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Meet the Just Brave Enough Team
Laura
Franks Benton
Founding Member
Team Leader
Business Manager
Laura is a California native, raised on the New Jersey shore, who has resided in North Carolina since college.
She received a History degree with a concentration in International Studies from Davidson College, and spent 30 years avoiding a Call to seminary. She earned her Masters of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary and is in her first Call as a solo pastor at Meadowlake Presbyterian Church in Huntersville, NC.
Prior to seminary, Laura earned a Masters of Teaching and taught 5th grade before starting a family. While raising three children, Laura volunteered at church and in their schools, sewed ballet costumes, and was an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She worked as a lactation consultant in pediatric and hospital settings. As a lactation consultant she worked with families and physicians to optimize health for mother and baby. It was a daily privilege to be invited in to the life of a new family at a tender time and help them learn to care for their baby.
After pilgrimages in Cuba and Spain, and miles of labyrinth walking, she finally realized she could avoid her call no longer and enrolled in seminary at 48.
A lifelong interest in women’s stories intersected with a seminary class to birth Just Brave Enough to tell the stories of named and unnamed women in the Bible. A week of Transitional Ministry training at Princeton Seminary where she met the women who became the founding writers brought the project to fruition in a delightfully unexpected way.
Laura lives in Charlotte, NC with her spouse Kevin. They are the parents of three (mostly) grown children. When not working or writing, Laura can be found reading, walking, dreaming about Italy, and planning her next pilgrimage.
Becca Bateman
Founding Member
Becca is a Los Angeles native who joined the staff at Doylestown Presbyterian Church, Doylestown PA, in 2021 after a cross-country trip with her husband Mike and two children, Maisie & Royce (and the dog Zoe.)
She received a double major in History and Classics and a minor in Latin from California State University, Long Beach. From there, she continued to receive her Masters of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. After seminary, she worked as an Associate Pastor in the areas of Spiritual Formation of adults, youth, children, and families at Calvary Presbyterian Church in South Pasadena and then San Marino Community Church.
Beyond her ministry with a local church, Becca has recently used her gifts as Moderator of her previous Presbytery, taken opportunities for continuing education through a pastoral leadership program through Pepperdine University, and developed a network of Southern California Presbyterian youth ministry.
On the East coast, she dove into new training and also relationship-building with colleagues at a transitional Ministry training at Princeton Theological Seminary. This was where she said “yes,” to being just brave enough herself to write, create, and enjoy life together with the women of Just Brave Enough. Becca enjoys traveling, eating, playing soccer, listening to The Moth Radio Podcast, and taking pictures of her kids and dog doing cute things. She is always up for getting coffee or a beverage with friends or getting a dose of much needed vitamin D outside!
Jessica Dixon-Ebner
Founding Member / Website
Jessica is a Colorado native who attended St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM, and McCormick Seminary in Chicago. She is an intentional transitional pastor and was one of the teachers in that class where the Just Brave Enough team met. She has served as Interim/Transitional pastor to churches in Oak Park, IL, Norman, OK, Forked River, NJ, Manalapan, NJ, and since October 2023 in Maplewood, NJ. She also serves as the Coordinator for the Transitional Ministry Education Consortium.
Before ordination as a Minister of Word and Sacrament, Jessica served as a youth director, youth leader, Christian education director, mission leader, summer camp director, and many other roles in churches in New Mexico, Chicago, and the Denver area.
Jessica loves pop culture (she was a celebrity assistant for the 9-year run of Denver Comic Con), movies, TV, plays, books, music -- basically any way you can be told a story. She loves crafting- knitting, upcycling lots of kinds of things, and many other crafty things. She loves hiking and the outdoors.
Jessica married her husband, Jack, in 2022, and he passed away in August of 2024. She lives in NJ with her dog Sage and a wonderful community of church folks and friends.
Lillian Hines
Founding Member
Lillian Hines is the daughter of two servant leaders and a native of San Francisco, California. She has been in the local church since she was eight weeks old and served in one capacity or another since accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at seven years old.
Embodied with Enneagram 8 awareness and sensibilities, as an authentic progressive pastoral leader, Lillian's pastoral ethos is grounded in truth, justice, equity, and accountability. Noted as a gifted preacher, she leads through preaching by inviting congregants to envision and embrace an expansive faith that will create a just and equitable world for neighbor and self, thus healing and wholeness for all people.
Academically, she earned a Doctor in Ministry in Pastoral Care and Counseling from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor’s in Administration of Justice from Texas Southern University. When she is not studying the enneagram, practical theology, or leadership, Dr. Hines is pursuing courses that help her grow personally, spiritually, and professionally.
Yena Hwang
Founding Member
Yena’s goal is to LIVE authentically (Love. Intention. Vulnerability. Empathy.).
As an enneagram type one, her passions include: fostering justice, bringing order out of chaos, finding/creating beauty outside of order, and nurturing spiritual/emotional health.
She earned her M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary (1997) and M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Louisville Theological Seminary (2006).
She is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and utilizes her coaching skills to help individuals, church leaders, and organizations in various contexts. She is the Senior Pastor at Falls Church Presbyterian Church in National Capital Presbytery.
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