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Anthony L. Bennett,
D.Min
Anthony L.
Bennett is a native of
Los Angeles,
California.
He was born the youngest child of three to Ruby L.
Bennett and the late Dennis Bennett. He accepted his
call into the preaching ministry and was licensed by the
Mount
Tabor
Missionary
Baptist
Church
in December of 1983. In 1984, he attended
Morehouse
College
in
Atlanta,
Georgia
where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in
Religion in 1988.
Upon his
graduation from
Morehouse
College,
he entered the Union Theological Seminary in
New York
and received his Master in Divinity degree in 1991.
During his tenure in
New York,
Anthony Bennett joined the staff of the
Saint Paul
Community
Baptist
Church
in
Brooklyn,
New York
under the
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pastoral leadership of the Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray
Youngblood. He served as Associate Pastor from 1991-1993
and then as Assistant Pastor from 1993-1994.
In April 1994, Anthony L. Bennett
became the fifth Pastor of the
Mount Aery Baptist Church
in Bridgeport,
Connecticut.
Believing in the practical power
of prayer, the church’s subsequent theme became,
“A Praying People, With a Powerful Witness, Of
the Perfect God.”
In keeping with
Mount Aery’s commitment to extend itself to the
Bridgeport community, various new ministries such as
P.L.U.G., (People Learning Under God), a ministry
designed for teenagers; R.E.F.U.G.E. (Restoring
Everlasting Faith Under God’s Embrace) a ministry for
those recovering from dependencies and co-dependencies;
Jesus Corner, a ministry for children; New Disciples’
Orientation, Leadership Institute, the Mount Aery
Development Corporation and weekly ministry and
community-wide meetings were established in order to
meet the growing needs of the congregation and the
community.
In addition, shortly
after his arrival at
Mount
Aery,
he shared his vision with the congregation. The vision
was called Mission 2000 and Beyond (M2K
& Beyond) in order to minister effectively in the
new millennium. On Resurrection Sunday 2002, by divine
principle of “faith claiming the mountain, not equal
giving but equal sacrifice,” Dr. Bennett announced to
the congregation that it had successfully met its 1996
(first phase) goal to liquidate the balance of the
church mortgage, which at that time totaled over
$756,000. Other phases of
M2K & Beyond
have evolved to include staff development, the erection
of the
Imani
Center,
Transitional Housing and the
T.O.T.A.L.
Academy
(Teaching Ourselves To Achieve Literacy).
Pastor Bennett is very active in the greater
Bridgeport
community. He serves as Chairman of the Board of the
Mount Aery Development Corporation, Co-Chair of
Connecticut Sponsoring Committee for Broad Based
Organizing (a two-county organization to benefit
Fairfield and New Haven Counties), Immediate Past
President and current member of the Interdenominational
Ministerial Alliance of Greater Bridgeport and Vicinity
(a collective of fifty pastors and churches), Past
Moderator and current member of the Issachar Association
(a local chapter of the Connecticut State Missionary
Baptist convention). His is former Board Member of MACH
(Music & Arts Center for Humanity), Bridgeport’s Black
Pride, Greater Bridgeport OIC (Opportunity
Industrialization Center), the United Way of Eastern
Fairfield County, Past Chair of BCAC (Bridgeport Child
Advocacy Coalition, a collective of seventy-five
community and social service providing agencies), and
former Vice President of the Congress of Christian
Education of The Connecticut State Missionary Baptist
Convention. He received his Doctor of Ministry in May
2001 as a Wyatt Tee Walker and W. Franklyn Richardson
Fellow from the United Theological Seminary in
Dayton,
Ohio.
He is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity,
Incorporated and is currently an Adjunct Professor at
Hartford Seminary as well as Guest Lecturer at
Fairfield
University
and
Yale
Divinity
School.
Pastor Bennett has also served as Guest Chaplain for the
United States Congress House of Representatives.
In 2004,
Mount
Aery
began its presentation of a psychodrama entitled
The
MAAFA Influence,
Evoking the Pain of the Past, Building a Strong and
Powerful Future which included over 250 cast and
crew members. This presentation tells the story of the
African Diaspora and the effects, what has been
traditionally know as the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. To
date, more than 10,000 persons have witnessed this life
changing production.
He is married
to Donna M. Thompson-Bennett, J.D. and they are parents
to Brittany L. Tucker and Ahmad L. Bennett.
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