Jerry & Janice Smith

Jerry and Jan Smith were called to the mission field as young teenagers. They met at Bethany College in Santa Cruz, CA, and pastored Colusa Assemblies of God before going to El Salvador in 1980 with their 3 boys, Kirk, Henry, and Glen. It was a dangerous time— they fled to Costa Rica for a year before returning to finish their first term in El Salvador.  

God called them to Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1985 and they have served there ever since.  Their daughter Andrea was born in 1986 and that year they became the pastors of a small house church initiated a few years before their arrival.  

They came to Guayaquil with a dream of reaching the city for Jesus with an alive church and a school to help children break out of the poverty cycle.  Following Jesus and receiving an education is a powerful combination! 

Here are a few results from 2021 to celebrate.  

• Last year 1,587  people came to faith. 
• 783 were baptized.
• Counting 2022’s graduating class, 10,658 students will have graduated high school by April, 2022. 
• There are 90 students studying for their BA in Bible from Global University.  
• There are hundreds of hungry souls in our new believer classes.
• In spite of violent prison uprisings this year in Guayaquil, God is moving in the prisons and last year 89 were baptized and hundreds are in Bible classes.
• Thousands of food baskets were given out during the pandemic.
• Their 10th grandchild was born in September, 2021.

God’s plan was bigger than their dreams and Bethel was there from the beginning of the dream. Sincere thanks and to God be the glory!