The Reverend Benjamin
Ledell Reynolds, MDiv

The Colorado Springs’ Gazette in a profile article called him "The People's Preacher', and now with nearly 35-years of preaching, Benjamin Reynolds, former pastor of the  Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church of Colorado Springs looks back and recalls his roots. Early in his life it was clear that there was something different about the skinny and scared, fourteen year-old young man who stood before the congregation and delivered his first sermon. The young Benjamin Reynolds was no ordinary child. A licensed minister when he was hardly 14, in the church that he would later come to pastor, he could often be found at the library while others boys were on the baseball diamond or the basketball court.

Reynolds was graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, and later earned his Master of Divinity Degree from the prestigious Iliff School of Theology in Denver. During his tenure as pastor of Emmanuel, Reynolds’ passion was to take the church beyond its walls.  He was instrumental in leading the 1,200 member congregation to offer a myriad of ministries that clearly reflected his vision of a body of Christ reaching into a twenty-first century. A prison outreach program was a key part of that vision as was an HIV/AIDS ministry that helped to replace fear and even condemnation with hope and understanding. A scholarship program for graduating senior high students was just one aspect of a youth services program characterized by its vitality. As president of the local branch of the NAACP during the period of 2003 to 2005, Reynolds had become one of Colorado Springs' most visible civil rights champions, while privately wrestling with a civil rights issue of his own…making a resistant public aware of his own sexuality and the fallout that this would inevitably bring.

Reynolds has been deeply involved in national affairs and his credits include being an active member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated; serving as a member of the Religious Advisory Committee for the National Black Justice Coalition; as well as his service in the National Human Rights Campaign and a myriad of other activities which his passion for human rights and justice leads him to champion.
He has completed an internship with the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN) of Colorado, and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern Colorado AIDS Project. In 2002 the First Congregational Church of Colorado Springs honored him with the Micah 6 Award, as he proclaims justice, mercy, and examples a life of humble communion and faithfulness.  He was also honored to be inducted into the Morehouse College Board of Preachers in that same year for his commitment to preaching and teaching social justice.

Reynolds became an advocate for the rights of gays and lesbians, officially welcoming them into the life of the church. Attendance at a 16-week church study series Reynolds taught on the subject of "The Black Church and Sexuality," was high. Among other things his teachings examined how Black congregations often discriminate against gays and how such discrimination seemed incompatible with the teachings of Jesus and his admonition to “love your neighbor as yourself.” While there were substantial gains among many who attended the series, his position on homosexuality caused some congregants to leave the church.

Eventually, Reynolds also would leave the church of his childhood-rearing. He said, however, it was the congregation's opposition to his advocacy for gays and lesbians – not his own sexual orientation – that convinced him it was time to leave. He knew in order to depart with integrity the congregation needed a face for same-gender love, and that such individuals could be faithful servants of God. He became that sacrificial lamb. The fallout was predictable: some congregants were fully supportive, some downright angry. Most felt his views on sexuality were simply incompatible with those of the church, and he was voted by the congregation to depart sooner than the date his resignation indicated.

Moving to Denver, Reynolds became Coordinator of Ministry Studies at the Iliff School of Theology, bringing a pastoral presence to this area of academia; and at the same time serving as the Program Director for Brothas4Ever. This Denver based organization is a peer led program of It Takes a Village, established to promote the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of same-gender loving African American men by helping to build community. During the summer of 2007, Reynolds also served as the Interim Pastor of the Community United Church of Christ in Boulder, Colorado, while the pastor was on a sabbatical.

Now living in Chicago, Reverend Reynolds is matriculating in a Doctor of Philosophy Program at Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS), with an objective to plans to analyze the black church and culture and its current engagement with the lesbian and gay Christians while making contributions on ways in which we can learn to reach out and confront all types of oppression—not just race—in order to do the work of the black community. He also hopes to be influential as a conduit between the local church and the Academy and vice versa regarding these issues. His goal is to encourage dialogue about same-sex partnership, and the relationship of those who are marginalized as somehow separate from God and community.

On May 1, 2008, Benjamin was honored, on behalf of the LGBTQ Religious Studies Center at CTS, where he serves as Director, to be presented the Gilberto Castañeda Scholarship 2008-2009. The Gilberto Castañeda Scholarship is given in support of future gay and lesbian seminarians, because CTS believes that by honoring the least of these, the Lord also receives honor; and that Gilberto is among the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us and, as it is said in Latin America, though he has died yet is he “Presente!” 

Benjamin’s long-term goals are to teach and facilitate social justice and preaching in a seminary to students preparing to go into congregations and other forms of ministry as leaders. He continues to feel God’s calling to eventually return to a permanent pastorate.

Since May 2009 Benjamin has served as the Transitional Pastor for the Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, Oak Park, Illinois, is a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ and seeking Privilege of Call within the UCC denomination. Reynolds says of his work, “I am better preparing for ministry, even as I do it!”
As for the spare time Benjamin Reynolds manages to find, he has a passion for cycling and travel. In reflecting on his over thirty years in ministry, he is struck with the realization that some things have changed very little from the days of his youth when the 14 year old took the pulpit. He still loves reading, Sunday services, singing along with the choir and his abundant excitement over the things of God.