REVEREND DR. J. ALFRED SMITH, SR. (1931-2025)
Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Senior was the beloved and visionary Pastor Emeritus of the historic Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California.
Reverend Doctor J. Alfred Smith Sr. was a native of Kansas City, Missouri. He was reared by Ms. Amy Smith, a single parent, and by his grandmother, Mrs. Martha Henry. Growing up, he was active as a member of both the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and the HI-Y program of The Paseo YMCA. When Dr. Smith was 12 years old, he was baptized at the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and was active on the Usher Board and in the youth activities of the church. He attended the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Elementary School and graduated from RT Coles High School as Class President and President of the All-City Student Council. Dr. Smith was a member of the City Concert Band, and during the summer while traveling with a jazz band, he answered the call to Christian ministry and preached his trial sermon on July 4, 1948. In his academic career, he has earned degrees from Western Baptist College, the Missouri School of Religion, American Baptist Seminary of the West (Master of Theology in American Religious History) and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Doctor of Urban Ministry).
Pastor Emeritus Smith was a giant of a man in intellect, wisdom and fecundity of the mind, an erudite sage, blessed by God with a plethora of knowledge and immense sagacity. He was the Founder and Chancellor of the Leadership Institute at Allen Temple, an educational institution.designed to embrace diverse theological perspectives - from prophetic preaching to Black theology, from womanist thought to social justice ministry, all deeply rooted in impactful community engagement. After lengthy years of serving as Senior Pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church and as Professor of Preaching and Church Ministries at the American Baptist Seminary of The West (now Berkeley School of Theology), he was retired with the title of Emeritus at both institutions. In addition, the J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Endowed Chair of Theology in the Public Square is named in honor of his tireless and devoted work in theological academia and the public square. This endowed chair is part of the establishment of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Restorative Justice at the Berkeley School of Theology. Dr. Smith also served as a Visiting Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, Scholar in Residence at the Gardner-Webb University, and as the first Chair of the Council of Elders for Oblate School of Theology's Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership.
He has served as an Acting Dean of the American Baptist Seminary of the West and as Area Representative for the American Baptist Churches of the Ministers’ and Missionaries Benefit Board. Dr. Smith Sr. was the 12th president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC), and a past president of the American Baptist Churches of the West (ABCW).
For two years consecutively, Dr. Smith was one of Ebony Magazine’s Most Influential Black Americans and was among the magazine’s Top 15 Greatest Black Preachers of 1993. In 2001, Dr. Smith Sr. was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Greenlining Institute, the Humanitarian of the Year Award by the East Bay Area Agency for Children, and in 2002, the Agape Award from the Women’s Ministry of the Shiloh Baptist Church, Washington, D.C., and the Gandhi Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Smith Sr. was a man filled with “milk of human kindness and compassion”, who champions the causes of the poor, the down-trodden, the left-outs and the left-behinds. He was a voice for the disliked, the disaffected, the displaced, the disdained, the left-outs and the left behinds. He used the pulpit to uplift the poor in spirit, the broken-hearted and the afflicted. He also challenges and afflicts the rich and comfortable to get up and get out of “their lazy chairs of religion”. He was a “fish of many waters” and a “bridge builder” who felt comfortable and at home with ordinary every day people as well as the movers and shakers of society.
A renowned scholar, an acclaimed preacher and an accomplished author of more than sixteen books and a prolific writer, Dr. Smith Sr. had a voracious appetite for reading. His last book, Speak Until Justice Wakes: Prophetic Reflections from J. Alfred Smith, Sr., was released in 2006. In May 2004, he released On the Jericho Road, a biography of his life in ministry. Dr. Smith Sr. made numerous publications, including Giving to a Giving God, Basic Bible Sermons, his prayer in 9.11.01: African American Leaders Respond to An American Crisis", his sermon “Facing the Insufficiency of National Security with the Sufficiency of Faith”, Living Pulpit-Special Supplement, November 2001, and his essay, “Lamentations in The City”, in the April 2002 edition of The Living Pulpit. His work also appears in The Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage, by Dr. Marvin McMickle, and Power in The Pulpit: How America’s Most Effective Black Preachers Prepare Their Sermons, by Dr. Cleophus LaRue. Learn more at Pastor Emeritus Smith's website.
He was blessed with a happy life living with his wife, the Reverend Bernestine Smith, who shared with him the joy of the Lord. He was the loving father of five children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. His daughters & sons in the Gospel carry on his teaching and exemplary legacy of service in ministry assignments around the globe.
Pastor Emeritus Smith peacefully went home to be with our Lord on Friday, September 19, 2025.