On Friday, Jan. 17, the sanctuary inside of Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church was coated with worship music.
The congregation was empty. The seats facing toward where Pastor Jonathan Lewis Smith used to greet everybody with an ear-to-ear smile were waiting for Sunday to come again.
Friends and family of the late Rev. Jonathan Smith mourn during the funeral service held at Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Whenever someone walked into the church, Pastor Jonathan welcomed them home. He welcomed thousands home since February 2022. He was a man of God, who wanted to share that love with community. He was a Texan by birth, but Greeley lassoed his heart.
Jolyn Smith sat at a white table just a few feet from where her husband did what he loved and gave his life to: spreading the word of God. She opened up about the encounters her late husband had. Who he was, the memories they shared, the lives he influenced and what he had just begun to do in Greeley.
Sadly for the past few weeks, when the congregation has taken their seats, they no longer see their pastor in his human form.
Pastor Jonathan died at 11:44 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, in Greeley. He was born on Aug. 9, 1981, in Sweetwater, Texas, to Roy Smith and Priscilla Martinez.
Rev. Jonathan Smith’s photo sits in front of the Greeley First Assembly of God Church during his funeral service, as gospel music fills the church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)His widow, known as Sister Jolyn, spoke about their life together with keen details, almost like she was reading from a diary.
July 3, 2004
She was attending her cousin’s wedding in Grand Prairie, Texas. He was the armor-bearer for the associate pastor whose daughter was getting married. You can call it smitten, but there was something there between them.
July 4, 2004
At the post-wedding pool party in Grand Prairie, the two spent all day chatting. She recalled him being a gentleman with his words and actions. He fixed her a plate of food, but she assumed his gestures were just him being polite. It led them to exchange emails and phone numbers.
When she arrived back at her family’s home in Carlsbad, Texas, a cousin informed her that Smith had called multiple times to see if she was home. The drive from Grand Prairie to Carlsbad is nearly four hours.
July 5, 2004
It’s the day Smith formally asked her father if he could have his permission to speak with his daughter.
Three weeks later, she had a divine conversation. She was at her church in Carlsbad when she started speaking in tongues. In the Christian faith, it’s considered a spiritual gift from God where they speak in an unknown language.
In that gift, God told her, “Jonathan is the one I’ve chosen for you to marry. Go forward with this relationship because your marriage will be blessed. He will preach the uncompromising word of God. Your ministry will reach the houses of people for my kingdom. It will be blessed.”
Joylyn Smith, left, and her son Caleb Rios-Smith prepare to talk about the late husband and son of Rev. Jonathan Smith during his funeral service at Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)God also told her Smith was going to tell her “I love you” that evening. She tested God’s word.
The couple talked on the phone for hours, usually after 9 p.m., while dating. This night, they talked until 1:30 a.m. Before saying good night, Smith said the words God said would be spoken.
She teared up when he first told her he loved her. He asked her why she was doing so. She told him God foretold it. She also told him what God had planned for them.
Dec. 31, 2004
On New Year’s Eve in a Grand Prairie church, Smith kneeled to propose. It was a surprise to her. The couple had only seen each other six times in person before he slid a ring on her finger.
Sept. 3, 2005
They were married in Harvest Temple Church in Grand Prairie. Her cousins Daniel Ramos Jr. and Joshua Ramos, Sr. were the church pastors. Just like she is, the two are Greeley natives.
“God brought us together,” she said.
Smith enjoyed spending time with his younger sisters, Kara and Kala. He loved his family, playing video games, watching movies, playing football and spending time with his son, Caleb Rios-Smith.
The family was always together enjoying life in Texas.
Their mission was to serve God and preach his word to everyone. At the age of 16, Smith started his walk with Christ and started serving at Harvest Temple Church.
Jolyn was a children’s pastor when she was 11 in Colorado Springs. At that age, she knew her life would cater to God.
“Evangelism has always been in my heart,” she said.
While in Texas, the Smith family visited Greeley to see Jolyn’s family during the holidays and for other events. As the years came and went, God kept placing more opportunities that led them to stay in Greeley longer than they planned for each visit.
Those opportunities led the couple to pray that if it was God’s will to bring them to Greeley, let it be done.
“We were praying that if it’s God’s will, the door will be open,” she said.
Fall 2021
An opportunity for Smith to become the lead pastor at Glad Tidings presented itself. He was voted in.
Feb. 6, 2022
The couple led their first sermon at their new church located at 3425 W. 6th St, just about a block or so away from Franklin Middle School.
It was the beginning of the shooting-star efforts Smith started in his church as well as in his community.
But, like a shooting star, we only get to enjoy life’s beauty for less than a second. It will always be a blink away from being gone.
May 2022
With the help of Jolyn’s brother-in-law, Tony Lopez, Smith found a way to reach out to the community.
Lopez suggested hosting a Friday outreach at the church where they serve free food and games for the community.
When Smith lived in Texas, he was a technology teacher at a charter school in Grand Prairie. He also helped coach middle school football. He loved teaching and being a mentor for the youth, so the Friday outreach was perfect for him to connect with students and teachers. Franklin Middle School students, teachers and staff to be precise.
