Harold C. Bennett, president-treasurer of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee 1979–92, died July 27 of pancreatic cancer at his Brentwood, Tenn., home near Nashville. He was 78.
Prior to his 13-plus years leading the Executive Committee, Bennett was executive secretary-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention 1967–79; director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ missions division, 1965-67; secretary of the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) metropolitan missions department, 1962–65; and superintendent of new work of the Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources) Sunday School department, 1960–62.
Prior to his denominational service, Bennett had been a pastor, prison chaplain, short-term FBI clerk and Navy pilot.
Bennett was the fourth leader of the Executive Committee since its founding in 1917, succeeding Porter Routh, who served in the post — formerly called executive secretary-treasurer — for 28 years.
The SBC grew from 13.2 million members to 15.2 million and from 35,404 churches to 38,221 during Bennett’s 1979–92 time frame, while the Cooperative Program budget soared from $75 million to $140 million, an 87 percent increase. The SBC building — an $8 million, seven-story facility — opened in Nashville in 1983.
And Southern Baptists’ Bold Mission Thrust, the effort launched in 1976 to stir Southern Baptists toward a key role in sharing the gospel worldwide by the year 2000, helped the convention stay focused on missions during times when, otherwise, “we would have slipped back,” Bennett said, “instead of going forward.”
Bennett began his tenure on the Executive Committee three months before the SBC conservative resurgence began in 1979.
Throughout the years of change, marked by controversy and more than a decade of divided votes in annual convention presidential elections, Bennett kept a steady course. “My commitment,” he said upon retiring, “has been to be fair and to work with all of our constituency.”
A native of Asheville, N.C., Bennett was a graduate of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem and earned his master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He was the recipient of several honorary doctorate degrees as well.
Bennett is survived by his wife Phyllis; two sons, Jeffrey of Palm Harbor, Fla., and Scott of Charleston, S.C.; one daughter, Cynthia Howard of St. Petersburg, Fla.; and five grandchildren. (BP)
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