Henry Lewis Smith — PCA historian, seminary professor, pastor, disciple-maker, and the longest-serving presbytery clerk in the denomination – has died. He was 88.

Henry died on February 5 at his home in Opelika, Alabama. He served as stated clerk of Southeast Alabama Presbytery from 1985 until retiring from the position in October 2020.

During his 68 years of gospel ministry, Henry discipled countless young men by inviting them to join him in the Lord’s work and teaching them along the way. Many of those men eventually became pastors themselves. He also trained men as a professor at Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.

Born in Chinquapin, North Carolina, on June 9, 1932, to the Rev. William and Carrie (Lewis) Smith, Henry earned his Master of Divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1956 and was ordained the same year.

He served as senior pastor of Monroeville Presbyterian Church in Monroeville, Alabama from 1957-1963. From 1963-1966 he pastored First Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church of Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was there that he met Anna Beth Lynn of Rock Hill, whom he married in 1964. They were married for nearly 50 years before Anna Beth passed away in 2014. They had four children: Henry Lewis (Hank), Jr., Sara Lynn, Timothy Jefferies, and Anna Elizabeth (Lisbeth).

In 1966 Henry took a call to serve as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Winter Haven, Florida. Jim Smith (no relation to Henry) recalls how as a teenager and brand new Christian, he witnessed Christian life and ministry firsthand from Henry.

When Henry needed to make pastoral calls to hospitals or homes, he invited Jim to accompany him. In his zeal to serve, Henry sometimes overlooked details that others might consider important. Once he asked Jim to ride with him to a hospital visit, and it was only after they had left Winter Haven that Henry mentioned the hospital they were visiting was over two hours away in Gainesville.

What Jim didn’t realize during his long car rides and pastoral visits was that Henry had been praying for him for years. As a sixth grader, Jim had served as a crossing guard at an intersection Henry frequented. Henry observed how the young crossing guard did his job responsibly and began praying for his future.

Years later Henry offered a challenge to Jim by asking Jim to prayerfully consider whether the Lord might be calling him to pastoral ministry. Jim always appreciated that Henry saw the call to ministry as responding to the Lord’s call, not taking Henry’s advice. It was always about serving the Lord.

Jim did sense a call to ministry, and after graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson, in 1984 he served churches in Mississippi, Florida, and Pennsylvania. He is currently the director of programs at the Center for Community Resources, and pastor for congregational care at St. John’s Reformed Church in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Never Apologized for Asking Others to Serve

Daren Deitmeier had a similar conversation with Henry about a call to ministry. At the time Deitmeier’s family attended First Presbyterian Church in Prattville, Alabama, where Henry served as senior pastor and then assistant pastor from 1978-2005.

For Henry, the PCA wasn’t simply a church body, it was a group of people — people with stories — and Henry loved to tell those stories.

The Deitmeier family started attending First Presbyterian in September 1993, joined in December, and in January Henry asked Deitmeier to teach a Sunday school class. Henry made no apologies for asking church members to serve the church.

Deitmeier recalls Henry saying, “I will never hesitate to ask God’s people to do His work.”

Henry mentored Deitmeier the way he mentored Jim and other young men, by inviting them to join him in the church’s work. Pastoral visits and car rides became opportunities for young men to watch the nuts and bolts of ministry firsthand.

“You sat at his feet and learned so much,” Deitmeier said. “It was natural and there was no agenda.”

Eventually Henry asked Deitmeier to prayerfully consider whether the Lord might be calling him to pastoral ministry. Deitmeier began earning his Master of Divinity degree from Birmingham Theological Seminary’s Montgomery campus, where Henry taught church history and Old Testament classes. Deitmeier now serves as pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Aledo, Illinois, and stated clerk of Northern Illinois Presbytery.

The seminary classes combined Henry’s gifts for mentoring and love of history.

“He left an indelible stamp on the lives of many people,” Deitmeier said.

Embraced the Work With Gusto

Henry never hesitated to ask others to do the Lord’s work, and Henry himself embraced that work with gusto. He served as stated clerk of Southeast Alabama Presbytery for 35 years, making him the longest-serving presbytery stated clerk in the denomination.

For many years Henry also chaired the General Assembly Committee of Thanks. The committee’s report concludes each General Assembly, and with its mix of local Presbyterian history, information on the hosting presbytery, and heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make General Assembly possible, it was a perfect combination of Henry’s passions.

Melton Duncan began serving on the Committee of Thanks with Henry beginning in 2003. Duncan was immediately taken by Henry’s Southern gentlemanly ways and love for history.

For Henry, the PCA wasn’t simply a church body, it was a group of people — people with stories — and Henry loved to tell those stories.

Duncan believes Henry’s interest in the history of the PCA was part of his being a history lover, but it was also a way to bring the denomination together as a family. Pastors like Henry who left the mainline Presbyterian denomination to start the PCA lost more than church buildings in the split. They lost friendships and connections that went back generations.

Serving on the Committee of Thanks was a way for Henry to tell the story of the PCA, the new family story.

“He delights in knowing the personal story of the PCA,” Duncan said. “He has a passion to tell new folks about where the family has come from.”

Henry also wanted to tell the story correctly. Duncan said Henry was one of the first PCA commissioners to request that the denomination draft a resolution on racial reconciliation. He was part of the PCA’s delegation to the 1977 NAPARC conference on race relations. The conference adopted a statement which began by confessing serious inadequacies with respect to NAPARC member churches concerning race relations in the church.

Later, he worked toward the founding of the PCA Historical Center and supervised many projects at the center.

Henry earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Birmingham Theological Seminary and taught at the seminary from 1979-2018. After retiring from First Presbyterian Church in Prattville, Smith worked as stated supple at Camden, Bethel, and Prosperity ARP churches from 2001-2010.

Henry is preceded in death by his wife, parents, and brother William Clifford Smith. He is survived by his sister Lena Smith Knight of Birmingham, Alabama; four children: Henry Lewis, Jr.,of Opelika, Alabama, Sara Lynn Smith T (Dozier), Timothy Jefferies (Rhonda) of Birmingham, and Anna Elizabeth Chapman (Ben); and twelve grandchildren: Winston Smith T of Fort Hood, Texas; Henry, Sara Hollis, Dozier, Vera Elizabeth, and Joanne Smith T, all of Opelika, AL; Wheeler, Hollis, and Wrenn Smith of Birmingham; Anna Beth, Chap, and Nancy Chapman of Birmingham.

Services will be held in Opelika, Alabama, on Tuesday, February 9. A graveside service, open to all, will be at 11:00 am at Garden Hills Cemetery. An in-person, socially-distanced memorial service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Opelika at 1:30 pm. (Reservations are required for the church service. Call the church at 334-745-4889 if you would like to attend.)

The family will receive visitors outdoors at the church at 2:30 pm. Reservations are not necessary for the graveside service or the 2:30 outdoor visitation. The service may be viewed via livestream at https://tpcopelika.org/live/ at 1:30 pm CST.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Southeast Alabama Presbytery, 300 Opelika Rd #3133, Auburn, AL 36830, to a fund that will provide a small monetary reward to those who recite the Westminster Shorter Catechism.