Rev. Dr. Anthony L. Bennett, Senior Pastor of the Mount Aery Baptist Curch, Bridgeport, CT.

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 pastoral leadership of the Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood. He served as Associate Pastor from 1991-1993 and then as Assistant Pastor.

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.