Senior pastor of BPFNA Partner Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, CA, Dr. Smith is widely regarded as a preacher, teacher, and writer. Currently a Visiting Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, Dr. Smith is a past national president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and a past president of the American Baptist Churches of the West. A vocal opponent of the apartheid government of South Africa, Dr. Smith testified before the United Nations in New York City in 1989 in an effort to end apartheid in South Africa. His most recent book, On The Jericho Road, is a biography of his life in the ministry. Several of his pieces responding to September 11 received wide attention including his sermon "Facing the Insufficiency of National Security With the Sufficiency of Faith." Dr. Smith champions the causes of the poor, the down-trodden, the left-outs and the left-behinds. He is a voice for the disliked, the disaffected, the displaced, the disdained, the left-outs and the left behinds. Expect sermons that are reality-based and prophetic.