Pastor Jonathan Oneal Bennett Sr. was called to pastor Crawfordville Baptist Church in Conyers, GA in December 2020. Since the age of 19, Rev. Bennett has been actively preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the United States for over 35 years. Having been licensed in 1985 as an AME and then a Baptist minister, he has demonstrated an unquenchable desire to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ through the preaching of God’s Word. Rev. Bennett was commissioned and ordained in the Baptist Church in 1987 by The Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

         Rev. Bennett was born in Atlanta, Ga. but was reared in his formative years in Fayetteville, Ga. The youngest of six children born to a single mother, he has been faced with many social and economic challenges. Many of these have shaped and molded him into a compassionate and caring person with a heart to serve the Least, the Last, and the Lost. Pastor Bennett graduated as Valedictorian of his high school class in Atlanta, Ga., and immediately left to pursue his college aspirations in Washington, DC. He has attended Howard University and Washington Bible College. He has taught and lectured at numerous state and national conferences and conventions throughout the US over the years. 

In the late 1980’s, Pastor Bennett was discipled in the tenets of pastoral ministry by the late Pastor David Durham of Mount Sinai Baptist Church in Washington, DC and Pastor Keith Reed of Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. To this day, Pastor Bennett is proud to be referred to as one of the original “Sons of Sinai” (S.O.S.). Rev. Bennett has also served as Pastor of Christian Education at  First Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Dumfries, VA and the Senior Pastor of East Friendship Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Both churches experienced phenomenal growth in membership and spiritual maturity under his leadership.        

Pastor Bennett is the founder of Power To Become (PTB) Ministries which is an organization that grew out of his passionate pursuits in Christian Education. PTB Ministries is designed to assist churches in discipling and developing their church leadership and membership to transform the culture from traditional approaches in ministry to more contemporary progressive aspects of discipleship, praise and worship, fellowship, evangelism and outreach, Christian Education, and organizational structure.

         In 2005, through many unique turns of events, GOD led Rev. Bennett to return home to the Atlanta area to continue his marriage and ministry pursuits after spending most of his adult life in the DMV area. Rev. Bennett is the husband of Leslie Bennett who is his soul-mate, stabilizing support, ministry partner and best friend. Together they have three adult children, Jasmine, Christen, and Jonathan Jr., all now residing in the Atlanta area. Even with his many obligations and achievements, Pastor Bennett holds his role as family man as the highest treasure. 

Pastor Bennett remains dedicated to developing Christ-following disciples that will sustain life-long submitted, surrendered and spiritually-mature lives. We anticipatorily await what God will do!