Like many Presbyterian leaders, the Rev. Greg Bentley has watched his call evolve in surprising ways over the years. Like a remarkable number of those leaders, wherever it began that call really took hold at one of the racial ethnic colleges we support through the Christmas Joy Offering.

Bentley was raised Baptist, but when he felt God’s hand calling him to ministry, it was in the Presbyterian Church. “I was raised in a very loving community, but it was somewhat anti-intellectual. Being intellectually curious, I couldn’t see myself going into the ministry. But when I was at Stillman College, a Presbyterian pastor named Dr. Clarence Thomas helped me to see that you could have ‘both the learnin’ and the burnin’.’ That was kind of the catalyst for me to consider going to seminary.

“As a biology major with a chemistry minor planning to go to med school,” he recalls, “I was a little surprised by feeling called to ministry.” It wouldn’t be the last time his call surprised him. “After serving my first church, I thought I’d go to medical school and perhaps go into medical ministry. Then the pastor at Brown Memorial—the church I’d attended at Stillman—left, and encouraged me to apply for the position. I’d already made other plans, but he convinced me to apply. When I was chosen, there was that same surprise again. When I read the call narratives in the Bible, it’s always a surprising thing; it’s never like ‘Oh, I was waiting for you to say that.’

It seems fitting for Bentley to serve the church at Stillman because he credits the school for framing his sense of call. “Stillman says, ‘Yes, we’ll prepare you to make a living—and definitely to excel in your chosen discipline—but more than that, we’ll prepare you to make a life, to make the world a better place.’ Those things really mattered to me; they still do.” So being at Brown Memorial now feels like an opportunity to partner with the college he cherishes to help more young leaders find their own call.

ince his ordination, Greg Bentley has been active in the larger church, serving as a General Assembly commissioner and now as president of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus. “I’ve always seen involvement in the larger church as an extension of my call as a presbyter. That’s one thing that distinguishes Presbyterians from some denominations—that we have responsibility for the whole church and not just our congregation.”

As Presbyterians, one of the ways we live out that responsibility is through the Christmas Joy Offering. Half our gifts help students like young Greg Bentley hear and prepare to answer their call, one that often enough ends up serving the church and the community in unexpected ways. The other half help us respond through the Board of Pensions’ assistance programs to those who have devoted their lives to that call trusting us to help them in the times when their own resources couldn’t meet all their needs. The Holy Spirit that brings us unexpected gifts and offers us the chance to help each other with unexpected needs—that’s the heart of the Christmas Joy Offering. Let us joyously respond to that spirit by generously supporting the Offering.

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