It’s what he’s always wanted to do.

From the time he was a teenager growing up in Newkirk, Shane Bennett knew his life’s purpose.

Following his heart, he’s been sharing the hope and love of Jesus for over 16 years in various church leadership capacities and recently accepted the position to serve as full-time pastor at First Baptist Church of Hennessey.

Having worked bi-vocationally most of his ministry, Bennett said he is excited for the opportunity to serve in a full-time capacity.

“Ministry is my life’s calling,” Bennett said. “So to be able to focus all of my time and energy in one direction is something I look forward to.”

Without a full-time pastor since shortly after the onset of the pandemic, Luke Lough, chairman of the seven-member search committee at First Baptist Church of Hennessey, said the congregation went through a transitional program with the Southern Baptist Convention to identify ways to improve the church and then spent about eight months in the search of a pastor to lead them.

“Of the many applicants, we were really impressed with Shane’s maturity, level-headedness and overall qualifications for the position,” Lough said.

“We are looking forward to having a partner lead us through some of the challenges we’re going to face.”

No stranger to Kingfisher County, Bennett began ministering as the part-time youth and music minister at Kingfisher Oak Street Baptist Church in 2005 while attending the University of Central Oklahoma. After receiving his bachelor’s in interpersonal communication at UCO, Bennett accepted the position as the pastor of Oak Street Baptist Church in 2007 while also working as a sportswriter at Kingfisher Times and Free Press.

During his six years serving as pastor of Oak Street Baptist Church, Bennett married Kingfisher native Kelsey Brown, the daughter of Neal and Joyce (Sisler) Brown.

After Kelsey received her bachelor’s in elementary education and accepted a third grade teaching position at Oklahoma School for the Deaf (OSD) in Sulphur, they moved to Davis in the summer of 2013.

While living in Davis, Bennett worked several years for Stillwater Milling Company and later with The Davis News as a sportswriter and production manager, while also serving as pastor for The Vine Baptist Church.

Receiving his seminary degree from Union University in 2014, Bennett was instrumental in founding The Vine Baptist Church in the fall of 2015.

Bennett said the church initially gathered in members’ homes for services and later acquired a building to meet together.

Having led the church as pastor for the past six years, Bennett said, “it’s tough to leave when you’ve developed close relationships, but Kelsey and I were praying about what God’s plan was and we felt it was the right move.

“All the details fell into place.”

After visiting with the Hennessey congregation, Bennett said he was able to see the church is united and ready to move forward and he is excited to learn more about them and what he and his family can do to serve the church and the community.

Although it’s been many years since Bennett has spent time inside the church building, it’s very familiar as his family roots run deep in the Hennessey community.

His parents, Gene and Tracy (Taylor) Bennett, are Hennessey High School graduates and his grandparents, John and the late Bonnie Taylor, founded 4T’s Family Market with Tracy being one of the four T’s.

His father’s parents, Floyd and Lavada Bennett, are deceased and Floyd was manager of Ford Choate in Hennessey for many years.

Active in the First Baptist Church of Hennessey as the music minister for many years, his grandfather, John, still resides in Hennessey as well as various uncles, aunts and cousins, Bennett said.

With two daughters of their own, Mirabelle (9) and Jaynie (7), Bennett said it will be good to be near extended family although difficult to leave his own parents, who currently live and work as educators in Davis.

“As hard as it was to leave, we are excited about developing relationships and serving the church in Hennessey as well as being near extended family,” Bennett said.

There is a lot of potential in the church and community for ministry, Bennett added.

“The church members are hopeful, as we are, there will be bright days ahead for the congregation,” he said.

As church members voted overwhelmingly to invite Bennett to be their pastor, Lough said, “we’re excited to have Shane as our fulltime pastor and are looking forward to identifying ways we can excite and invigorate people, leading them to a relationship with the local church and strengthening their relationship with Christ.”

An added bonus for the Bennetts, Kelsey will be able to continue her passion of serving the deaf at OSD, where she was honored her third year there with teacher of the year. She will be serving in a new role as an educational consultant and advocate for deaf students within the public school systems throughout the state.

As Bennett begins his work at Hennessey, he said building relationships is a big part of the church and likened it to a team sport where everyone plays a role supporting each other as well as the overall mission.

“Ministry is my calling,” Bennett said. “It’s all I’ve ever really wanted to do.

“It’s the passion of my life to serve people and see them grow in their relationship with Christ, come to know Him and find hope in Him.”