Fall 2022
Franklin Middle School Principal Suzette Luster met Smith and some of the church staff for the first time when they came to the school to introduce themselves.
Luster recalled Smith telling her that he and his church wanted to help and be a resource for Franklin students and families. Those conversations led to students heading over to the church on Fridays to get free food and hang out.
Greeley-Evans School District 6 Superintendent Deidre Pilch first met him and the church staff around this time when he was walking into Franklin carrying cookies for the staff.
“We’re here to support you and support the community,” he told Pilch.
Only a few students showed up to the first Friday outreach, Jolyn said. Soon, that handful of students grew to about 60. When Franklin’s final bell hit on Fridays, students knew Glad Tidings was the place to go get a meal, hang out with friends and interact with Pastor Jonathan on a personal level.
“It was so wonderful to see the interaction between him and the students. It was inspiring,” Smith said.
“He wanted to make (Franklin) a better place,” Pilch said.
Luster said Smith and church staff also provided teachers and the staff food during parent-teacher conferences as their thank you for their work.
“His passion for Franklin Middle School as a whole … that was beautiful,” Luster said. “That doesn’t happen all the time.”
Smith’s friend Pete Gonzales wrote a note to convey everything Smith meant to him in the short time they had together as part of the Franklin Middle School football chain gang. Gonzales also helped out at the church, even painting the inside of it.
“Every Friday we were ready to grill hamburgers, and hotdogs, give out sodas and chips, and share the word of God with them,” he wrote. “It was a blessing to see those kids every Friday. They never left hungry thanks to the goodness of God.”
Family and friends of the late Rev. Jonathan Smith raises their hands to honor Smith during his funeral service at Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)August 2023
With the Friday outreach BBQs in full swing, Smith took it up a level. He wanted to have more students, more teachers, more community and more food all in one place. That place was Bittersweet Park in Greeley.
Before students headed back to school that year, Smith organized a back-to-school event at Bittersweet. He invited members of District 6, as well as prominent fixtures in the community. One being Greeley Police Chief Adam Turk.
Turk had been waiting for such an invite since 2021 when he was sworn in as chief. Turk felt the department’s outreach and community engagement had been missing an element in the faith-based community. He wanted to bridge a relationship with that community, and Smith’s phone call was the catalyst.
“This is a perfect opportunity,” Turk said.
Turk arrived at the event and met Smith. A friend he didn’t know he had.
“He greeted me with open arms. Hugs and handshakes,” Turk said. “It was almost as if I’d had known him for the last 30 years, which is how long I’ve been in Greeley. I got a feeling that Pastor Smith knows no stranger.”
The invitation was also a chance for Turk to show up more in the community. A community that three years prior, along with the rest of the country, saw and read about George Floyd’s murder and COVID-19 — and felt some apprehension around police.
“Some community members were still timid around officers,” Turk said. “He (Smith) saw right through that. It didn’t bother him. The police were leaders and allies.”
Turk was humbled by his experience. Some community members who had gone through the criminal justice system came up to him to thank him and showed him the new path they were taking in life.
A remembrance table with photographs of Rev. Jonathan Smith sit in front of the Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)“I’m forever grateful for that,” Turk said.
Nearly two years after that first back-to-school event, Jolyn recalled more than 1,000 people attending. From gift cards to school supplies, the church gave out gift bags to everyone.
“He just wanted to build bridges within the community,” she said. “Our mission was to reach the city. Reach the city for Christ. Our prayer was God, give us this city to honor you. For your kingdom and your glory. We just wanted to tell people about Jesus.”
November 2023
Smith again reached out to Turk, asking him to join a Glad Tidings Veteran’s Day service.
It’s a day Turk won’t forget.
“It felt like home. It’s hard to describe the feeling,” he said.
Turk spoke to the congregation as he was decked in his full Greeley police uniform. He sat by Rios-Smith, who informed Turk of his aspirations of going into law enforcement.
Rev. Jonathan Smith’s father-in-law sings during the funeral service at the Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. More that 200 people attended the service. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)December 2023
Principal Luster, after forming a relationship with Smith and his church, needed a venue to celebrate the life of a family member. The woman was not related by genetics, but she was still family. A family member for 22 years.
That family member was a part of Envision, an Evans-based nonprofit that helps enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Weld County. The Lusters were her adult foster caregivers.
Glad Tidings Church opened the doors and their arms to the Luster family for the service.
April 2024
One day, Smith’s left eye became blurry.
That blurriness swiftly changed to his eye becoming immobile. It got worse, so he went to see the eye doctor. The doctor insisted he go get a CT scan, which uses X-rays to create a detailed picture of the inside of the body.
The details revealed a mass the size of a dime in his sinuses.
“You’re going to have to go to the oncologist,” Jolyn recalled.
The couple were soon in Aurora at the Anschutz Medical Campus. They were there for five days.
His cancer was Rhabdomyosarcoma. According to the Mayo Clinic website, it’s a rare cancer that begins in muscle tissue that’s prone in children under 10 years old.
