UCF student Robert Pierre performs pro-life inspired songs at Student for Life Annual Conference

It has been said that music can often serve a greater purpose than entertainment. One UCF student is choosing to use his musical abilities to express his anti-abortion views to the world.

Robert Pierre, a UCF freshman business marketing major and professional singer-songwriter, performed at the Students for Life Annual Conference in Bethesda, Md., on Sunday to spearhead his movement, Hear the Silent Cry, which is meant to educate and offer statistics on abortion to young people.

In addition to his two sets at the Students for Life event, Pierre is also performing today in Fairfax, Va., at Paul VI Catholic High School and Washington, D.C., for the 2012 Rock for Life concert.

Taking his movement to the masses, Pierre feels that the topic he brings to the table is of the utmost importance.

"I 100 percent believe that life starts at conception, and so right now I'm deeply concerned about what effect abortion can have on my generation," Pierre said.

The movement was officially launched this past Monday by Pierre, his parents and the Pinkston Group, which handles advertising for Pierre. Pierre's father, Scott Pierre, feels that it's movements like Hear the Silent Cry that stir changes in today's society.

"There are a lot of people who think abortion is wrong, but few people will do something about it," Scott said. "We want to educate the uneducated and defend the defenseless."

The Hear the Silent Cry movement was inspired by Pierre's song, "Silent Cry," a track that encourages people in his generation to rise up and defend unborn children. Performing this song at his more recent shows, Pierre hopes to use the song as a driving force for social change.

"When I first heard the song, I felt there was a home for it with the pro-life movement," said Allan Hardin, Pierre's manager and a former music executive in the Christian music industry. "In my office, there's a framed picture that says ‘Music can change the world,' which serves as a reminder of how important music is in our lives."

Pierre felt compelled to write the song after a representative from an anti-abortion research company gave a presentation in his class during his senior year in high school.

"I had been somewhat familiar in the topic, but never had I really seen the images or the video that he showed us that day. It really rocked my world," Pierre said. "I remember coming home, going straight up to my room, picking up my guitar, sitting at the end of my bed and thinking about everything I had seen. … It was at that point that the Lord really hit me, and I felt like the Lord convicted me to write a song about how I felt and really to be the voice to the silent cries."

Pierre also attributes the start of the movement to an experience he had while vacationing in Germany with his family two years ago. During the family vacation, Pierre visited the Nazi concentration camp site, Dachau, and was horrified by not only what had occurred inside the camp, but that the camp was surrounded by communities and homes that never spoke out during the atrocities.

"The people could see that going on and they could see and smell the smokestacks every day, and they said nothing. They just sat quiet and did nothing about it. Had I been there at the time, I don't think I could have done that, I don't think I could have sat quiet, and so I'm not going to now," Pierre said. "That's really kinda the driving force behind the song. It's a call to the church and a call to Christians and a call to people of my generation that we need to stand up and defend the defenseless."

Though he does spend time touring all over the country, Pierre still finds time to lead worship at his church, Harvest Bible Chapel of Orlando.

"That's something that the Lord just grew so much in me: Passion for the church and passion for worship. My desire to stay there and their [the church's] desire to keep me has been great," Pierre said. "I think that God's given me a real passion to be the worship leader, and I'm really enjoying that."

Pierre desires most of all to continue leading worship at his church but plans on continuing to spread his anti-abortion message while on tour.

"I think that this is something, when I wrote this song, that the Lord was really putting on my heart to do. I'm hoping that the Lord will use it according to His will," Pierre said. "I'm not trying to boost myself; I'm not trying to do anything like that. … I'm praying that out of this can come a change in the way that my generation thinks and even the way that our country thinks, but it's in the Lord's hands."

For more about the Hear the Silent Cry movement, visit www.hearthesilentcry.org.