Brenda Hauk, Founder and Executive Director | Brightstone

Today, our world is begging for qualified, courageous, and godly leaders who believe it is time to go beyond mere rhetoric. Leaders who are humble, authentic, and proactive. Leaders who take steps to foster trust and understanding across diverse boundaries. Leaders who model the way of Jesus and engage the culture in the midst of difficult situations rather than running from them.

This is uncommon leadership, and it has the potential to change our world. One such uncommon leader is Brenda Hauk. Mrs. Hauk demonstrates Christ-centered leadership through putting words to action in creating opportunities for individuals with special needs.

Beginning in college at Baylor University, she worked at The Driscoll Hospital for Crippled Children in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Kirk Wilson School for Children in Waco, Texas, using music as a means of teaching and motivating children with physical and mental disabilities. Since then, she has been involved in numerous schools and organizations that help enable those with special needs. After discovering a lack of services for adults with special needs exiting transition programs in Middle Tennessee, Ms. Hauk followed God’s call in 1999 to establish BrightStone. This organization gives families a sense of peace as they contemplate the future of their loved one by providing a comprehensive work, social support, and future residential community for adults with special needs, expanding their potential and helping them develop mentally, physically socially, emotionally, and spiritually.

Brenda and her husband, Gary, have lived in Nashville and Franklin since 1978 when Gary came to work for LifeWay Christian Resources. Together they raised their three grown and married children in Franklin.