Pastor Kessia Reyne Bennett (front, third from right) was commissioned to pastoral ministry at the College View Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Aug. 21, 2021. Family, friends and many church members gathered to celebrate with her this recognition of God’s calling on Pastor Bennett’s life.
Kessia Reyne Bennett was born and raised on the West Coast in a non-religious family. At age 13 she came to know Christ and became a disciple in the community of the Hockinson Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church. A year later she was baptized and officially joined the worldwide fellowship of Seventh-day Adventists.
Theology immediately became a passion of hers, and her service in ministry started right away. She began serving on local church teams, teaching Sabbath school, and preaching in her local church and at regional meetings. At age 19 her local church sent her to Southern Adventist University to study for the ministry, funding all four years of her ministerial education there.
While at Southern Kessia Reyne met Joshua Bennett, who wooed her with his easy charm and steady kindnesses, and they fell in love while co-leading a Bible study. In 2005 they married and continued their studies at the university. For two years Kessia Reyne served as a ministerial intern at the Collegedale Church, then in 2006 she graduated with a degree in Ministerial Theology and one in Intercultural Communication. She served as assistant chaplain at Southern before moving back home to the Oregon Conference to serve in evangelism.
After earning her MDiv in 2011, she ministered at the Paw Paw Adventist Church in Michigan where she had been serving as a student pastor. From Michigan she and Joshua moved to Chicago where Kessia Reyne began her studies toward a PhD in theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
In 2016 they welcomed their first daughter, Nika, and not quite a year later the Bennett’s accepted a call to serve the College View Church. Nine months after that Junia completed their family.
“I’m grateful for God’s love and leading throughout my life,” says Kessia Reyne, “and grateful to be in ministry with my family.”
