Meet The Pastor
Elder Leo Ivan Smith
Pastor Smith has been anointed by God, and ordained by the Church of God in Christ. After 17
years of being on the street and living a life without God, Pastor Smith became an anointed vessel for God’s kingdom, through the preaching of the Holy Spirit in ministry. While holding the primary office of evangelist, he has travelled to several states preaching the gospel, so that all may come to grow in Christ.
In 1993, Pastor Smith founded the Eldaah Christian Center in Mansfield, Ohio. Through this endeavor, Pastor Smith trained leaders in ministry. He was ordained a minister through the Church of God in Christ in 1995.
Pastor Smith went to William Morgan James Bible Institute where he received highest honors
and was one of only two people in his class to receive a perfect score.
In 1997, he was called into the Office of Evangelist where he led many souls to Christ. He received
his ordination as an Elder in C.O.G.I.C in the Ohio North First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in 1998. And he also founded We Care Ministries during this time.This ministry focused on children, young adults, the elderly and people with drug addictions.
Pastor Smith had appeared on TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network) and the Praise the Lord program in addition to his radio broadcast “Moving Closer to God” and “Speak Up, Speak
Out” on WJTB-1040AM in Cleveland, Ohio.
Pastor Smith worked with Richland County Court of Common Pleas in 1998, where he worked
alongside of Judge James C. Henson, where he was allowed to minister to the inmates. The same judge who was going to put him in prison allowed him to enter the jail to minister and lead souls to Christ. He also worked with other law enforcement departments and Lydia J. Reid, Mayor of Mansfield, where he worked with outreach programs for the youth in the city until he moved to Dayton in 2000.
While in the Dayton, Ohio area, he worked as an auto salesperson and continued to operate
the Eldaah Christian Center until December 2002 when Bishop Benjamin A. Sanders, Prelate of Indiana Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, appointed Elder Smith to become interim pastor of Holy Temple COGIC in Richmond, Indiana.
On January 10, 2004 he was given to pastor Holy Temple COGIC permanently. Since then,
Pastor Smith has begun Wee Care Day Care Ministries. In 2009, Elder Smith founded Blessed Hope C.O.G.I.C. where he also Pastors. God has blessed Holy Temple Church, Inc. to open up a Wee Care Day Care in Dayton, Ohio as well.
In addition to being the pastor of two churches and the founder of one, Pastor Smith also is
a recognized worker in the C.O.G.I.C International Evangelism Department, an administrative assistant in the Indiana Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Evangelist Department, and President of James L. Sanders Memorial District’s Evangelism Department.
Elder Smith is the proud father of Leeo, Marquise and Yakia Smith and has one granddaughter
and one grandson.