A native of Summersville, West Virginia, Pastor Michael Smith was first recommended for
ordained ministry by Jordan Chapel United Methodist Church at the age of 18. In seeking
to follow that sense of call upon his life God lead him and his wife (Violet) and 6
month old son (Chris) to Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oral Roberts Ministry. This began a period
of 13 years of employment at Oral Roberts Ministry.
During his years of employment, Pastor Mike moved from an entry level position of
warehouseman to warehouse manager and finally Director of Partner Communications. In his
role as Director of Partner Communications it was Mike’s responsibility to develop, prepare,
and distribute all ministry correspondence to the support partners of the ministry, which
totaled over one half million persons around the world.
It was in his 13th year of employment that God directed Pastor Mike to leave Oral
Roberts Ministry, and become a student at Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma
from which he graduated in 1990. It was at this time that God planted a new desire to
return to West Virginia and the United Methodist Church.
Pastor Mike graduated from Duke University COS program in 1998, and was ordained by Bishop
Ives as an associate member of the West Virginia Annual Conference in 1999. He began his
ministry at Trinity United Methodist Church in Reader, West Virginia where he served from
1990-1997. Pastor Mike’s next appointment was in Moundsville, West Virginia where he served
Ebenezer and Porter’s Falls United Methodist Churches from 1997-2004. In 2005, Pastor Mike
began his current ministry at New Hope United Methodist Church, and in 2008 also became
the pastor of New Salem United Methodist Church.
During all these years of ministry, Pastor Mike has sought to establish loving and
lasting relationships built upon the foundational teaching of the good news of Jesus Christ.
In 1988 one sunny summer afternoon God directed Pastor Mike to the passage of scripture
from which he was to enter his calling; God is Spirit and those who worship God must worship
in Spirit and in truth.