New pastor takes the helm

Walter Sprague
Art and Culture Reporter
 
On Sept. 1, the Newcastle Seventh Day Adventist church hired Lester Bentley as its new pastor. He had been an associate pastor since April 2014 at a church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Since moving to Gillette, Bentley is pastoring at five churches. They are in Newcastle, Sheridan, Buffalo, Gillette and Upton.
Bentley did not receive his ordination in the typical way that most
pastors do. Instead of spending years in seminary, he said, he worked hard to get his education in the trenches. By working with other pastors and filling in wherever he was needed, Bentley said he learned about what it means to be a pastor through experience and wise counsel. 
Bentley and his wife, Denise, have been married for 37 years. He said that he began assisting the pastor who married them shortly after their wedding and has been working hard in the churches ever since. And it was during that time, where he was already preaching a couple of times a month, that his pastor approached Bentley, along with the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh Day Adventists. Through the conference and the church, Bentley said, he was voted in as an ordained minister and stepped immediately into the role of associate pastor.
The Bentleys have two daughters, Carol and Laura, who both
still live in Minnesota. Bentley said that the couple’s move to Wyoming has been wonderful, and he looks forward to continued service in the communities he pastors.
According to Bentley, his call to the ministry evolved over many years. The work ethic was instilled in him when he was coming out of high school. His father, who passed away during the middle of Bentley’s senior year, ran a business. The example his father set to support his mother, he said, was a significant influence on him. Immediately after high school, he took over running the family business for a time, but then the family decided to sell the business. The hard work ethic instilled in him by that time is now second nature. But he wanted to reach out and help other people, he said, and working in the church became his passion, especially after getting married. After seeing his hard work, some pastors sat him down and said that he needed to become a pastor so that he could get paid for all the hard work he was already doing.
While he enjoys preaching, and the study that goes into the preparation of the sermons, where his heart really resides is in teaching Bible studies.
“You learn more there,” Bentley said. “You don’t just get into the generalities. You have to dig into Scripture to get what it is really about.” 
During those years as an associate pastor and teaching God’s word, he said,
his vision for the ministry clarified. 
“I want to make good disciples for Christ,” he said. 
According to Bentley, no pastor can do the work of the ministry alone. It takes a group of dedicated and trained laypersons who grab onto the pastor’s vision to bring it about, he said. 
Bentley said he is excited about what God’s plans are for the churches he serves, and he is excited about watching his congregations grow in the Lord.