This is the first in a four-part series during Black History Month highlighting the lives and contributions of some of the community’s black leaders.

The pastor of Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in Bastrop is not really comfortable with the spotlight shining on him, although the local community knows that when Rev. R.D. Smith feels something is not right, he has no problem with pointing it out.
An example would be when the Bastrop City Council wrestled with giving a permit to sell alcohol to a proposed business on the corner of Texas 71 and 95, a place that the reverend felt was too close for comfort to his church.
Smith came to a city council meeting and made his feelings plain. His passionate, articulate argument was at least partially responsible for the council’s decision to hold off on giving that permission.
Smith believes that he was put on earth to not only make it a better place, but to extend a helping hand to his fellow man.
“More than anything else, it is like Matthew 6:33 – ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness’,” Smith quoted. “I believe that is what the Lord put me here to do.”

Transplant
Smith was born in Hope, Ark. and through some service in the U.S. Air Force (1951-55) and other avenues, found himself transferred as a lieutenant with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to Bastrop in 1979 when Bastrop Federal Correctional Institution was built. He worked as a counselor, helping inmates who found themselves in trouble, or who had addiction problems.
“I thought I was helping people,” Smith said.
He became a reverend in 1970, and has always thought this calling was the career he was meant to follow.
“I like to think the prison is what I was doing on the side,” he smiled.
Along the way, he married Gwendolyn and the couple have been married for 46 years and raised four children.
Smith sees himself more as a humble servant of God, put here to not only do the Lord’s work, but to hopefully leave the planet a better place than he found it. Questions about his contributions to the community of Bastrop and surrounding areas made him ill at ease,
“I try to live right so that if a person witnesses my living, it would encourage them to try to do the right thing,” he said.
But making mistakes are part of life and he counseled his own children that every day was a fresh start.
“I let them know that every day they wake up is another opportunity to do good – everyday!” he emphasized.
His own parents and grandparents taught him as a young man what it meant to lead a good life.
“I was always taught a man’s word is his bond,” he said. “I have always tried my best to keep my word.”

Life’s work
The reverend has pastored four churches during his lifetime, and has seen some major changes. Two of those churches he had a hand in constructing and two he helped renovate. He has been with the 123-year-old Mount Rose for 23 years.
“I believe I am where He wants me at the particular time,” Smith said.
Smith wants his legacy to be two-fold: Leave the earth a better place than he found it and increase brotherhood among man.
“More than anything I want to be some kind of instrument to foster brotherhood,” he said. “For the good of the community.”
In order to accomplish that, Smith believes that it’s vital to work one-on-one with every single person to build genuine relationships.
“My hope for the world is peace on earth,” he said. “I would hate to leave here and it be worse than when I arrived.”