Bishop Byron L. Smith Sr., Pastor.
Bishop. Byron L. Smith Sr. accepted his call from God to preach at the age of 29 years old and preached his first sermon March 16, 1996. Bishop. Byron L. Smith Sr., loves Jesus, his family (Married 33 years, 4 children and 7 grandchildren), the Church, and God’s people.
Bishop Byron L. Smith’s passion is to assist in bringing stakeholders and the community together for transformative change around mental health, faith, policy development and training.
Scripture tells us that “without a vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18) Scripture tells us “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Cor. 14:33).
For too many years Gethsemane Christian Love (GCL) was a church without a vision. GCL was a church divided and in chaos. GCL was like a puzzle. There were many pieces that needed to be fit together.
GCL is also a praying church. We cried out to the Lord. We prayed to God for a Pastor after God’s own heart. We prayed to God for a Pastor with a vision for this ministry. We prayed to God for a Pastor who could help the ministry grow. We prayed to God for a Pastor who could help us heal, refocus, and remember whose we are.
God answered our cry. He sent us, Rev. Byron L. Smith, Sr. He was installed as Pastor of the GCL on April 24, 2022. Pastor Smith had a vision that God had given him for GCL. Scripture tells us to make the vision plain (Habakkuk 2:2). Pastor Smith instilled in us the need to be intentional, to be inclusive, to be organized and accountable. He constantly states that ministry must be done in decency and in order.
Pastor Smith meets with the leaders once a month continuously expounding upon the vision and sharing with us from Dale Galloway’s book, “Leading in Times of Change”. Pastor Smith tells the leaders that they must not only be strong enough to lead; they also must be humble enough to follow.
On July 16, 2022, Pastor Smith was consecrated and elevated to the office of Bishop. Bishop Smith has/is operating as a Bi-Vocational Pastor while carrying out the will of God for the life of the church. Bishop Smith ministers with spirituality, integrity, vision, and a purpose according to scripture to empower the body of Christ, to save souls, and assist the Church and community Ethos. To God be the glory for answering our call. (Matt. 7:7-8).
In addition, Bishop Smith currently serves as an Executive member of the Empowerment Congress, Safer Streets in Los Angeles, LA County Faith Collaborative and the Faith Collaborative on Homelessness. He also serves with National Faith Leader for Vulnerable Children. Bishop Byron is purpose driven with a strong desire to bring forth positive change by educating,
empowering, and engaging people within the city, county, state and national levels to offer trauma informed services to those persons considered by society to be the least, the lost, and the left out.
Bishop Byron has completed over 3,000 mental health clinical face-to-face hours working with individuals and their families for the past 8 years. Bishop Smith is currently working to complete his License as an Advance Drug Alcohol Counselor (LADAC) by California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP) Credentialing. Presently he serves as a Primary Clinical Therapist at an adult substance abuse residential program in Orange County, CA. Bishop Byron has been a noteworthy leader in the mental health and faith based sectors, as well as various local communities throughout the mid-west and in Southern California.
You may know him from his work as the Mental Health Clinician and Adjunct Professor at Antioch University (Master level courses in Psychology) and Azusa Pacific University (Master level course in Pastoral Care/Church Health), or as Co-chair for The Public Safety and Justice Committee for the Empowerment Congress of Los Angeles, CA. Bishop Byron can also be credited with contributions towards educating communities around mental health, culture sensitivity, community organizing, advocating for adolescents and their families in the legal system, trainings around trauma/trauma informed care, substance abuse treatment intervention, safe school zones, and prison reform. He has worked with various populations such as Orthodox Jewish men in residential drug treatment, foster youth in congregate care, veterans in residential treatment centers for adults including trauma informed support for veteran families, inmates from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, members of the L.G.B.T.Q+ community, and the unhoused population from “Skid Row” located in downtown Los Angeles.
Bishop Byron has been honored with certificates of recognition on the state and local levels in Illinois and California for community activism, volunteerism for offering services and his assistance with policy change (e.g., public schools, prison reform, and assisting those who have been marginalized). Bishop Byron holds two Master’s degrees in Counseling Psychology from Argosy University and another from Claremont School of Divinity. In addition, he has a Doctor of Divinity from Saint James Convergence School of Ministry Los Angeles, California.
Last, but not least, Bishop Byron takes pride in working with and helping community stake holders, nonprofits, faith organizations, unhoused individuals, those formally incarcerated with becoming informed and connected within various community systems on a city, county, and state level. He has the training, and ability to inform and motivate political leaders/groups, as well as faith and community-based organizations towards impactful collaboration. Bishop Byron enjoys bringing diverse people together to find common ground and unite with an intent to make systemic changes that benefit those less fortunate.