Our Pastor
Rev. Dr. Eric V.T. Smith
Sr. Pastor
Scott United Methodist Church
Comfort, O Comfort my people says your God. - Isaiah 40:1 NRSV
I was sitting in a funeral for Rev. Ralph Hale when my call to ministry began to take shape. I was
listening to other ministers speak words of comfort to the congregation when the “still small voice of
God” whispered, “Eric, this is what it’s all about…life and death. Comfort my people. Feed my sheep.”
After more than 30 years in ministry, with God’s call to “Comfort my people” in my heart, I describe my
call to ministry in this personal mission statement:
My Co-Mission with God is to create inclusive,
racially diverse communities that bring joy
to the hearts of men and women, boys and girls
as they find their rightful God ordained place
in the church, in the community, in the nation, in the world and
in the Kin-dom of God.
In furtherance of this Personal Mission Statement, I remind everyone that our nation is being divided by party politics, racial tensions, sexual orientation, religious intolerance and bigotry toward other faith traditions and immigration issues; but God’s word has a command that unites us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is a banner I like that speaks with love to all that divides us:
Love your Neighbor
Who Doesn’t
Look Like you
Think like you
Love like you
Speak like you
Pray like you
Vote like you
Love your Neighbor
No Exceptions
So come let us unite together under the banner of Love. It is the only way to obey God’s call to
“Comfort, O Comfort my people.”