We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rev. Dawn Bennett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dawn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The year was 2014. I knew I was being called into ministry. I also knew I had spent 15 years kicking and screaming about how I didn’t want to go. Before my Dad died he told me, “If there’s anything you want to do in your life before entering ordained ministry do it. Because if you end up there anyway you’ll know that God allowed you to get everything else out of your system. If the day comes you’ll know that you had to do it because there was nothing else left.” He was not wrong.

In late 2015, I quit my job with a paycheck and a pension, and entered seminary. I emerged a few years later and became ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I’m a bisexual, female, Christian Pastor serving an LGBTQ+ centered church in the middle of the Bible Belt. It’s not for the faint of heart. And honestly, I mentally quit my job about 3 days a week (said tongue-in-cheek – obviously there’s still a little brat in me who’s kicking and screaming).

The name of the church is The Table and it’s an extremely special place. There’s no place like it, in fact. We are a ragtag bunch of spiritual misfits. We’re learning to love ourselves and accept that we are created beautiful and holy just as we are. We are not without our scars and battle wounds because let’s face it, religious trauma is real.

The stress and passion seem to ebb and flow about as much as my energy level. Yet, at the end of every day I seem to always manage to eek out a little prayer of gratitude. I am grateful that my life has changed in this direction. I continue to have more questions than answers and I think I’m grateful for that too. The last thing we need is another Christian pastor claiming to have it all figured out. (I take off running every time I’m faced with that personality).

The risk for me to change careers this late in life was enormous to be sure. However, the risk my church folks take to trust God, to trust themselves, to trust me, and to trust the other folks at The Table is immeasurable. They are the true heroes. Every day we gather we’re learning to reframe old negative tapes; to reform new life-giving narratives; and, to do the physical work out loud of reclaiming our spiritual belovedness.

In the early days I had hoped to have a little more confidence and resources and planning on the path ahead. Several years down the road now I find that most days I’m still winging it. At the end of the day, there’s always a risk to fly or to fall. Still, at the end of every day I believe we have to jump and the net will appear.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc. Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as this is one of the core questions where the reader will get to know about you and your brand/organization/etc

My name is Reverend Dawn Bennett, but you can call me Pastor Dawn. I’m in ELCA Lutheran pastor in Nashville, Tennessee. I was called by Bishop Kevin Strickland of the Southeastern Synod ELCA In January of 2020 to found a church called The Table.

The Table is a Christian church, on paper, but honestly, it is so much more. And on paper I’m a pastor, but my work is so much more. Some days I’m a community organizer, some days a political activist. Some days I’m a transportation manager and other days I’m a housekeeper. I go to court with folks, I go to school with folks, I go to the bar with folks. I write. I teach. I preach. I mentor. And I fight tooth and nail to raise up the voices of the underdog. I do this because we all matter. Everybody matters.

The Table is a LGBTQIA+ centered faith collective committed to the work of social justice and racial equity. We welcome those who are seeking God’s love and grace as a first-timer or a lifer. Everyone has a seat at our table and we affirm people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, abilities, age, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and relationship status. We strive for whole person wellness without regard to addictions, physical or mental health, imprisonment, socioeconomic status, or that which divides. We actively seek unity.

Our mission is to promote spiritual well-being for LGBTQIA+ and minority people groups in the exploration of self, faith, community and the deeper issues of being and belonging.

I don’t know that I solve any problems for folks per se but I sure do my best to journey with them in the most patient and loving way I know how so that they may discover a healthy faith life for themselves.

Typically what sets me apart, at least what folks tell me, is that I’m not very “churchy.” My response is I do all the pastory-stuff that every other pastor does: baptisms, funerals, weddings, church services and pastoral care visitation, I just do it in a very different way than most other traditional religious clergy do.

I remember one young woman told me I don’t act much like a pastor. I told her I thought that was okay, that God didn’t need any more actors. That seemed to go over well.

I try to be authentic and transparent with people. I own the reality that religious leaders such as people in my position have done a great deal of harm especially to marginalized communities. So I find myself apologizing on behalf of haters and naysayers on a regular basis. And then, I do what I do best, which is share the love of an Unconditional God with everybody I meet.

I suppose if there’s one thing I’m proud of it’s that I took the risk to dedicate the remainder of my working career to what God would have me to do instead of what I would have me to do. I’m proud of myself for waking up everyday and still choosing that.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field? I’m very grateful that a person only has to go through seminary one time. Because it’s a grueling several years. I’m very well educated and very well prepared to be the pastor that I am and called to serve the people that I serve. All of that aside, what is most helpful (bar none) in succeeding in my profession is learning to listen with intention.

I strive very hard everyday to help and serve people in the way that they need to be helped and served, not in the way I perceive they need to be helped and served. There’s an ocean between those two philosophies. The former being person-centered and the latter pastor-centered. I was called to serve, not be served.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

At least twice a week I get hate mail from homophobes or transphobes. If this were a political interview, I would say I’m a blue island in a red ocean. Instead, to put it in religious terms, I am a progressive island in an ocean of dangerously conservative waters. Every day I wake up I say a little prayer for my own safety and then I get out of bed. I drink my two cups of coffee and I go about my day because I was not given a spirit of fear. If you’re coming after me you better pack a lunch and plan to stay a while, lol.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thetablenashville.org
• Instagram: The_Table_Nashville
• Facebook: @thetablenashville
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rev-dawn-bennett-b731756a/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/3wgy-Vnl_0I

Image Credits
top left: Nathan Morgan (b/w shot with chair) 3rd row right (courage): Laura Roberts bottom left: Emily Allen (queer pastor torso pic)