Alex and Faith Smith

Minister at Large

Convinced that Asia is the greatest challenge facing the Church in the 21st century, Alex Smith, with his wife Faith, is committed to mobilizing a whole new generation of pioneers to reach East Asia’s peoples for Christ.

Dr Smith is minister-at-large for OMF International in the U.S. He travels and speaks extensively, particularly in the Buddhist world.

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Alex was trained as a chartered accountant and as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force. He and his American wife, Faith, met at Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada.
Joining OMF in 1964, the Smiths spent 20 years in Thailand and another 18 years as Northwest Director in the U.S. They served in pioneer evangelism, church planting, training national leaders, teaching church growth, supervising new missionaries, coordinating field evangelism and directing the Thailand Church Growth Committee.

Alex earned his Doctorate in Missiology at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission in Pasadena, California, and his Master of Divinity at Western Evangelical Seminary , now part of George Fox University in Oregon. He also graduated from Daystar’s International Institute of Christian Communication in Nairobi, Kenya.

He authored two Thai books on church growth and evangelism, as well as several English titles, including Siamese Gold: A History of Church Growth in Thailand, Strategy to Multiply Rural Churches and The Gospel Facing Buddhist Cultures.
A frequent lecturer at seminaries and colleges, Dr. Smith also teaches courses concerning Perspectives on Missions for the U.S. Center for World Mission. He is adjunct faculty at Multnomah Bible College and Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He served as Northwest Vice President of the Evangelical Missiological Society, and as Buddhist Track Chairman for Regent University’s Unreached Peoples Consultation. He is currently chair of the executive committee of SEANET (South, Southeast, East and North Asia Network).

Alex and Faith have three grown sons, Tim, Dan and Jonathan.