Family and friends hug before the start of Rev. Jonathan Smith funeral service, at Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)When word about his cancer diagnosis reached students at Franklin, it inspired them to write notes of encouragement. Luster said students wrote 300 cards to Smith that didn’t just have “hope you get well” on the inside. The cards, she said, were heartfelt filled with compassion.
The cards were delivered to him at the church.
“That was a small thing we could do in return for all the great things he did for us,” Luster said.
June 11, 2024
After 32 rounds of radiation and endless rounds of prayers, this was his last day of radiation.
His post-checkups and scans provided him with news that he had beat cancer. As his wife put it, “It was him.”
August 2024
Yet again another back-to-school event took place at Bittersweet Park. Pilch attended and spoke to Smith about her mother’s battle with cancer.
Though it’s not unusual for churches to help schools, Smith took it a step further when he started teaching at Franklin just a few weeks before school started.
Luster said a last-minute change left the school without a technology teacher. Knowing Smith’s passion and background with students and teaching, she called him up.
Pastor Jonathan became Mr. Smith in the blink of an eye. He started as a long-term substitute.
“Our kids loved going to his class,” Luster said. “He stepped into our smart lab, and he was really starting to build that program before he had to resign because he got sick.”
A few weeks into the job, Smith told his wife that his back and legs were hurting. They thought it was because of him being on his feet all day at school. Over-the-counter creams and rubs didn’t fix the problem, and then his hips started hurting.
Even a trip to the emergency room led to no answers.
“He believed, at that time (at the back-to-school event), he was cancer-free. To think he became so sick again so quickly is just heartbreaking,” Pilch said.
Sept. 30, 2024
His walking became severely hindered. He was no longer teaching at Franklin by this time.
The couple had yet to find a primary doctor, but as more complications formed in his body, they sought one out. That doctor informed them to return to the emergency room for an MRI.
The MRI detailed tumors.
Oct. 5, 2024
He underwent surgery on his spine at Banner North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley. -surgery news was good.
After rehabilitation, he was walking like normal.
However, more complications arose. He needed another surgery, which led them back to Aurora.
November 2024
Smith underwent more radiation on his spine as well as a round of chemotherapy at Anschutz.
December 2024
Smith elected to go to rehab at Westlake Lodge Health and Rehabilitation in Greeley instead of undergoing more chemotherapy. He did so because he wanted to be close to his church and congregation.
During this month, the tumors were attacking his body, and they were not going to stop. Smith’s health was declining.
Despite what his body was doing to him on the inside, Smith kept doing what he loved doing while at Westlake. He preached to others there. Jolyn said around a dozen people would attend his makeshift worship services.
He was even able to go back to Glad Tidings for the Christmas play and party.
Members of the CrystalRiver Lubbock band sing with Caleb Rios-Smith, middle, during the funeral service for his dad Rev. Jonathan Smith at the Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Dec. 18, 2024
Smith’s congregation enjoyed their Christmas party with him. They celebrated the reason for the season together for the last time.
January 2025
On Sunday, Jan. 5, Luster learned of Smith’s passing.
A crisis team was called in for students and staff to help them grieve and cope with the loss of their teacher and friend.
“When I heard he had passed, I was just … it’s a huge loss for our community. It’s a huge loss,” Pilch said.
Turk was shocked and devastated to hear of Smith’s death.
“I’m sorry,” Turk said. “I’m sorry for the loss to not just his congregation, but to the community. He was an advocate for the community and human beings. He had his whole life ahead of him.”
Gonzales remembered the first time he walked into Glad Tidings, where Pastor Jonathan told him, “Welcome home.”
As their friendship grew, Gonzales said Smith gave him the keys to the church so he could pray whenever he wanted or needed to.
“He was a man of God. A true friend,” Gonzales said.
After Smith’s death, Gonzales learned the two had the same middle name. The tidbit brought a smile to his face. Gonzales said Smith had more he wanted to bring to reality to help the community and other schools.
Sister Jolyn said the congregation plans to restart the Friday outreach BBQs and other events he started. His legacy didn’t end in 2025. The couple’s vision for Greeley is not finished.
“God has a plan still,” she said.
Smith still had years of outreach, community events and seasons ahead of him. When you look at the timeline, it doesn’t even feel like he even unpacked his bags in Greeley.
His social media posts of him preaching and sharing the word of God spread to Kenya. His message was so profound to a few viewers there that Jolyn shared that a children’s home is going to be named the Glad Tidings Children’s Home.
When asked if they ever questioned God for calling Smith home so early, she and Gonzales pondered it briefly, but their faith comforts them.
“We thought we were going to grow old here,” she said, “But God has a divine plan.”
Smith’s Celebration of Life was Saturday, Feb. 1 at Greeley First Assembly of God Church. District 6 staff, Franklin students, members of his congregation, family and friends were expected to attend. Turk said he was going to do everything in his power to show up in full uniform to pay his respects.
Hundreds of people pay their respects to Rev. Jonathan Smith during his funeral service at Greeley First Assembly of God Church in Greeley on Saturday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)“Farewell, Pastor. Thank you for being a part of my life. Until then, when God calls me home, we will meet again,” Gonzales’ letter ended.
“He wasn’t finished,” Luster said.
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