Norman Bennett’s earliest spiritual experiences were in the primary department at Orcutt Avenue Baptist Church in Newport News. At age 6 he memorized the 100th Psalm and received his first Bible. While in the junior department at First Baptist Church, Newport News, the pastor’s wife, Eva Price, would come unannounced to his house. “My mother would not let me answer the door,” he remembers. “Mrs. Price genuinely cared about my spiritual well being and she persisted. It was a magical moment when Bruce Price baptized me. My parents came to worship on the day of my baptism. To the best of my recollection, it was the last time they came to church together.”
Fred Anderson
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Bennett was nearly 16 when a chance encounter with a Virginia Baptist leader placed him on his life’s direction. His parents had divorced and he was spending the summer with his grandparents in South Boston. They attended First Baptist Church, South Boston; and one Sunday the church had a guest speaker — Joseph H. Cosby, president of Hargrave Military Academy, the Baptist preparatory school for boys in nearby Chatham.
After the service, the teenager summed the courage to talk with Cosby. Bennett still remembers the conversation. “I told him how much I wanted to attend a military school and particularly Hargrave. He said, ‘Young man, what is your name? What is your phone number? What is your address?’”
“To my surprise, at the end of the summer, he showed up unannounced at our house in Newport News. He told my mother what I had said and that he wanted me to enroll at Hargrave for my senior year. She nearly fainted. She explained that she couldn’t afford to send me to a private school. He explained that I would receive a full scholarship, including tuition, room, board, books and uniforms. In return, I would run the mile, half mile and cross country for the track team; and I would play in the marching band, concert band, orchestra and sing in the glee club. These were things which he had learned that I could do during that first meeting in South Boston. We both lobbied my mother and she gave in reluctantly.”
Norman Bennett as a young man …
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Charles Norman Bennett Jr., who turns 74 later this month, confesses that his experiences at Hargrave and his contacts with Joe Cosby were “life changing.” “It was one more time when God was working in my life through others and through ordinary events, yet God was preparing me for the extraordinary. The opportunity came at a very important time of need in my life.”
Bennett recalls that the academy president took his meals in the mess hall with the cadets. “I sat at his table, to his right, along with six other cadets on scholarship. One evening he asked me where I wanted to go to college. I told him that I wanted to go to a military college and be commissioned as an officer. He said: ‘You don’t want to do that.’ I asked why not. ‘Norman,’ he said, ‘Have you ever thought God could use you in the ministry?’ I was stunned, speechless! ‘Col. Cosby,’ I said, ‘No one has ever said anything to me like that in my entire life!’ ”
“A few weeks later, Col. Cosby asked me to bring my saxophone and clarinet and be prepared to play the following Sunday. You cannot imagine my surprise when we drove to the county prison. He asked me to lead the singing. We went together two more times. After that, I drove his car to the county prison and led worship — singing, playing and teaching Scriptures. To this day I remember the shudder I felt each time I heard those prison doors clang shut.”
… and Norman Bennett today.
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Joe Cosby helped the young man get scholarships to his alma mater, the University of Richmond, a Baptist school. At UR, Bennett came under the influence of another Christian educator, Raymond B. Brown, chairman of the department of religion. Bennett remembers: “I told him that I was struggling with whether or not God wanted me in the ministry. He did not push but invited me to accompany him and his wife, Caralie, to Deep Run Baptist Church in Richmond where he was serving as interim pastor.” Soon the college student was teaching a Sunday school class and reading Scripture aloud during the worship services. The professor explained to his student: “Whether you are a minister or a lay leader, I want you to know how to read the Bible with dignity and reverence. It’s the only time some people will hear the written Word of God from one week to the next.”
Norman Bennett spent two years in the U.S. Navy. Once on a special mission, he witnessed the death of a fellow Navy man; and as the man was dying, he heard strange words spoken over and over. He later learned that the man was Jewish and that he was repeating in Hebrew the words: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One God.” It made a deep impression upon Bennett. “God enabled me to know that I ought to make my life count for something.” While in the Navy he whispered his own prayer: “Dear God, if there is any way you can take my life and use me to help humankind, please do it.”
“My prayer was answered when Dr. Clyde Francisco preached at Talbot Park Baptist Church in Norfolk during a spiritual emphasis week. On the last night, he spoke about Jeremiah, the potter and the clay. I came to understand that God, the Potter, can take any old vessel of clay, no matter how marred and imperfect, and remold it, make it better and use the vessel for his good purposes. In his invitation, he wondered if anyone present was struggling in regards to a call to ministry. I knew his message was from God to me. My questions and struggles were, at last, over. I eagerly and gladly went forward and answered, ‘Here I am; send me.’ ”
Norman Bennett followed his calling. He served as pastor of three Virginia Baptist churches — Central in Altavista as well as Azalea and Central in Norfolk — and several churches in North Carolina and Florida. He also was assistant professor of bioethics at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Today he and his family live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Norman Bennett’s life, surrendered to God’s calling for ministry, has proven that the early influences of Sunday school as well as opportunities afforded at Hargrave, the University of Richmond and Southeastern Seminary were good investments in the future.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies, P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.