Amanda Cheatwood
Jul 1, 2026
When Worship Becomes Intercession—
Jerry & Karen Ellard
Their journey from Alabama to Israel tells the story of a ministry shaped by worship, marked by intercession, and anchored in a call to pray for the nations.
For Jerry and Karen Ellard, worship grew into something deeper than music. Over time it became prayer carried in song.
When you sit down with Jerry and Karen Ellard and listen to their story, you quickly realize something. The Lord has been writing this chapter of their lives for a very long time.
Worship had become their language with the Lord.
Their ministry grew slowly, through years of prayer, hunger for the presence of God, seasons of testing, and a steady willingness to follow wherever He led. By the time Israel entered the picture, the foundation had already been laid. Worship had become their language with the Lord. Prayer had taken on weight. The call had already begun unfolding.
Looking back now, every season feels like preparation.
Formed in Music and Faith
Karen’s love for worship reaches back to childhood. She grew up in a home where music filled the house.
Her mother is a gifted gospel pianist who played for singing groups and church gatherings. Many Saturday nights, Karen remembers trios and quartets gathered in their living room while her mother played the piano. Music was part of the rhythm of life.
Her grandmother also played and sang, and when the presence of the Lord touched her, worship would rise out of her with a joy that stayed with Karen for years. Karen describes moments when her grandmother would burst out in praise as the presence of the Lord touched her.
By the age of seven, Karen was already singing in a trio. As she grew older, she participated in Church of God Teen Talent competitions and traveled with a gospel group as a teenager. Later she attended Lee College in Tennessee—now known as Lee University—where she sang in the Lee Singers and continued developing her voice and songwriting.
That was also where she met Jerry.
It was September of 1978. Karen was twenty-one. Jerry was twenty-four. Three and a half weeks later, they were engaged.
Jerry’s story grew from a very different church setting. His parents helped start a small church in their home in Alabama before later moving to Pleasant Grove Church of God. The congregation was small, often between thirty-five and fifty people, and Jerry grew up singing with his brothers and sisters in church.
Karen describes him as deeply humble. Worship leadership entered his life quietly as the Lord kept placing him in ministry settings where leading worship became part of his role. It happened more than once in the churches they served, and over time the assignment became clear.
A Hunger for the Presence of God
As the years passed, Karen began sensing a deeper hunger for the presence of God.
One evening while serving in Ohio, she and Jerry attended a worship gathering at a Methodist church led by Kent Henry. The moment they walked in the door, something felt different.
People were fully engaged in worship. Children were dancing before the Lord. The room carried a sense of freedom and wholehearted devotion.
Karen knew immediately that something had shifted inside her.
I knew I could never go back to status-quo worship.
“I knew I could never go back to status-quo worship,” Karen said.
From that point forward, she carried a deeper longing for the presence of God.
That hunger led her into a powerful season of prayer. She and Jerry would drive with their children to an Assembly of God church that kept a prayer room open all night. They brought sleeping bags for the children while they spent hours praying.
Karen often prayed through the entire night.
During those times she experienced moments of intense intercession, sometimes seeing faces pass through her mind rapidly as she prayed. She carried a deep sense that God was moving through those prayers in ways she could only partially understand.
During those years she and Jerry pursued the presence of God with determination.
During those years she and Jerry pursued the presence of God with determination. They traveled to conferences and revival meetings whenever possible—even during seasons when money was tight.
Karen remembers packing a cooler with bologna, bread, mayonnaise, and mustard for the trip and sleeping on someone’s floor just to be present where God was moving.
Hunger like that shapes a life.
Songs from Heaven
Karen’s journey also included a long season of illness.
At one point she dropped to ninety-five pounds and spent several years recovering physically. During that time the Lord continued working deeply in her heart.
In 2004, during a three-day fast with Jerry, Karen sensed the Holy Spirit stirring something new. Soon afterward, the worship pastor at their church asked her to lead worship at a conference called The Tipping Point.
She felt physically weak and deeply dependent on the Lord.
As she led worship that evening, a phrase began rising in her spirit:
“Holy is the Lord of Host Almighty.”
The room opened into a powerful moment of prophetic worship as people began singing in the Spirit and the presence of God filled the gathering.
Karen walked to the altar afterward and wept. After years of sickness and spiritual preparation, the moment felt like confirmation.
Only weeks later, another remarkable moment unfolded.
On June 1, 2004, their pastor prayed and asked the Lord to give their church songs from heaven.
