MEET OUR PASTOR: Pastor (Major) Paula Anne Smith-Benson, United Stated Air Force (Retired), is a native of Philadelphia and currently resides in Willingboro, NJ after over 20 years of honorable service to our country. She is a Certified Professional Christian Life Coach and serves as the Founder and Pastor of Reign In The Rain Ministries in Mount Holly, NJ. Pastor Smith-Benson is married to Aronda
Smith-Benson a highly regarded Veteran Advocate, Founder/Executive Director Women Veteran Command Center, City Council Veteran Advisory Commissioner and a graduate student at University of Pennsylvania in Organizational Dynamics. She is also the mother of two children a daughter in graduate school at Holy Family University and a son in high school. In 1989, Pastor Smith-Benson obtained her direct commissioning in the United States Air Force Nurse Corp as a Second Lieutenant after earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. In 1996 she earned a Master of Science in Nursing, specializing in Nurse Midwifery from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, AL. Immediately following graduation Pastor Smith-Benson received Board Certification as a Certified Nurse Midwife. Pastor Smith-Benson was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where she served as a nurse practitioner and clergy for wounded troops and their family members arriving in Germany from battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2004-2007 Pastor Smith-Benson traveled abroad again to Tokyo, Japan with her family. While stationed in Japan she traveled to Kanagawa, Japan in an effort to strengthen the bonds of faith between African Americans and other believers from twelve different nations victoriously coming together sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through this opportunity, she supervised a team of clergy and lay leaders introducing them to the idea of universal precautions and hand hygiene in the missional environment. In 2011, following retirement, Pastor Smith-Benson returned to Philadelphia with a thirst to better understand the word and will of God. In 2012, her thirst led her to enroll at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) in Philadelphia, PA. where she is currently a Master of Divinity candidate. Pastor Smith-Benson is a proud member of the Military Officer’s Association, VFW Post- 4914 in Willingboro, NJ, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, The National Black Nurses Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
