[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H6788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WELCOMING THE REVEREND NEIL D. SMITH

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. 
Watts), the conference chairman, it is my honor today to welcome 
Reverend Neil Smith to this Chamber, the senior pastor of Faith 
Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Kingstowne, Virginia, a midsized 
church in the Evangelical Presbyterian denomination in northern 
Virginia. Faith Church is the church home to numerous congressional 
staffers, and its ministry is felt daily here on Capitol Hill.
  Reverend Smith has spearheaded his church's effort toward outreach, 
both in the local community and around the world, with a missions 
presence. He is also very active in his growing denomination, attending 
session and general assembly meetings around the country. Last year he 
served as moderator of the Presbytery of the East of the Evangelical 
Presbyterian Church.
  Pastor Smith was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, graduated 
with highest honors and a BA degree from Grove City College in 
Pennsylvania in 1977. In 1983, he graduated from Princeton Theological 
Seminary with an M.Div. degree, again with highest honors, and was 
ordained as a Presbyterian minister. From 1983 to 1997, he served in 
churches in Downingtown and Altoona, Pennsylvania. Since mid-1997, he 
has been senior pastor at Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
  He and his wife Mary Sue, who joins him here today, have just 
celebrated 25 years of matrimony. They have three children: daughter, 
Erin, 19, a sophomore at Grove City College in Pennsylvania; daughter 
Lindsay, who is a junior at West Springfield High School in Virginia, 
turned 16 today; and a very special boy, Nathan, 10 years old, a fifth-
grader at my son's school here in Springfield, Virginia. They reside in 
Springfield, and, Mr. Speaker, we join in welcoming Reverend Smith and 
his wonderful family to this Chamber on this occasion.

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