Ken Smith is a man who knows Jesus personally and deeply; and, if you ever get an opportunity to hear him pray, you will know this truth for yourself. He has been a widower for many years, yet he readily sat down with us to share the story of his wife, Floy Smith, and the years they spent serving God’s kingdom together.

Early Life and Conversion

Floy was born in Arkansas into a large family. She loved and excelled at school. She became a chemistry major and, after college, got a good job as a chemist in Illinois. While she was there, the girls in her office would talk about the good-looking guys at church. When they bet her that she could not get a date, she took the bait and went to church with them. From there, she chased a boy to a conference in Chicago. While there, she heard someone talk about her relationship to Christ, and she felt dirty, real dirty, sitting there. The conviction was so strong that she got up and left the room. The speaker saw her go and later followed her out. Through that experience, she committed her life to Christ, and she was 100 percent in and figured she needed to be a missionary. She joined North Western Bible School where Billy Graham was president.

Life with the Navigators

At Bible School, she got connected with two teachers who were part of the Navigators. Unlike the mass evangelism characteristic of Billy Graham, the Navigators are a ministry whose mission is to share the gospel of Christ through person-to-person discipleship. The teaching of the Navigators had a significant influence on Floy and Ken Smith and was used by God to strengthen their ministry in the RPCNA.

After Bible school, Floy worked with the Navigators in Seattle, Wash., and Fresno, Calif., while also doing chemistry jobs. After a couple years, Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, asked if she would take care of his wife, who had tuberculosis. This brought Floy to Glen Erie, Colo., where she lived with the Trotmans in the Pink House, a modern mansion that was the hub of the Navigators. Trotman believed strongly in the one-on-one evangelism and always had an active discipleship group of three to four guys that he invited from various conferences to come to his house and learn. Ken Smith was one of these men invited to the Trotman home. He sat across the table from Floy on his first visit. However, it was not love at first sight for either of them. Ken had dated many girls in the past and was in a stage of life where he was bent on learning and growing and not being distracted.

In 1956, Trotman’s wife, Lila, decided to take a trip with Floy to a Navigators home for professional girls in Pittsburgh, Pa., as it was having difficulty. After the visit, she asked Floy to stay and minister to these women.

Growing Friendship and Marriage

Since they were in the same town, Floy and Ken started to visit with the same goal in mind: How can we help young people come to Christ? The more they got to know one another, the more Ken was impressed with her intelligent way of thinking and her understanding of theology. They never dated in a formal sense; he would just stop by the home and have a cup of tea with her, and they would talk shop.

Ken said, “Before long, I thought this gal is impressive, she is sharp and walks with the Lord. She turned my head.” Finally, one night he invited her to dinner and was going to tell her he was in love with her, but he could not do it and was angry with himself. Later, he found out that she had been praying about her future and that night after dinner said, “Lord, if you want me to marry Ken, that’s okay with me if it’s okay with you.” Floy was able to get it straightened out with the Lord before Ken could ask. Some time later, he took her to dinner again at the Pittsburgh overlook, and Ken told her he was in love with her and asked if she would marry him. She said yes.

Using Their Home for the Gospel

In November 1956, Ken and Floy were married. Ken was at that time pastoring Pittsburgh Central RP Church, but he was asked the following summer to work with the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Later, he pastored Covenant Fellowship (Pittsburgh, Pa.) RPC.

Floy and Ken continued the one-to-one ministry they learned from the Navigators. Shortly after they got married, they had people living with them to be discipled. Over the years, different people stayed different lengths of time, and their home was always filled with fellowship, family worship, and learning. Ken said, “Floy was a wonderful, wonderful wife. Floy was a perfect hostess. She knew how to prepare meals and conduct conversation. She knew how to think and was keen, smart, resolute, disciplined. She had a loving character and was compassionate. I do not have enough superlatives to describe her. I had all the benefits with her as a helper.”

Floy took an active part in the teaching in their home. Ken mentioned many times how Floy knew how to keep her heart with all diligence (Prov. 4:23) and would teach others to do the same: know the Word and apply the Word. Specifically, the Navigator wheel was a focal point of the discipleship in their home. The wheel said that a Christian in action will do four things in following Christ: pray, read the Word and memorize it, seek strong fellowship among like-minded saints, and out of those three would naturally flow a witnessing to the world. Floy taught and modeled these things with strength and compassion.

Floy and Ken had three sons. When their youngest was one, Floy noticed a lump under her arm. When the doctor went in to remove it, they found another fast-growing tumor that was cancerous. They had to do a mastectomy right away. That shocked everyone, but it did not shock Floy. She was not scared about facing reality and was bold in the Lord. This experience became a big part of her ministry with women going through similar sickness. Eventually she found another lump and had to get that removed as well.

Ken ended our time together saying again how Floy kept her heart with all diligence. She was steady, knew the Lord, knew His Word, and did not quickly get discouraged or depressed. He said, “Floy was beautiful about adapting and sizing up a situation. She had a lot of wisdom. I was impressed all the time by her. She had a sharp mind and loving heart. She was disciplined and steady, and I needed that. I give honor to the Lord for her.”

Imitate Faithfulness

Floy was a remarkable woman of the Lord. It was a privilege to sit with Ken and hear him share her story. Surely Floy also had many weaknesses and sins like any other saint on earth. Yet her story rings like the stories of Hebrews 11, where times of great faith are highlighted and celebrated through people with failures and mistakes. Is that not a comfort for the rest of us: that as we toil along, as we fight sin and learn evermore to rest in Christ, that our weak faith may be used to bring glory to God and serve as an example to encourage the church?

Through God’s grace, Floy’s life brought glory to God, and He used her for the building of His kingdom in a plain but remarkable way through steady hospitality and teaching. May we imitate her faithfulness and use our homes to spread the truth of the gospel. Pray for God to send you the ministry He has prepared in advance for you to do, as He did for Floy and Ken Smith.

It is a blessing to learn from these stories of women of faith. On the podcast, Oaks of Righteousness, we will soon be sharing the story of Lois Claerbaut, a faithful deacon at Covenant Fellowship RPC, who spent a long portion of her life learning to live with and care for a husband who had severe mental illness. If there are women in your life you would like to highlight, please send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).