at First Baptist ~~-

The Rev. Mr. David B. Smith will be guest preacher for the Service of Worship Sunday at 11 a.m. at Monroe's First Baptist Church. Mr. Smith has served as Chaplain at Wingate College since 1975.

A native of Greer, S.C., he is a graduate of Mars Hill College and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has

as Intern-Campus Minister at the University of North Carolina and as 'Associate Pastor at the First Baptist Church In Lexington.

His sermon topic will be "Total Healing." The children's sermon will be "Everything Is Beautiful."

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A 1

? CLIPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO

RALEIGH, NC 27603 TEL. (919)833·2079

At·!~·Oi'I RECC~..D WAD-cSBORQ, N. c.

;:;~J 31 88

~SSiiifari~s ' -

Are Dr. nayjd Sroiih and his wife,

Janice, Southern Baptist mis-sionaries in Ecuador, will be missionaries-in-residence at Wingate College from June through December.

David Smith will teach two courses during the Fall 1988, semester. The Smiths will be available to s~ in churches in the area.

Currently the Smiths serve in Guayaquil, Ecuador, through . the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Guayaquil was also the site of ~e

mission work by a Wingate College group during spring break in March.

In Ecuador, David Smith is general evangelist and Janice Smith is a church and home worker.

The Smiths began serving in Ecuador in 1986, and will be in Wingate for a six-month furlough.

David · Smith, a Greer, S.C., native, was campus minister at Wingate from 1975-79. He has also served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Wadesboro, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in

::;;--..

,:' f\ \ \ Returning To Area) Lexington, campus minister at Mars Hill College, and summer missionary in North Carolina.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Mars Hill College and ·his graduate and doctorate degrees from Southeastern Seminary at Wake Forest.

Janice Rowland Smith is a Marion native. Prior to the Smiths' appointment, she was ii 'public health nutritionist with the Anson County Health Department,

She earned her undergraduate degree at Salem' College in Winston-Salem and her graduate

.Y":". I

degree at Western Carolina Uruver-sity in Cullowhee.

The Smiths have two sons, David Seth Smith and Johathan Rowland Smith.

Speaking programs can be ar-ranged through Dr. Jim McCoy, campus minister.

Wirtgate's missionary-in-residence program began in January with the Rev. Carl Houston of Matthews as missionary-in-residence on a part-time basis for the spring semester. Houston has served in Malawi, in south central Africa. //

CALDWELL N:::v 15 HUDSON, N. C.

J UL 2 0 94

One Life's Not Long Enough ~ JJW1 Tf> Do Everything \ ~EANNAC~ :;: News Staff Writer . Profiile

~ ENOIR - Dr. David B. Smith says he needs more than one lifetime to get everything done that he would like to do .

"Life's too short to be bored." said Smith, pastor of First. Baptist Church. · ·r wish I had the time to do 'other tfiings.

"I'd love to teach history . I'd like to be a librarian. I always thought I'd like to run a book store or run a fishing pier. I think that would be fun. I'd like to earn an advanced degree in Spanish.'·

While he would like to do all those things, Smith says his calling is to be--a pastor and minister.

"My senior year in high school I as struggling to know who I was

and what God wanted me to do, and l felt a sense of call to ministry,'' he said. "but I didn't want to tell anybody about that much."

Smith says he was not embarrass-ed by his call. but that he "didn't like the way most ministerial students

I just wanted to be

Believing that ministers should have a broad-based liberal arts education, Smith, who g;ew up in Greer, S.C., majored in history at Mars Hill College . He received his bachelor's degree there in 1969 .

Two years later, he was ordained to the ministry, and in 1973, he received a master of divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest.

Five years later, he earned his doctorate of ministry from the same seminary.

Smith also spent a year in clinical pastoral education at N.C . Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill.

From 1973 to 1975 , he was associate pastor of a church in Lex-ington . The next four years. he was chaplain of Wingate College.

He calls his yea rs a t Wingate · ·probably the happiest o f all /

(See He, Page 11 ) t,

-----·

H·e Needs More Than One Lifetime To r

(Continued From Page 1) life." · In 1979, he became campus

ministe.i:_ at Mars Hill College, a position he held until 1982.

By that time, Smith was feeling the call to the mission field, but was told by the Southern Baptist Conven-tion's Foreign Mission Board that he needed to have pastoral experience before he would be considered.

With that in mind, he became pastor of First Baptist Church of Wadesboro for three years, and was then appointed by the Foreign Mis-sion Board in 1985.

The first year of his four-year stint as a missionary was spent at the Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica. He and his wife Janice then left for Ecuador.

· ·1 believe God gives gifts and abilities for our life's calling. However, I believe that calling is dynamic . It's not static," he said. "God can use you in a lot of dif-ferent ways.·'

While in Guayaquil , Ecuador, Smith says he came to realize that he was meant to be in the pastorate.

