Chonda Pierce

National House of Hope is pleased to announce that Chonda Pierce is our National Spokesperson.

She’s a best-selling comedienne with an audience of 1.5 million nationwide. She’s worked with Billy Graham, wowed the Grand Ole Opry, made major television appearances, written eight books (four are children’s books) and has four gold-certified comedy videos. But more important to her is the fact that her shtick -- sidesplitting stories about real life, from babyhood to motherhood to grannyhood -- is as pure as Ivory soap. Pierce is more than happy to be the ‘queen of clean’ because her comedy serves a larger purpose, “The punch line is not always the bottom line!” she says.

“I don’t know where the title Christian Comedian came from.” Chonda snickers, “I’m a stand-up comedian. That’s what I do for a living AND I happen to be a born-again Christian. Something that the entertainment world finds downright scary!” Chonda laughs.

Chonda began her interest in Comedy during a six-year stint at a theme park in Nashville , TN called Opryland , USA . “I was a Theater Arts major at Austin Peay University and went to the park to pay my college bill. I wound up in a show called Country Music , USA and didn't know a thing about country music!” Furthermore, growing up in an ultra conservative Pastor’s home, Chonda didn't know how to dance - a major requirement for theme park entertainers. “In order to keep my job I had to memorize a couple of pages of jokes form Grinders Switch, TN and impersonate Cousin Minnie Pearl. I was hooked! I loved the sound of an audience laughing!”

The journey from Opryland to present day filled the pages of two of the four books Chonda has written. Her autobiography has been written out in two different books focusing on several different episodes in Chonda’s life: Second Row, Piano Side (Beacon Hill Press) and It’s Always Darkest Before the FUN Comes Up (Zondervan).
I was a teenager when life in my “seemingly” perfect southern preacher’s kid world fell apart. My older sister, Charlotta was killed in a car accident (she was 20), several months later my little sister became seriously ill and died in 21 days after being diagnosed with Leukemia (she was 15). During those grieving months Chonda’s father left town. My father struggled with manic depression (bipolar) most all of my life.

Chonda has an older brother who had already married and moved out of state at that time, which meant Chonda and her mother started over in a one bedroom apartment in Nashville, Tennessee. “After funeral expenses, hospital bills and very little income -- we were broke, tired and beaten down. Let me tell you, you’ll find out if there’s a God when you have to share a bedroom with your mother!” Those were dark days indeed, but the FUN eventually did come back into Chonda’s life and she went on to marry her high school sweetheart, David Pierce. Chonda beams, “David is my partner in ALL things.” A successful writer in his own field, they have also co-authored four children’s books. “Our most successful collaboration in our 22 year marriage is a daughter and a son!”

National House of Hope is honored and blessed to have Chonda, who has a heart to help us save this generation.