FOUNDER OF MARANATHA CHAPEL LEAVES LEGACY

Maranatha Chapel founder, prolific Christian author and longtime pastor Rayburn John Bentley Jr., a San Diego native who grew his local evangelical Christian church from a few dozen people to a congregation of more than 7,000, died Jan. 4 from complications of COVID-19, his family said.

He was 64.

Born June 21, 1957, Bentley, known around town as Pastor Ray, grew up in El Cajon and attended El Cajon Valley High School, where he was quarterback of the football team and began his first ministry, a high school Bible study. The young preacher, who credits a Billy Graham movie for his salvation at the age of 11 and a transistor radio for his early education, had an insatiable appetite for world news and information that continued until the day he died, according to his own testimony and accounts from those who knew him best.

The interest morphed into a passion for prophecy and Israel that was further fueled by his participation in the Jesus Movement revival in the early 70s. Bentley moved to Costa Mesa after high school to study under Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

After attending Calvary Chapel Bible College in Twin Peaks, Bentley, with his wife Vicki, returned to his high school’s cafeteria in 1977 to start his first church, Calvary Chapel El Cajon.

In 1981, he transitioned to an assistant pastor role with Horizon Christian Fellowship. But by 1984 he was ready to travel down an evangelical path that would turn him into a legendary figure in the Southern California faith community.

That year, Maranatha Chapel was seeded as a small, midweek Bible study at the Mira Mesa Recreation Center. A year later, the church had taken over the auditorium at Wangenheim Middle School, where crowds eventually spilled outside to hear his Sunday sermons.