As Cleo Bentley sat waiting on his children to take him out to celebrate his 91st birthday recently, he also waited on yet another word from the Lord. Even retirement can’t keep those words from coming to Bentley, a new resident of Woodland Haus, an assisted living facility in Cullman.
Starting with a call to pastoral ministry in "19 and 37," Bentley has breathed the word of God into his precious native Cullman County as if he were spreading a fire. At Enon Baptist Church (his first), at Welcome, at Center Point, at Etha and at Pleasant Grove — the churches once his stage pile up in memory, and the names blur together for him.
"I honestly can’t think of them all offhand," Bentley said.
Though he claims not to have a favorite, it’d be hard to deny that Oak Level Baptist Church, Cullman, in East Cullman Baptist Association holds a special place in his heart. "I was pastor there three separate times," Bentley said. "Sometimes when they got out of a pastor, they’d call me and see if I’d consider resigning where I was, and if I was available, well, they’d have me back. They must have liked me a little bit."
That is an understatement, according to Debbie Williams. "I can’t think of one person who didn’t love that man."
For Williams, her childhood Sundays weren’t Sundays without Bentley. "I grew up at [Oak Level Baptist], and I think there were four different times he was our pastor."
Williams was one of the first to share his joy at receiving his new calling in 2002. This time, it was as resident chaplain of Morningside, an assisted living facility in Cullman, his home at the time.
When she went to visit him at Morningside, "his face was shining with excitement," Williams recalled. "The first thing he said was, ‘The Lord has called me again.’"
Bentley speaks of the moment, which came within three months of moving into the facility, with purposeful clarity. "I was just sitting on the edge of my bed one day and the Lord just got a hold of me."
For him, it was a familiar feeling with a familiar message. "I realized there was something He wanted me to do. I said, ‘Well it’d have to be something here. I’m not able to do anything else outside of here.’"
Morningside had never had a chaplain, but for Penny Moody, Morningside’s executive director and member of Bethsadia Baptist Church, Cullman, it was a pleasure to give permission for Bentley’s vision to be fulfilled. "He’s known all over the county as a wonderful preacher, and the residents here just loved him," she said.
With a prayer request box installed at the threshold of his room, Bentley took to the halls of Morningside with the same fervency the streets and communities of Cullman County once knew him for. Bentley visited residents, sitting and talking before praying with each one.
This was his routine for four years until recently moving to Woodland Haus, where he currently waits for the same opportunity — the same word from the Lord.
"If they wanted me to, I would," Bentley said of the possibility of a chaplaincy role at Woodland Haus.
"I’m sure he’s got the same calling (for Woodland Haus)," Williams said.
Moody agrees. "I hated him leaving (Morningside) but wherever he is, he’s serving the Lord."
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