Reverend Dr. William H. Bennett II
Democratic Candidate for the Office of At-Large Member of the City Council of the
District of Columbia
It has been my pleasure as a Native Son of the District of Columbia to have served our
citizens in many capacities. I have served because I love God, I love this Nation’s
Capital and because I have a commitment to the “divine calling,” I
experienced 14 years ago to serve humanity. Since that time I have served the Lord gladly
by striving to lift the Spirits of the young, middle aged and seniors. As a former youth
minister and as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Deanwood for 5 years and most
recently as the Director of our mayor’s Office of Religious Affairs, it has been my
pleasure to gladly serve people from every strata of our city. I love serving God through
serving people. Now, I seek your support in my candidacy to serve our city and to “Lift
the Spirit of Our City” as the Democratic At-Large City Council Candidate on
September 15th and then as one of two At-Large Council seats in the November 3rd general
elections. I need your prayers, financial support, your vote and your friends vote to give
our city a City Council Member with a “Conscience.”
A copy of our report is filed with the Office of Campaign Finance
Paid for by “Reverend Bennett for the Citizens,” Mr. Leo E. Bowman, Treasurer
Campaign Chairperson Reverend Maxwell M. Washington, President of the Missionary Baptist
Minister’s Conference of Washington, D.C. and Vicinity
Reverend Dr. William H. Bennett II is a native of Washington, D.C., and the D.C.
Public School System. Dr. Bennett attended Wilmington College in Ohio and then Howard
University School of Business Administration and Public Administration, where he received
a Bachelors of Business Administration Degree in 1978.
Dr. Bennett then entered the corporate arena, moving to Boston, Massachusetts where he
was a manager in the private industry for six years. He returned to Washington, D.C. in
1984, and answered the Lord’s call to the ministry. He prepared to preach and teach
the Gospel of Christ by entering the Howard University School of Divinity. He was ordained
by the Galilee Baptist Church in 1987. He received a Master of Divinity Degree in 1990 and
a Doctorate of Ministry Degree in 1992. His Doctoral Dissertation was entitled “The
African American Church as a Conduit to Economic Empowerment ”
During those years of seminary education and training, Dr. Bennett began serving within
the church, first as Youth Minister at Berean Baptist Church and then at Galilee Baptist
Church in Washington, D.C. He then became Associate Pastor of Stewardship at Concord
Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, followed by service as Associate Pastor of
Ministry Development at Gethsemane Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. In addition, Dr.
Bennett worked as a community organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation helping local
churches in Baltimore and Washington to achieve economic and political justice and
empowerment.
Well prepared by both formal education and life experience, Dr. Bennett was called as
the sixth Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Deanwood on June 1, 1993. Our “Vision
Through the Year 2000” has stirred the Church and the community with excitement.
It encompasses Spiritual, Ministry and Community Development and has generated many new
avenues of growth and strength within the Church family. The First Baptist Church of
Deanwood is a loving, caring and sharing Church, as Dr. Bennett envisioned, that is not
only expanding in membership but most importantly is growing in the Word of the God and in
the Spirit of Christ.
Dr. Bennett is the former Chairman of the Economic Development Committee of the
Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Missionary Baptist Ministers’
Conference. He formally served as the Director, Office of Religious Affairs in the Office
of the Mayor for the District of Columbia.
Dr. Bennett is an avid reader and a real “people person.” He is
perhaps fondest of children and senior citizens and proudly boasts his dad as his favorite
role model. His life’s goal is to serve this present age through evangelism and
discipleship and to empower people of the Church to meet the ever changing needs of our
society as Jesus Christ did in his day.
Dr. Bennett is married to Dr. Michele Coleman-Bennett of Washington, D.C., a Dental
Radiologist who teaches at Howard University, College of Dentistry. |
