Jennifer Hawks is the associate general counsel at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
- Where did you grow up?
Germantown, Tennessee.
- What is your favorite verse, book or story in the Bible? Why?
The Gospel of Luke.
I am drawn to and comforted by Luke’s portrayal of an approachable Jesus who intentionally connects with marginalized communities and often includes women, children and the poor in his blessings, teachings and overall ministry.
- What is your favorite movie? Why?
“The American President.”
I love that the romantic-comedy plotline is set within a community of intelligent, passionate professionals who want to change the world. (Plus, the movie helped launch one of my favorite TV shows, “The West Wing.”)
- Who are three people you admire?
Pam Durso, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry; Alyssa Aldape, associate pastor for young adult and youth ministries at First Baptist Church Washington, D.C.; and Dorothy Hazzard, 17th-century English Baptist revolutionary who founded a church and had a home outside the parish where pregnant women could give birth and avoid mandatory infant baptism for their newborns.
- What is one little-known fact about yourself?
One of the things I learned in kindergarten was that not everyone had one set of grandparents whose lights flickered when the doorbell rang. (My maternal grandparents were deaf.)
