“Big”Jim
Smith was
born January 20, 1920, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was saved at the age of 12 and called to preach 7 years later.
He was graduated from BIOLA in June of 1944 and married Helen
Josephine (Joey) Darling on June 19, 1944. They began their ministry working with Wycliffe Bible Translators
in the Sierra Madre mountains in Chihuahua, Mexico.
They
later became independent Baptist missionaries sponsored from the Kansas
City Baptist Temple, Wendell Zimmerman, pastor. They were on the field when the Baptist Bible Fellowship was
organized and they elected to become part of it making them one of the
original missionary families. From
1951 to 1959 they lived in Mante where Jim founded the Mante Baptist
Bible Institute. The Lord
used him to train scores of students. He then concentrated his work in the State of Sonora, Mexico.
In his 47 years as a missionary he had a hand in starting, reviving, or helping other men start 20 to 25 different churches.
Jim
Smith was promoted to Heaven, October 14, 1991, after a battle with
cancer. He was preceded by his wife, Joey, who died September 17, 1987.
He was survived by nine children: George, Janet, Leonard, James, Richard,
Patricia, Mark, Sandra, and Barbara. Three of his sons are Baptist Bible Fellowship missionaries: Leonard, Mexico; Richard, Mexico; and James,
Ecuador.
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