Stephen Bentley serves the community in different ways

Stephen Bentley is a triple threat when making a difference in people’s lives.

For those who live in Stockton, Bentley is probably best known as the deacon at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in downtown Stockton. When he moved to Stockton from Pasadena around 1991, he became a member of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church and became active in the church.

“I was doing a lot of work at St. Anne’s, and the priest there saw all the work I was doing with people, fellowship opportunities, cooking for people, and helping youth work," he said. "He approached me one day and simply said, ‘you’re doing everything a deacon does, only you’re not ordained to do so.’”

He convinced Bentley to enter the seminary, and he became a deacon about nine years ago.

“As a deacon, my role is to look into the community and seek opportunities where there is a need,” Bentley said.

He looks for new ideas and was to help those in need. The church has partnered with nonprofits Showered with Love and Loads of Hope to provide shower facilities and laundry services for the homeless. He rides with the charitable group Mercy Peddlers who ride three-wheeled bikes around downtown to provide water, snacks, and toiletries to those in need.

The Stockton Episcopal Diocese sought a new idea to serve the community. “I talked to people and watched what they were doing,” Bentley said. “I found that bicycles and transportation were a huge need, particularly for those who are underemployed who are trying to get to and from work. So that became the beginning of what we were doing.”

Bentley learned how to repair bikes before becoming a deacon by working at REI and Performance Bikes in Stockton. Thus the HUB (Helping Urban Bicyclists) was born in 2016.

It is next door to St. John’s, Bentley, and a couple of volunteers repair bikes for those who can’t afford them.

“On days when it’s nice and sunny and ridable weather, we may get up to 30-35 people per day," he said.

They also give away donated bikes that they refurbish. He estimates that they’ve given away about 500 bicycles over the years.

“There are no costs for anything that’s here," he said. "If there’s something that someone wants to donate financially, it goes towards the betterment of the supplies we need.”

What Bentley has done to reach the most people might be what he’s least known for in Stockton.

As a boy in elementary school, he loved to draw.

“I was kind of a loner as a kid, so I lived in the fantasy of my ideas and my drawings," he said. "I thought the comics in the newspaper was magic stuff that just happens. Suddenly one day, it occurred to me that these are done by actual people.

“But the interesting thing is I never thought that I could have a job in this business mainly because of my color. All the cartoons, everything I saw as a representation were white characters.”

But then newspapers started looking for ways to get more readers of color. One of those ways was by running comic strips with more minority characters and strips created by minority artists.

“That’s how I was found,” Bentley said.

Around 1989, he joined cartooning organization and was almost immediately introduced to the Tribune Media Services syndicate, which sought Black artists. Bentley worked with a couple of cartoonists and developed a concept for a strip that became Herb and Jamaal, now seen in about 60 newspapers nationwide.

“The cartoon itself deals with African American characters. I wanted to have an African American flavor by having personalities or subject matter that reflects Black history," he said. "It’s family humor that has some poignant observations and spirituality.”

Cartoonist, deacon, bike repairman. What does Bentley like to do the most?

“It’s a third, a third, third. Each is a different facet of myself that I love to tap into. What I like about being a deacon is I’m always looking for new opportunities to offer the message of what we do for the people. Either in the church or who do in the community, making connections with the people that I’m working with. For the bicycles, it's another extension of that same arm. Now I’m doing something to assist these people with the things they were asking for in the first place. They tell you that they have a need, and to be able to fulfill that need with something tangible with, like a bicycle or food or water, or whatever the case maybe of what we offer here, we’re extending that hospitality and that ministry to assist those who are unfortunate. As a cartoonist I now also have a voice where I can talk about those concerns through the voices of the characters, either poignantly or with humor. It all kind of mixes together.”

Record photographer Clifford Oto has photographed Stockton and San Joaquin County for over 38 years. He can be reached at coto@recordnet.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Deacon Stephen Bentley helps and serves community in different ways