His missionary experience, he said, has made him a better pastor for several reasons . . "I don't take the little things so seriously anymore,'· he said, "when you·ve been used to dealing with life and death stuff and people are dying around you ."

Smith says his time in Ecuador also allowed him to :·see great faith in people who are very different from we here in the States, and they have different ways of expressing it.''

The experience also gave him the opportunity to see the United States through the eyes of someone else.

"You begin to look at your coun-try in different ways. You see we are a great mission field," he said.

Smith returned from Ecuador in 1989, the same year he became pastor of First Baptist Church in

Lenoir. He says Lenoir has been good for

him and his family. "I enjoy living in a place where

I can know a wide variety of peo-ple," he said. "I lived in a city of over 2 mill ion where everything was out of control. At least you feel like you have some influence here.' '

Talking about the challenge of be-ing pastor of First Baptist, Smith

said , " I think it's the same as any church ,_ ~nd that's the awesome respons~b.1hty of attempting to preach so that It s God's word and not m word that is communicated... y

He sa~s a close relationship with the family helps ministers avoid pastoral burnout.

· 'I think pastors need to protect their families and be a husband and father first before being a pastor,,,

he said. ' ·1 really enjoy m: The Smiths have twc

sons. "I'm motivated by the I<

and the love of my family . I'm a person of worth created by God, and that a sense of freedom, a sem he said. "I find the wor fascinating place. I find p< fascinating ."

Baptist Church of ior Minister, First

968-1987) . 1al Activities. He of the Minister's noir as Moderator aptist Association of Directors of the minary Alumni ina Baptist State ffairs Committee

nd as Executive nd Chairman. He rectors of the Life

ptist Church, Mr. Development of

Adams, now a blic Schools, and d Dara. Dara was st Bapitst Church

ch in Lenoir there rch structure and he Reverend Mr. eenagers groups

s, including trips uch sought-after

hout the area and . He spearheaded ~-. Broyhill Senior. ·

as a minister was s church members ughout Caldwell

church members.

CITADEL OF FAITH: A HISTORY OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, LENOIR, N. C., 1889-1989 (286.1756845/C58)

DR. DAVID BRUCE SMITH 1988 -

Our present senior minister, Dr. David Bruce Smith, was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on February 20, 1948, the son of Mr. and Mrs. L. Bruce Smith. He attended Greer High School and graduated in 1965. He receiv-ed the Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Mars Hill Col-lege in 1969, the Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1973, and the Doctor of Ministry degree from ~outheastern in Dr. David Bruce Smith 1988-1978. He also took courses in church pastoral education at North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel Hill, in 1973.

Dr. Smith was ordained in 1971 by the First Baptist Church of Marion, North Carolina. l-Ie served as associate pastor of Lexington First Baptist Church from 1973 to 1975, as campus minister at Wingate College from 1975 to 1979, and as campus minister at Mars Hill College from 1979 to 1982. In 1982 he became senior minister of First Baptist Church, Wadsboro, North Carolina, and served until 1985, when he went to Ecuador to serve as a missionary with the Foreign Mission Board until December, 1988. He was called to First Baptist Church, Lenoir, in mid-December and preached his first sermon January 1, 1989 .

Dr. Smith is married to the former Janice R. Smith of Marion, North Carolina. Mrs. Smith has taught in public schools, having received the Bachelor of Science degree in home economics from Salem College and the Master of Science degree from Western Carolina University. Dr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of two sons, Seth, age ten, and Jonathan, age eight.

Dr. Smith's special interests are writing and swimming, and he is an avid reader.

Since coming to First Baptist Church, he has begun a series of Wednesday evening studies in the Bible, beginning with the

45

J CITADEL OF FAITH: A HISTORY OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, LENOIR, N. C., 1889-1989 (286.1756845/C58)

~ r .. wr,-. ~ .. , ,

Book of Genesis. Dr. Smith considers his greatest personal strength as being an encourager and reconciler, and the most positive aspect of his ministry experience, as a unifier and organizer of groups. He also exhibits a gentle and refreshing sense of humor and deep knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and their applications to modern living.

The church anticipates with faith and enthusiasm its entrance into the bi-centennial era under the leadership and with the vision of Dr. Smith. Source: Biographical sketch submitted to congregation. Mrs. Vera Sullivan, member of Search Committee to obtain our pastor.

46

Viewing the Church in 1989, 0 in a rough hus However, such w

In the history 0 Church took the 1883, a committ appointed to rais which to build a W. A. Pool, F. P. Teague, and H. committee repor the southern co intersection.

Creative pl earnest and dete W. A. Pool, and new church. O organization was with letters to j charter member Clarke, Laura Cl John M. Powell Suddreth, and

Seven others Coffey, R. W. F