Rev. Lauren Bennett, Associate Pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis, Missouri
(The following bio was taken from the website of the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis, found at http://www.mccgsl.org/ )
Rev. Lauren Bennett mostly grew up in the Evergreen State outside of Seattle. She was a church skeptic who found a community of radical queer disciples who preached liberation of all people in upstate New York when attending St. Lawrence University. Through a long discernment process, lots of reading, and even more conversations, she eventually committed to following the Way and was baptized.
Always up for an adventure, she packed her worldly possessions in her Subaru and drove to Florida to work in the ways of Cesar Chavez as a community organizer in 2011. This work led her to King of Peace MCC where she was energized by a community who merged sexuality and spirituality. A few years later, she began working for Metropolitan Community Churches as the Conference/Meeting Coordinator planning General Conference, among other things, where she remains on staff part-time.
In 2015, she moved to Washington, DC to begin studies at Wesley Theological Seminary and become an active part of MCCDC. She took the summer of 2018 off to work with San Francisco Night Ministry before entering her last year of studies. In May 2019, she graduated with honors from with her Masters in Divinity, with a concentration in Urban Studies.
On August 31, 2019, she was ordained in Washington, DC and is so grateful to be on staff at MCCGL where she focuses on programming, community partnerships, and congregational care. In her free time she likes being outside, reading, drinking coffee, or dancing when not hanging out with her fiancé AhSa-Ti and step-son Ahmmit.
Rev. Bennett received a request to serve as the spiritual advisor for Amber McLaughlin, a transgender death row inmate, and quickly developed a close relationship with her over the last few months she sat on death row. On January 3, 2023, Amber became the first transgender person to be executed in Missouri and in the United States. She became only the second person to be executed in Missouri after spiritual advisors were granted the right to be present in the death chamber next to the person being executed. As a result, Rev. Bennett was able to stand next to Amber McLaughlin and offer her comfort during the execution.
On May 3, 2023, I met with Rev. Bennett in her office at the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis in order to interview her about her experience just three months earlier, when she served as a witness to Amber's execution. In the articles found below, Rev. Bennett provides insight into the challenges she endured from her experience serving as a witness to the execution of Amber McLaughlin.
Missouri Executes Transgender Inmate Convicted of Murdering Ex-Girlfriend in 2003
Praying in a Death Chamber- Word & Way
Spiritual Advisors Offering Final Comfort in Execution Rooms