Ex-gay activist Stephen Bennett dropped off our radar screen last year when he got a real job as a Realtor and allowed his website to go dead.
Now he’s back. His ministry web site skips over the whole real-estate shebang and maintains that “SBM is a full-time evangelistic and educational ministry” while begging for donations of $5 per month.
Bennett has always exhibited a sizable ego, and for 2011 Bennett has a vision to match: A grand 10th-anniversary ministry conference in the thriving metropolis of Shelton, Connecticut, led by “many special guest speakers” that he can’t name at a location that he doesn’t disclose.
Perhaps the conference will be at the Central Baptist Church pictured here? Does this church really host regular sermons by Bennett and nobody else? And why is the parking lot empty? Is the empty parking lot representative of his congregation, or the number of people who knew him when he says he was gay, or the desolate life of an ex-gay minister who is ostracized by the remainder of the ex-gay activist community?
To dispel any doubts about his popularity and the likely size of his conference, Bennett supplies what appears to be a stock photo of a crowded auditorium — seemingly altered to show a giant photoshopped SBM ministry splash screen on the stage and a photoshopped banner for his antigay parental support group on the side wall.
We strongly encourage suckers believers to send $169 to Stephen and wife Irene to attend the conference and report back. Tell Bennett’s social-media sidekick Janet Hensley that we said hello. (Hensley and I had some encounters long ago, when I edited Ex-Gay Watch.)
Addendum: Noted for future reference: Stephen’s personal, realtor-friendly blog hasn’t seen activity since December 2009. His ex-gay blog is current. Here’s Stephen on Twitter and Facebook.
I do like the notice in the top photograph: “STEPHEN BENNETT WORSHIP.” How very appropriate.
Why give these nut jobs any press?
I don’t intend to obsess over them, but they do exist, they continue to rip people off, and the public should be at least marginally aware of them.
More importantly, I think people should ask why Exodus doesn’t condemn the ex-gay scams that they know about, especially when the scams are not affiliated with Exodus.
I am very familiar with SBM since he has wrapped up my in-laws in his ex-gay nonsense to the point he even called our house once – very scary! I have been tracking his nonsense for some time – the best being his “Daddy pants” scheme!
However, it is important to note possible IRS fraud – or at least non-compliance. SBM (Stephen Bennett Ministries Inc.) last filed a Form 990 with the IRS for Tax Year 2007 in January 2009 and nothing since according to Guidestar. No filings for the last couple of years of the tax-free status before the whole real estate thing.
But now that there is a new and improved Stephen Bennett Ministries this is no longer a problem since he claims on his web-page “At this time, SBM is not a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.”
So what happened to the previous ‘tax-exempt’ years before real estate? My partner and I are no longer residents of the US so how can someone initiate investigations with the IRS and bring a financial spot-light to this likely IRS fraud?
I would love to see some financials for his last few years of ‘officialdom.’
That is worth investigating. However, I stumbled across SBM’s reactivated site while poking around the IRS 990 forms of groups were, until now, likely exempt from filing because they claimed to have budgets of less than $25K. New regs will force all groups to file, no matter how poor they claim to be.
It’s interesting that after Bennett closed down his “ministry,” he went into real estate, a field that attracts more than its share of sleazy operators. I guess he learned his timing was poor, due to the bursting of the housing bubble.
So, realizing that his only skills are in the field of con-artistry, he’s now back in the ministry racket, an activity where he can bilk gullible people out of money in order to promote God-based fraud.
There is no activity where fraudsters/scammers can function with greater impunity than the religion racket. All they have to do is work behind a religious facade, and, if they’re smart about it, their fraud is usually immune from prosecution. Religion truly does enjoy special freedoms.
uh….take a deep breath and step away from the keyboard Kevin….( WTF? )
Just a short comment…not really a troll, but definitely a loony!
I would guess there’s probably more money in religion than real estate and fewer rules.
Amen Brother! All it takes is a white suit, bleached teeth, spray tan, pretty woman (with same attributes), and code words to sad sad parents. Yeeehaaahhh!