After leading his flock at North New Hope Baptist Church since the mid-1950s, 100-year-old Rev. Willard Smith will deliver his last sermon Sunday.
Though he may have difficulty hearing, the World War II veteran and former barber who grew up in Chatham can still belt out a rousing exhortation.
“I feel great,” Smith told the Danville Register & Bee during an interview in his church office last week. “I give God all the credit because without him, I wouldn’t be here.”
He has been pastor at the church on Old Piney Forest Road for 68 years. He and its members marked his milestone 100th birthday on Friday during a celebration in the fellowship hall named after him.
Though he will no longer preach at the church after Sunday, he says he will not quit being a faithful servant of the God to whom he has dedicated his life.
People are also reading…
“I’m only stepping down from pastoring,” he said. “I will continue serving God until he closes my eyes in death.”
But Smith, who was born on March 22, 1924, has been more than a minister.
He grew up on a farm in Chatham, where his father was a sharecropper. The family raised wheat, corn, tobacco, cows, chickens and hogs, he said.
Sharecropping was a system in which landowners rented out land and equipment to tenants in return for part of the crop raised on the property. Sharecropping was an extension of slavery in which Black tenants were denied autonomy and remained in debt.
Under one arrangement, Smith’s father gave half of what he made to the owner. When Smith was 8, his dad rented another farm instead, where he gave back one-quarter.
The white owner, Mr. Harris, “was a good Christian man,” Smith said.
After being drafted into the U.S. Army at 18, Smith served in World War II in Europe, where he carried supplies to the front and brought prisoners back.
“I left New York and landed in Liverpool, England, in 1943,” he recalled of his trek overseas after entering the Army. “I left Liverpool, crossed the English Channel into France and then into Belgium, and into Holland and into Germany.”
Smith is proud of his military service and is passionate about the United States.
“I love my country,” he said. “I fought for it. I’d do it again if I was able. This is the greatest country in the world.”
When he returned to the U.S. from the war, he enrolled in high school because he had only a seventh-grade education. He earned his diploma at all-Black Southside High School.
He would go on to Virginia State University, where he earned his credentials to become a barber.
He cut hair with three other Black barbers in a white-owned business in Chatham during segregation. His co-workers included Howard Banks, Dennis Watson and Haywood Berger, Smith said.
All of their customers were white.
“We couldn’t cut our own hair in that white barber shop,” Smith said.
But the customers “were very nice,” he added. Smith cut hair in Chatham for 24 years.
He preached his first sermon at Hopel Baptist Church in Dry Fork in 1948 and began as pastor at North New Hope in 1955, he said.
When asked why he decided to become a minister, Smith said, “I didn’t decide. I was called and sent.”
He drew a stark contrast between those who “decide” to become ministers and the ones who are “called” by God.
“We’ve got too many preachers who ‘decided’ to preach,” Smith said. “The ones who are called, they are successful. Those who decide, they are not. They’re failing to preach the gospel.”
Smith, who started out preaching for $50 a month at North New Hope, said he did not enter the ministry for the money.
“I don’t preach for money,” he said. “He (God) told me, ‘I’m blessing you, Willard, to be a blessing.’ Most preachers go to get a blessing, or a paycheck. I’m sent to be a blessing.”
Some preachers pastor for a while and then quit, he said. But “when you are called and sent to preach, you can’t help yourself,” Smith said. “You have to do it.”
As for his church members, “they are good to me. They are the best,” he said.
North New Hope has about 35 active members.
“We are an old church family,” said Mable Scott, 84, who has been a member for 56 years. “We’ve had a lot of saints that have gone on.”
After 24 years as a barber, Smith moved on and worked for Pittsylvania County Community Action, where he drove senior-citizen clients to hospitals in different cities.
“I enjoyed every moment of it,” said Smith, who was employed with the group for another 24 years.
Scott called Smith “amazing” and said he is known for traveling to the mountains every October for a fall trip to pick up cabbage and apples for women at the church.
“He is also a good teacher,” Scott said. “He loves his church family. He goes out of his way to make sure everyone has what they want.”
Also, “he’s going to preach the word whether you like it or not,” Scott added. “You can accept it or reject it, but he’s going to give it to you.”
One of his frequent sayings is “I ain’t thinking about you, but I love ya,” she said.
Andrew Lewis, a 75-year-old who has attended North New Hope his entire life, said of Smith, “He’s a truth-teller.”
Faith without works is dead, and Smith covers both, Lewis said.
Frank Scott, the 76-year-old chairman of the deacon board, has been a member at North New Hope since he was 12.
“I love his teaching,” said Frank Scott, Mable’s husband. “He preaches God’s Word. He doesn’t preach for show; he preaches so you’ll know.”
Smith attributes his longevity to following the word of the Bible.
“I have been obedient to what the Bible teaches,” he said. “That I have done. I have honored and loved and respected everybody since I was a child.”
He told a story from his time in England during the war.
“I’ve been in many parts of the world,” he said. “There are some things I cannot do.”
A woman whose husband was overseas invited him to her home, Smith said. He turned down the invitation because she was married.
“I didn’t go,” he said. “I couldn’t do it.”
Smith has been married twice. His first wife, Ruby, with whom Smith fathered three sons, died of cancer.
“She was my earth angel,” he said, adding that he has a second wife. “The wife I have now (Lula G) is my sweetheart. I love her dearly.”
Smith has six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His oldest son with Ruby is deceased. He has a stepson, Andrew White, with his second wife.
Members presented Smith with a $10,000 check in November to mark his 68 years preaching at North New Hope. He will be pastor emeritus after he steps down, Mable Scott said.
29 Richmond area restaurants that opened in 2024 so far
Smoke & Barrel
1870
Cafe & Sabor
92 Chicken
The Mantu Express
Fuji Ramen
ML Steak Chesterfield
Lalo's Margaritas
Lucky Chopstick
The Bowl Vietnamese Cuisine
Blue Bee Cider
Tito's Taqueria
Beaucoup
Scott's Shawarma
Fogo de Chão
The Foundation
Lillian
West End
Importante Bodega Bar
River City Wood Fire Pizza
Chipotle
Raising Cane's
Chipotle near The Diamond
Bad As Philly
Brecotea Bakery & Café
Pho 60 Café
Perry's Steakhouse & Grille
The Hive Bar and Grill
KavaClub
Take a look at these restaurants that closed in the Richmond area.