Dan L. Smith, Pastor, Passes


                                                   Pastor Dan L. Smith is pictured.
  
 The Rev. Daniel Leon Smith (June 19, 1933 - July 14, 2020), age 87, founder of Harmony Fellowship (in 1982) in Greer, SC, went to be with the Lord after a brief battle with cancer.
  
 To accommodate the crowd, his funeral was held at 11:00 a.m. on Thurs., July 16, at Faith Temple Church, Taylors, SC.
  
 A native of Greer and pastor at Harmony Fellowship for 37 years, Smith attended Holmes Bible College and served in the U.S. Army National Guard.
  
 The late Pastor James H. Thompson’s first wedding was for Dan Smith and Betty Burrell. Pastor Thompson performed the ceremony in his parents’ living room, said Thompson’s sister, Mrs. Judy Cody.
  
 Pastor Dan and Sister Betty Smith ministered together and had a son, Daniel L. Smith, Jr. Sister Betty died young (May 11, 1936 - April 29, 1968). Smith married Ms. Joyce Bennefield and had a daughter, Cindy Smith Fitts. “Preacher Dan,” as he was often called, and Mrs. Smith would have been married 51 years in Aug. 2020.
   
 At the funeral, the Rev. Gerald Johnson, a retired pastor and member of Harmony Fellowship, sang “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow.” He played guitar as Mrs. Kathy Wilkerson, wife of Pastor Terry Wilkerson, Harmony Fellowship’s pastor, played the piano.
  
 “This man was a child of God who loved the Lord,” Johnson said. “He was a people person.”
  
 Johnson said he had worked as a pastor, and when he retired, he and his wife looked for a church to attend. He felt that some ministers seemed uncomfortable with his attending their churches — maybe they felt he was looking for their jobs, he said. The couple visited Harmony Fellowship and Pastor Dan appeared unthreatened by an experienced preacher attending his church. Johnson and Smith enjoyed friendship, he said, and Johnson sometimes preached at Harmony Fellowship.
  
 Johnson read Psalms 116:15: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
  
 Pastor Dan was ordained in 1957 at Faith Temple Church and pastored two years in Tuxedo, NC, where he “made that church better,” Johnson said.
  
 Smith next served six years as a tent evangelist.
  
 “Dan Smith was not afraid to trust God,” Johnson said, adding that Smith (starting in 1966) pastored a Pentecostal Holiness church in Greer before pastoring for two years in Barton Rouge, LA. Smith then pastored in Honea Path, SC, before moving to Greer and founding Harmony Fellowship.
  
 “He stepped down 37 years after organizing Harmony Fellowship — 60 years of ministry in the Gospel,” Johnson said.
  
 The Rev. Terry Wilkerson, Harmony Fellowship’s pastor, described Smith as “a man of grace, a man of God’s glory, a man of gentleness, and a servant of the Lord.”
  
 Mrs. Wilkerson sang and played, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.”
  
 “Who was Dan L. Smith?” Wilkerson said. “He was ‘Preacher Dan’ to hundreds of church members. His entire being revolved around serving the Lord.”
  
 Wilkerson referred to 2 Timothy 4:6-8:
  
 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
 
 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
  
 “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
  
 “I believe Brother Dan finished about as well as any child of God could finish,” Wilkerson said. “I believe all over his face you saw ‘I’m a child of the King, a child of God.’”
  
 “Amen,” said many in attendance.
  
 “Life is a struggle; I believe Pastor Dan would tell you that,” Wilkerson said. “Life is a struggle, but a good struggle. The Christian life is a good way to live. Paul describes the Christian life as a struggle. Pastor Dan probably had a lot of struggles he didn’t share with anybody.”
  
 Starting churches is not easy, Wilkerson said.
  
 “He put an imprint on this community,” he said, adding that Pastor Dan was “always dressed so fine [neat in appearance] when he came out.”
  
 “I’d like to pick up the mantle,” Wilkerson said. “I’m talking about devotion, dedication. ‘I’m always ready,’ Brother Dan would say. I believe Pastor Dan would tell you, ‘It’s worth it all.’ We’re always in the arena of life and we’re always representing Jesus Christ our Lord … and we’re always being observed.”
  
 Smith’s death came “all of a sudden,” Wilkerson said. 
“Pastor Dan is now enjoying the presence of the Lord. He would say, ‘Church, finish well. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.’”
  
 My wife, Barbara, and I did not attend the graveside interment, and as we drove away we saw, from the road, folk crowding around the tent covering the grave site in the Faith Temple cemetery. We knew Pastor Dan’s family would be there, seated, waiting to hear final words and a prayer.
  
 “His last tent revival,” Barbara said.                 

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