Leonard E. Smith

Leonard Earl ‘Lenny’ Smith, Jr USA 1942-present. Born at Philadelphia, PA, the son of a career Marine Corp father and Catholic mother. The family moved around frequently due to his father’s transfers. They lived in PA, VA, CA, NC, Guam, and finally NJ. He was raised Protestant, though his mother was a devout Catholic. She would drop the children off at a Protestant church at the insistence of her non-religious husband, then attend her own church. When Smith was 12, his father left the family, he then attended the Catholic church with his mother. He wished to prepare for the priesthood and in 1960 studied at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary, Menominee, MI, then at Mt St Paul Seminary, Waukesha, WI. and Mt St Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD, where, in 1965, he started writing songs for the guitar masses introduced there. In 1967 he left the seminary, but lead mass at different Catholic churches. He then attended at Augustinian Catholic Villanova University, Villanova, PA. In 1968, over the course of five years, he was a teacher for three Catholic high schools and one public school. After his first year at a high school in Haddon Township, NJ, he was dismissed, due to a ‘strained relationship’ with the principal over a student being abused by another teacher, and he reporting it. The next year he taught at Gloucester Catholic HS, Gloucester, NJ, and had a good year there. Smith married Marian Wehrle, and they had five children: Daniel, Rachel, Megan, David, and Andrew. He and wife Marian became involved in the Catholic Charismatic Movement, that included expressive dancing, and speaking in tongues. In 1970 they attended a Protestant Charismatic church in Philadelphia called The Gospel Temple. For two years Smith lead similar worship at an off-shoot church in NJ, called the Living Word Community, but resigned over concerns about the church’s doctrine of ‘shepherding’. The next year he wished to teach at a public school and taught Latin and English at Cinnaminson HS, Cinnaminson, NJ. During this time, he became involved with the Charismatic Movements and had a dramatic spiritual awakening. He decided to teach his regular coursework Monday-Thursday and teach Bible on Fridays, though many students were Jewish. Parental complaints resulted in his being let go at the end of the school year. In 1970 he returned to Gloucester Catholic HS teaching religion. Along with standard curriculum, he brought his guitar to class, sang, prayed, and read the Bible. He held a once-a-month prayer gathering in town for his students. The priests there were worried that he was starting a cult, and at year-end he was let go. He then took on carpentry and house painting work to support the family. In 1972 he started teaching religion at Bishop Eustace Prep School, Cherry Hill, NJ. He continued bringing his guitar to class and leading mass in the chapel. The head of the religion department refused to let him teach that Jesus was the only Messiah, wanting him to teach that there were many Messiahs, like Martin Luther king, and Mahatma Gandhi. When Smith refused, he was forced to resign. He returned to house painting, and eventually remodeling and building houses. For the next 35 years he worked on houses by day and wrote songs at night, and lead worship in various churches on Sundays. Depressed and without work in 1973, he read Isaiah 52:7 and wrote the gospel song ‘Our God Reigns’. A traveling evangelist, Bob Mumford, heard Smith sing his song at church and loved it. Mumford taught it at each church and conference he visited all over the world during the next couple of years. An Australian Company, Scripture in Song, released a songbook in 1979 with two of Smith’s songs in it, and a Catholic Prayer community in Ann Arbor, MI, also released a songbook and album, after which world-wide attention was brought to his songs, ‘Our God Reigns’ was embraced and used by Protestant and Catholic denominations around the world. It was a favorite of Pope John Paul II, and was used during his North and South American visits in 1999. Pope Benedict XVI heard it sung at his papal mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, Scotland in 2010. Smith was involved with both Catholic and Protestant Charismatics and Pentecostals because both groups had interest in the same things. His home church became the Gospel Temple of Philadelphia. A singer, songwriter, and music publisher of pop, gospel, folk, and contemporary Christian music, Smith, now retired, still works on his music for his publishing company, Great Comfort Records, Clarksboro, NJ. His son, Daniel also started a recording label titled: Sounds Familyre Records, and eldest daughter, Rachel, writes and records worship music on Smith’s record label.

John Perry