DAVID SMITH (M.Div. 2004) went straight from Beeson to prison. And he is still there serving as a correctional chaplain at the Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Correctional Facility in Alabama. David and his wife Heather are both from Hamilton and he continues to serve as a minister to students at his home church: South Hamilton Baptist. But his full-time ministry is carried out behind bars where he meets with prayer groups, leads a morning reading of the Psalms and Gospels, and conducts regular services of worship. “I was in prison,” Jesus said to his would be disciples, “and you did not visit me.” David Smith spends much of his life sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ (who knew what it was like to be arrested and imprisoned) with those who have hit rock bottom and often have nowhere else to look but up.
David Smith came to Beeson Divinity School from undergraduate studies at Samford University. He took preaching with Calvin Miller, studied Latin with Gerald Bray, and read Calvin’s Institutes with me. Now, the preaching class would certainly be good preparation for a ministry in prison chaplaincy where proclaiming the Word is a regular and important activity. But Latin and the Institutes? David admits that the work he did with us in Latin did not prepare him for a career in classics. “But,” he remembers, “I learned more about ministry, theology, and life in that small group of students who read Latin texts with Dr. Bray than in any other class I could have taken. And the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of Calvin’s theology has daily applications to the work I do as an employee of a correctional facility.” In addition to the coursework he did at Beeson, David also says that studying in an interdenominational atmosphere helped to prepare him to deal with prisoners from many denominations and all walks of life.
Since 2008, David Smith has been connected to Beeson through the prison ministry of our Extension Division directed by Jim Pounds. Jim regularly visits with David and has seen him up close and personal in his work as a prison chaplain. The prison where David works is the only such facility in the state correctional system specifically reserved for the aged and infirmed. Here David regularly ministers not only to the “healthy man” but he also sits at the bedside of the sick and checks in on those who have Alzheimer’s. Sometimes these inmates have to leave the facility and go to the hospital in Hamilton—David visits them there as well. He also regularly assists in funeral planning and, as sometimes happens when prisoners die without the loving support of family members and a pastor from home, David makes all of the funeral arrangements.
David Smith is touching the lives of some of the least, the last, and the lost in the Alabama prison system. He does so with a deep commitment to the authority of God’s Word and in the belief that the Lord’s Word will not return void. Jim Pounds observed David doing this kind of incarnational ministry at the Hamilton facility for several years and, no doubt, this is what prompted him to nominate David Smith as the 2011 Most Distinguished Alumnus of Beeson Divinity School. It was not a hard choice. Several years ago I preached a sermon on “The Glory of Obscurity.” There are many Beeson alums just like David who seldom walk in the limelight or receive the accolades of others in more prominent posts. But God notices their work, and blesses their labors, and through their faithful witness countless others come to know Christ the Savior.
As the dean of this school, nothing encourages me more than to hear from our graduates and to learn about their service for Jesus Christ and his church. Nothing encourages me more than to hear a testimony like this which David Smith shared recently:
What remains with me most vividly from Beeson and still applies to my work today is the Apostles’ Creed that was recited many times in Hodges Chapel. It is easy to say, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” while surrounded by ministers and professors at Beeson or in a church of friends and family. However, when surrounded by convicted felons, those words become more challenging. The Gospel claims sound almost unbelievable. However, the same message that Paul first delivered to the Corinthians remains the very message that is delivered within Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Correctional Facility: “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1Corinthians 15:3).
Will you take a few minutes today and say a prayer for David Smith and his ministry in Hamilton? Also, remember in prayer his wife Heather, his daughter Emerson Claire, who is five years old, and his little son Owen Patrick who is barely one.. To learn more about the Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Correctional Facility in Alabama, please check out their website: http://www.doc.state.al.us/facility.asp?id=11.
