Pastor Shawn G. Bentley

"This is a huge, huge world. Get out of your comfort zone." -Shawn Bentley

          Pastor Bentley graduated from Zion Bible College and got married in 1990 before working alongside the District Youth Director in the area. He went on to pastor youth in Rhode Island for two and a half years. After several complications in the journey, mainly being cut off from any financial support from the church, he transitioned out of youth ministry for a year in New York, which Bentley described as a “burnout time.” He found a pastoral position at a church which offered him and his family benefits and security, and although he didn’t really feel it, he accepted the offer since it was the only opportunity on his plate. To supplement their ministry, he started substitute teaching at a local church, but by this point, his marriage was struggling. From his experience, he said that he learned that communication is key and that you have to “do family time on purpose.” He resigned shortly after and moved his family to Lancaster, PA. After this difficult season, he harbored a lot of bitterness towards God and didn’t want anything to do with ministry, so he went back to practicing carpentry. Exactly one year later, after reclaiming his marriage, he was offered a youth pastor position there where he worked for fifteen years. One of the most valuable lessons he learned whilst there was the value of relationships. Relationships are everything- whether its with students, parents, the community, etc., nothing can trump it. He saw the impact of relationships as his youth ministry grew from twelve kids to over two hundred. Mr. Bentley pointed out that he has learned there are three powers to any community- the mayor’s office, the chief of police, and the school board. These are some relationships to focus on.

After 24 years of student ministry, Pastor Bentley is in a transition period and is in the process of organizing a church plant. The need was presented to him when Tom Reese brought up the lack of an AG church in Hershey, PA, and after time, God gave him a love for the area and impressed the need more and more upon his heart. Without any promise of salary of security, this next step is a complete step of faith. With fundraising, he made an interesting point- that if you believe in a cause, you can hopefully transfer that belief to another person. Something else that stuck out was some of the ways his team is planning to reach his intended demographic of 20-40 year olds in the township, such as doing a bar tour in the area, being there for people at community events, and breaking down the stereotypes that are usually associated with the church.

One thing that stood out to me was something he said he wished he was told when in Zion- “This is a huge, huge world. Get out of your comfort zone.” That stuck with me.

I really appreciated Pastor Bentley coming in and sharing his wisdom with us. He was very transparent, which was encouraging to us to see how someone in ministry really dealt with a lot of challenges. His passion for the work was evident and it was a blessing to learn from this man of God.