Pastor Jon came to Hodges in the summer of 2019. He has served in ordained ministry since 1996 in different positions. Most recently he came from a ten-year calling in Miami as a Senior Pastor and Instructor at University of Miami. He grew up in the Washington, DC area and holds a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a PhD from Baylor University. Pastor Jon enjoys running, reading, teaching, and caring for others.

Hello! My name is Jaimie Shires. I am so excited to meet all the youth of the church. I have been a church nerd since I was a child. At 16 I was in leadership positions already. I was certain I would be a church professional someday. After college, I worked as the Director of Christian Education for Highlands United Presbyterian Church for 7 years, then as the Children’s Ministry Director for Palms Presbyterian Church before coming home to be a full-time mother over the last 9 years. I am happily married to CJ and have two beautiful children, Hunter and Hayden . My passions and strengths lie in building and forming community, energizing and motivating groups and individuals to live more intentionally and authentically, finding humor and meaning in everyday life. She is driven by the need to find the sacred in the ordinary and has a deep appreciation for the power of story.

Jenni Braden Cole is our Nursery and Early Childhood Coordinator. Jenni has been a member of Hodges since she was 2.5 years old and thinks of Hodges as her second home. Jenni was baptized and confirmed here and now her daughter is following in her footsteps. Jenni is proud Hodges offers the love of God to her daughter and to all children.

Jenni is also Assistant Director of a local preschool. She has a passion to help build strong fundamentals in children’s education and strongly believes, “It takes a big heart of help shape little minds.” Jenni’s goal is to one day own her own preschool.

Kimberly grew up in Ohio and attended the University of Akron in Early Childhood Education and American Sign Language. She has been in Early Childhood Ed for more than 30 years. She met her husband Scott during college and have four children together, Victoria, Jordan, Haley and Zach. She is also the proud grandma (Neena) of 4 grandchildren Lincoln, Elliana, Scarlett and Finnian.

Kim started at the preschool in 2002 as the Assistant teacher in the HBPC PMO program. She taught the 3’s class and started teaching VPK in 2005. During that time, she received her National Directors Credential, then went on to serve as the Assistant Director and now the Director in 2020.

In her free time, she loves to read, craft and garden. But most especially loves when her whole family can be together.