1899, near Mar­ion, Ohio.

A Church of the Na­za­rene min­is­ter, Ben­ner was ed­u­cat­ed at Ol­iv­et Na­za­rene Col­lege and Van­der­bilt Un­i­ver­si­ty of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. Af­ter serv­ing as a col­lege pro­fess­or, and lat­er as a pas­tor at San­ta Mon­i­ca, Cal­i­forn­ia; Spo­kane, Wash­ing­ton; and Kan­sas Ci­ty First Church, Ben­ner was elect­ed the first pre­si­dent of the Na­za­rene The­o­lo­gi­cal Sem­in­a­ry in l944. He was elect­ed gen­er­al su­per­in­ten­dent in 1952, serv­ing until his re­tire­ment in 1968. He was gen­er­al su­per­in­ten­dent emer­i­tus un­til his death; Benn­er Hall and Ben­ner Lib­ra­ry on the cam­pus of Ol­iv­et Na­za­rene Un­i­ver­si­ty are named af­ter him. Ben­ner’s works in­clude:

• Singing Dis­ci­ples: To­ward Bet­ter Church Mu­sic (Na­za­rene Pub­lish­ing House, 1959)

1. Jesus Is My Re­fuge © 1951
2. Not My Will but Thine
3. O Shout the News! © 1952
4. Power in the Blood of Je­sus
5. The Church in Mis­sion

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