John K. Smith

Dr. John K. Smith served for forty-five years as a local church pastor in the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church.

In 1995 he took his first mission trip to Russia, supporting the work of George Steiner to begin Children’s HopeChest, a ministry to adolescent Russian orphans. Beginning in 2008 he worked with George in beginning a second ministry, Orphan’s Tree, to work with those who had aged out of their orphanage, helping them to make the difficult transition from institutional to independent living

In addition to serving on the staff of Orphan’s Tree, John is Secondary School Chaplain at Shalom Christian Academy in Chambersburg, PA. He and his wife, Pat, also volunteer at Agape English, a ministry of Chambersburg’s King Street Church, teaching English as a second language to the immigrant population of the area.

John holds a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH, and a Doctor of Ministries degree from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He and Pat have three married sons and six grandchildren. They enjoy bike riding on the trails of South-Central Pennsylvania, and John can often be found biking the Gettysburg battlefield.

The author’s web site, which contains information about the Russia ministry of Orphan’s Tree, is www.wordsmithjohn.com.