our representatives in indonesia
:
Tommy and Poppi Smith
by James E. Cossey
I
MAGINE YOURSELF as a teenager the Badminton Hall in Jakarta. As his eyes gelism, leadership development, ministeri-
with a ministerial call on your life. fell on this beautiful young Indonesian al enrichment, and benevolence.
Your grandfather is a devout Christ- woman, Tommy remarked, “I’m going to In addition to Tommy’s administrative
ian and Sunday school teacher who marry that girl on the front row!” When duties and his teaching at Bethel Seminary
systematically reads the Bible through prayer time came, he felt led (was it God, (the 1968 YWEA [Youth World Evange-
from cover to cover four and a half times or was it Tommy?) to go pray for her. As lism Action] project), Tommy and Poppi
each year. Upon his death, he leaves you he held her hands and prayed, he hoped do hands-on ministry on a daily basis.
his library which, among scores of other for a sign of response. Poppi, who was Poppi, who is now very accomplished in
books, includes 11 well-worn Dake Bibles studying German and knew little English her husband’s native tongue (minus the
and a 30-year collection of the Evangelical
Sunday School Lesson Commentary. This
The Smiths
grandfather is the one who told you how
broadasting
he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit
the Gospel
while singing and praising the Lord in a
mule-pulled wagon.
This is the heritage of A. Tommy
Smith, regional superintendent for the
Church of God in the Asia-Pacific region.
This is the same Tommy Smith who
began preaching in his hometown of
Savannah, Georgia, in eighth grade, and
who was almost expelled because he
refused to stop preaching at school.
As a teenager, Tommy helped to start
a mission work in a poor African-Ameri-
can community in Savannah and partici-
pated in the very first Church of God
STEP mission tour, after Marcus Hand
convinced several men in the church to at the time, showed no reaction. Making south Georgia accent), teaches English at
cosign a loan to cover the $750 cost. inroads into her life through her siblings, Love of Emmanuel School, which is locat-
Tommy’s burden for missions grew out of Tommy and Poppi ultimately began a dat- ed on the outskirts of Jakarta at the site of
these experiences and was fertilized ing relationship which, after three years, one of the world’s largest city dumps.
through his training at Lee University resulted in their marriage. For five years, Tommy and Poppi
and the Church of God Theological Semi- Thus this dynamic missionary duo spearheaded the Million Leaders Mandate
nary. He received a definite call to came to be. Now approaching a quarter for Indonesia, sponsored by Dr. John
Indonesia when, during a service at the century of service to Indonesia and the Maxwell and the EQUIP organization.
seminary, he heard an Indonesian pastor Pacific Rim, this energetic couple repre- Through this program, 80,000 Indonesian
pray in his native dialect. sents the Church of God among the lead- Christian leaders from 160 different
Tommy Smith arrived in Indonesia ers and congregations of our amalgamated denominations and organizations were
for the first time in 1983, and shortly partners of Gereja Bethel Indonesia, the trained in basic leadership principles.
thereafter he met Poppi, one of 13 sib- Church of God in Indonesia. The Smiths’ In 2005, John Maxwell and John Hull,
lings, while attending a church service in ministry has four major emphases: evan- CEO and president of EQUIP, presented
EVANGEL • JUNE 2009 11
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