

MEET OUR PASTOR
Rev. Dr. Marvin T. Smith
Dr. Marvin T. Smith is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, where he received all of his primary and secondary education. He attended Southern University where he received both a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management (1986) and a Commission into the United Sates Army as an Officer.
Four Years later, he acknowledged the call from God to prepare to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Reverend Smith enrolled at Vanderbilt's Divinity School as a full-time student and three years later obtained the Master of Theological Studies Degree (1993) with a concentration in Christian Ethics. During this time he was both licensed and ordained by the late Dr. Thomas E. Sweeney, Sr., Pastor of the First Baptist South Inglewood, Nashville, Tennessee. He is the former Pastor of the Mt. Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, (four years); the Recording Secretary of the Missionary Baptist State Convention of Tennessee and the Associate Dean of Christian Education for the Nashville City District Association. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., the NAACP, and several other religious, civic and military organizations. Reverend Smith is currently the Vice-President of the Congress of Christian Education Saginaw Valley District and Vice President at Large of the Wolverine State Baptist Congress of Christian Education. He has taught for three years for the American Baptist College-Saginaw Extension (Introduction to Homiletics and New Testament Survey), three years for the Wolverine State Baptist Convention (Creative Ways of Teaching), and three years with the Saginaw Valley District (Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Introduction to Christian Ethics and the Book of Isaiah). He has also been Lecturer and Preacher for the Bradley-Hicklin Lecture series, American Baptist College-Toledo Extension for the past four years. Reverend Smith is a graduate of the Beeson Institute for Advanced Church Leadership, a school of AsburyTheological Seminary. In May 2008, he received his Doctorate of Ministry Degree in Preaching at the Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston, Massachusetts. He is happily married to the lovely Omie Anderson Smith and they are the proud parents of three children - Marcelle, Marche,' Makenzie and two grandchildren Josiah Timothy Smith and Jabari Trevelle Smith.

Pastors Book

Effective expository sermons communicate the timeless truths of the ancient parables to the modern listener. This book proceed in the following manner:•Chapter II will review the necessity of defining and interpreting the parables in their cultural and theological context.
•Chapter III will review the literary nature of the parables and guidelines that the 21st Century preacher might follow in order to interpret and effectively preach them.
•Chapter IV will include the steps for the 21st Century preacher to translate the 1st Century parable into a 21st Century context. Here, the parable points of reference for the original hearer will be identified so that the preacher can create new points of reference for the contemporary hearer to understand the parables timeless principle.
•Chapter V will: Provide three contemporary stories of how three Lukan parables can be modernized for a contemporary audience without changing the timeless truths to the pastors and ministers of the Wolverine State Baptist Convention and Saginaw Valley District Association. Further, the case study will show that all the Lukan parables can be modernized into a 21st Century

The Pandemic:
How my faith was challenged but not changed.
Coming Soon!