, or being an active member of her home church, whatever Honeytree does, she is committed to serving Jesus Christ for the long run.

Learn more about Nancy Honeytree and her ministry. Read "Nancy Honeytree: The Life of a Pioneer" from CCM magazine. Also check out which Honeytree project CCM rates among the top "100 ALBUMS YOU NEED TO OWN."

Honeytree Discography

2005 Call of the Harvest (English and Spanish) (OakTable Publishing, Inc.)

2000 Change You Made in Me (OakTable Publishing, Inc.)

1994 Dios Ha Abierto la Puerta (OakTable Publishing, Inc.)

1993 Pioneer-20th Anniversary Recording (OakTable Publishing, Inc.)

1991 Resurrection Sunday (Milk & Honey)

1989 Best of Honeytree Classics (Milk & Honey)

1987 Every Single Day (Milk & Honey)

1985 Single Heart (Benson)

1981 Best of Growing Up (Myrrh, division of Word)

1981 Merry Christmas, Love Honeytree (Sparrow)

1979 Maranatha Marathon (Myrrh)

1978 Melodies In Me (Myrrh)

1977 Me & My Old Guitar (Myrrh)

1975 Evergreen (Myrrh)

1974 The Way I Feel (Myrrh)

1973 Honeytree-The First Album (Myrrh)