David Benham and Jason Benham are American

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brothers who are authors, speakers, real estate entrepreneurs, former

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

players, and filmmakers known for their

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

views.

Education and baseball careers

David and Jason Benham both graduated from

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

. David Benham was drafted by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

and played in both the Red Sox

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

and the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

farm system. Jason Benham was drafted by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

and later moved to the St. Louis Cardinals farm system.

Real estate, business, and media careers

After finishing college, the Benham Brothers began working in real estate in

Charlotte Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city * Charlotte (cake) ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The brothers had little success until a bank contacted them to work on a foreclosed home; their work on this project led to more jobs. In 2003, the brothers co-founded BENHAM Real Estate Group, which focuses on bank listings and preparing foreclosed homes for resale. They also operate Redwood Realty Group focused on residential homes in the greater Charlotte, North Carolina area. The brother established a business-focused podcast in 2020 and promoted a venture called "Expert Ownership" which they promoted in an appearance on

American Family Radio American Family Radio (AFR), also known as American Family News (AFN), is a network of more than 180 radio stations broadcasting Christian-oriented programming to over 30 states.virtual assistant A virtual assistant (VA) is a software agent that can perform a range of tasks or services for a user based on user input such as commands or questions, including verbal ones. Such technologies often incorporate chatbot capabilities to streaml ...

and business services, supported missionary work in the Philippines by hiring and training 300 employees to offer. The brothers also opened

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

gyms in North Carolina.

''Flip it Forward'': HGTV

In April 2014,

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

announced it was planning to premier a home improvement reality television show featuring the brothers called ''Flip It Forward'', to debut in fall 2014. The following month,

People for the American Way People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...

's ''Right Wing Watch'' published a report that criticized David Benham as an anti-gay, anti-abortion "extremist." The group criticized statements by David Benham at a protest outside of the

2012 Democratic National Convention The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 4–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice Pr ...

in Charlotte, North Carolina in which Benham told

conservative talk radio Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...

host Janet Mefferd that "homosexuality and its agenda" was "attacking the nation" and that "demonic ideologies" were infiltrating "our universities and our public school systems." The report also cited David Benham's work in support of

North Carolina Amendment 1 North Carolina Amendment 1 (often referred to as simply Amendment 1) is a partially overturned legislatively referred constitutional amendment in North Carolina that (until overruled in federal court) amended the Constitution of North Caroli ...

, a 2012 referendum to place a ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions in the North Carolina constitution; his comparison of same-sex marriage with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

; his leadership of prayer walks and gatherings outside

abortion clinic An abortion clinic or abortion provider is a medical facility that provides abortions. Such clinics may be public medical centers, private medical practices or nonprofit organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Statistics Canada *There were ...

s; and his anti-Muslim activism. The day after the report was published, HGTV canceled the brothers' series over their controversial remarks. Despite the cancellation of the program, HGTV provided the funding for the brothers to finish their work on the six Charlotte-area homes connected to the cancelled show.

Filmography

The Benhams are credited in a number of Christian films. Jason Benham was credited in ''The Reliant'' (2019), ''Life Changes Everything: Discover Zac Ryan'' (2017), and ''

War Room A command center (often called a war room) is any place that is used to provide centralized command for some purpose. While frequently considered to be a military facility, these can be used in many other cases by governments or businesses. ...

'' (2015). David Benham was credited in the same three films plus '' Courageous'' (2011).

2020 legal case

David Benham is the president of Cities4Life, a pro-life activist group. In April 2020, Benham was one of eight people who were arrested by the

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) is the police department of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States, which includes the Charlotte, North Carolina, City of Charlotte. With 1,817 offic ...

after refusing to leave a protest outside an abortion clinic after being cited for violating COVID-19 restrictions on mass gatherings. Benham denied that he had violated the restriction, contending that there were not 50 people "gathered" outside of the clinic. The charges against Benham were dropped. Benham, Cities4Life, Global Impact Ministries, represented by the conservative Christian legal group

Alliance Defending Freedom The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to expand Christian religious practices within public schools and in government. ADF is most known ...

, subsequently sued the city, alleging a violation of First Amendment rights.

Personal lives

David and his wife, Lori, have five children; Jason and his wife, Tori, have four children; both families reside in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bibliography

*''Whatever the Cost: Facing Your Fears, Dying to Your Dreams, and Living Powerfully''. Thomas Nelson, 2015. *''Living Among Lions: How to Thrive like Daniel in Today's Babylon''. Thomas Nelson, 2016. *''Miracle in Shreveport''. Thomas Nelson, 2018. *''Bold and Broken: Becoming the Bridge Between Heaven and Earth''. Salem Books, 2019 *''Expert Ownership: Launching Faith-Filled Entrepreneurs into Greater Freedom and Success''. Benham Media, 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benham Brothers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Identical twin males Liberty University alumni American identical twins