That same month, Karen wrote more than one hundred songs.
The flow of songs that began during that season has continued ever since.
Many carried themes connected to Israel, blessing, and intercession for nations. The flow of songs that began during that season has continued ever since.
The Door to Israel
Later that same year, the Lord opened the door for Jerry and Karen to travel to Israel with a worship team.
Karen already sensed in her heart that the Lord had spoken about going to Israel, and when the opportunity came, provision followed. Friends and family helped support the trip, and the resources came together in beautiful ways.
During that first visit, Karen led worship in several locations, including gatherings in Haifa and Nahariya. The songs the Lord had placed in her heart began flowing in the land itself.
The experience marked the beginning of a deeper connection with Israel.
In 2005, another opportunity opened. Their pastor asked whether their family would consider spending three months in Israel serving in ministry.
They said yes.
Jerry taught weekly. Their home became a place where people gathered for fellowship and teaching. Their daughter, who was fifteen at the time, led children’s ministry during the meetings. Karen led worship.
It was a season where the whole family served together.
Seven Years in the Land
In 2009 Jerry and Karen returned to Israel to lead worship for Josie and David Silver’s intercessors conference.
Participants spent part of the week praying at strategic locations in Jerusalem and the other part of the week in Haifa. Jerry and Karen led worship in the evening gatherings and sometimes even on the bus as the group traveled from place to place.
During that trip, Hilda Chen, founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Tower, approached them.
She asked if they would pray about moving to Israel full-time to serve as worship leaders.
Karen remembers her immediate response.
“You don’t even know us.”
Hilda replied, “I know you after the Spirit.”
Jerry and Karen prayed carefully about the decision. They sought counsel and began preparing for what such a move would require.
In April 2010 they moved to Israel.
They remained there until June 2017—about seven years and three months.
During that time they served with the Jerusalem Prayer Tower and were connected with ministries including King of Kings Community Jerusalem. Their lives centered around worship and intercession for Israel and the nations.
Those years brought together many threads of their story—Karen’s musical heritage, Jerry’s faithful leadership, the hidden nights of prayer, and the songs that had begun flowing years earlier.
A Burden for America
Since returning to the United States, the Ellards’ ministry has continued to grow in new directions.
They lead worship for the global prayer call hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a weekly gathering of believers interceding for Israel. After the October 7 attacks in 2023, that assignment took on even greater significance as prayer and worship rose continually for the nation.
Karen has also written nearly thirty songs connected to prayer for the United States Supreme Court. One of those songs was sung during a consecration gathering for the Court in Washington, D.C., where national prayer leaders gathered to pray for the justices and the direction of the nation.
Karen carries a strong desire to see the Church step into its authority in intercession.
She speaks often about her longing to see the glory of the Lord released in cities, congregations, and across the nation. She and Jerry continue praying about how their calling may intersect with Washington, D.C. in the years ahead.
Through worship and prayer, Jerry and Karen carry a calling that has taken them from Alabama to Israel and into a growing assignment for the nations.
The Sound Continues
One thing stands out clearly as Jerry and Karen share their story.
Their ministry grew in hidden places long before it became visible. Prayer rooms. Long nights of intercession. Quiet obedience. Songs written in seasons of weakness and surrender.
Karen says that when they finally said yes to moving to Israel, they felt freer than they had ever felt in their lives.
The joy of obedience filled their hearts.
Through worship and prayer, Jerry and Karen carry a calling that has taken them from Alabama to Israel and into a growing assignment for the nations.
And through it all, the sound continues rising.
Worship.Prayer.Intercession.A sound from heaven.
And for Jerry and Karen Ellard, that sound continues to rise from lives devoted to prayer, worship, and obedience.
Jerry and Karen Ellard are worship leaders and intercessors based in Helena, Alabama, whose ministry has taken them from the prayer rooms of the American church to seven years serving at the Jerusalem Prayer Tower, connected to King of Kings Community Jerusalem. Since returning to the United States, they have made more than twenty-four ministry trips to Washington, D.C., and lead worship for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem's global prayer call. They have another trip to Washington, D.C. planned for October 2026, where they will sing for the third national consecration of the Court, to be held at the Museum of the Bible. To learn more about this event, visit jagf.org. Karen's songs — many of them prophetically connected to Israel and the nations — continue to flow from a life given to intercession. They can be found at jerryandkarenellard.org.
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