Navigating Disaffiliation & Entering a Happy Covenant Community - A Conversation with D.A. Bennett

Reverend D.A. Bennett has served as the lead pastor of St. Andrew’s UMC in Oklahoma City, OK, since June 2006. Prior to that he served as Senior Pastor of Will Rogers UMC in Tulsa, director of United Campus Ministry at East Central University for 12 years, and was associate pastor of FUMC in Tahlequah. He was ordained a deacon in 1986, and ordained an elder in full connection of the Oklahoma Conference in 1988.

D.A. received his Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Oklahoma City University. He earned recognition as winner of the School of Religion paper writing contest for a paper on John Wesley’s doctrine of Christian Perfection in 1982, and as the top graduate of the School of Religion in 1983. He

also was elected president of the United Methodist Student Fellowship. His Master of Divinity Degree was earned at Oral Roberts University School of Theology in 1986. There he was recognized as one of the top preachers in the school, and was privileged to preach in a chapel service.

He has been blessed to preach in many different churches and settings throughout his ministry. He has preached in over 70 different churches in 9 different denominations. He has preached in prisons, conferences, nursing homes and camp/retreat settings. He is frequently requested to speak at youth camps and conferences, and has been the guest evangelist for many churches during revivals. He worked Dayspring Camp for senior high discipleship for over 25 years, helping it grow from a single camp to a camp at 4 sites. In 2011, he led a team to start Journey, a jr. high discipleship camp. The Oklahoma Conference awarded him the Francis Asbury award for contributions to the church’s mission in higher education in 2000. He was elected to the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Jurisdictional Conference delegations. Currently he serves on the Conference Board of Higher Education & Ministry, Committee on Episcopacy, trained as Counsel for the Church and was previously the chair of the Order of Elders. He recently completed a 2 year term as president of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association.

More important than academic and professional achievements are the members of his family. D.A. has been married to Robin Hawley Bennett, a Certified Public Accountant and homemaker, since January 10,1987. They have 2 sons – Garrett Adrian Bennett (1997) and Jonathan Harris Bennett (2003), and a daughter, Charis Katelyn (2005). D.A. enjoys a variety of sports, is a die hard fisherman, and loves camping and traveling with his family. Most importantly, he has been a committed follower of Jesus Christ since early childhood.

DA and I go back several years. He gave some of my instruction when I first came to the Oklahoma Annual Conference at the local licensed pastor program. He has a longstanding ministry at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. We have worked together in various capacities to advance the cause of Christ, first in the United Methodist Church, and now in the Global Methodist Church. He affixed my stole to me immediately after my ordination.

DA has been an encouragement to many in the faith, having been active on a conference level, working especially to bless youth at camp every summer. He is an excellent example of a happy warrior and an earnest believer.

In this conversation, he and I talk through the season of disaffiliation that we both shared in, leading into the new day in the GMC and our hopes for the future. What does it mean to come out of Egypt? What parts of Egypt might still be clinging to us?

Consider taking some time to learn from my friend.

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