BRIAN SMITH

Hi, my name is Brian Smith, and I am the Pastor at Grace Community Church.  I am a twin (my brother is four-minutes younger, so he is the baby in the family), with two older brothers.  I was raised in Long Beach, graduated from Long Beach State in 1971, did a year of graduate work to earn my “Life Teaching Credential,” and began teaching public school in the Long Beach Unified School District in the fall of 1972.

After five years of public school teaching, the Lord led  me to change curriculum, but not professions (teaching), by  calling me into the full time ministry in 1977 to my home church in Long Beach.  I began seminary the next fall at Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada while working full-time as Associate Pastor.  After a year of full-time seminary and full-time ministry, I found that I was being a part-time husband and father, so I transferred over to Grace Graduate School of Long Beach (same professors as Talbot but offering evening classes stretching over a longer period of time).  So, I eventually finished a 3-year seminary education in 7 years when I earned my Masters of Biblical Studies in 1984.  In the fall of 1979, several couples from my “Young Married’s Sunday School Class,” who had recently moved to  Riverside to find affordable housing, asked me to prayerfully consider starting a “Bible-teaching church” in Riverside like the one they had attended in Long Beach.  After several months of praying, I left the staff of my home church and planted Grace Community Church of Riverside on January 1, 1980, with these young couples.  The rest, as some might say, is history.

I married a wonderful Christian young woman, Kathleen, in November of 1971.  Her maiden name was also “Smith,” so she didn’t need to get a new driver’s license or have her Bible imprinted with a  new last name.  We have two children.  Our son, Jason, is married to Janice.  They have two children, “Hurricane” Andrew and Alyssa, and live  east of Sacramento in Loomis.  My daughter, Kari, is married to Matt Pendleton.  They also have two children, Megan and David.  Matt and Kari direct the College Age ministry called “First Stop” at Grace Community Church.   As you can see, we have four grandchildren, with a boy and girl on each side, all close in age.  Is God good, or what?

I enjoy being with my wife and my grandchildren.  I also enjoy “pumping iron” at Bally’s Health Spa (small “iron”), golfing with my friends from church (even “smaller irons”), and watching re-runs of “Everyone Loves Raymond” (my only vice).  UCLA is my favorite football team ever since the Long Beach State “’49ers” stopped football.  I wore the number “43” for them in 1967 and 68, but after several ambulance trips to local hospitals I was forced to hang up my cleats and become an interested spectator.

I also love studying and teaching the Bible.  After my love for the Lord and for my family, God’s Word remains my passion in life.  I also love to laugh, and for others to laugh with me—not at me, but sometimes it’s hard to distinguish.