[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 84 (Monday, June 13, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING PASTOR ROBERT E. SMITH, SR. AND MOTHER GILDA J. SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DALE E. KILDEE

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 13, 2011

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Pastor Robert E. 
Smith, Sr. and his wife, Mother Gilda J. Smith, as they retire from the 
White Cloud Empowerment Center Church of God in Christ after 45 years 
ministering to the people in White Cloud and Flint, Michigan.
  Pastor Smith and his wife Gilda were married in 1960 after he 
completed a tour of duty in the United States Air Force. Gilda 
graduated from the Hurley Hospital School of Nursing the following year 
and Robert went to work at Delphi. During this time they sustained a 
lifetime of ministry, calling individuals to live in Christ Jesus. 
Their ministry has taken them throughout the country but the focus has 
been in the State of Michigan. Pastor Smith and Mother Gilda have 
walked the streets of several communities giving prayer and 
encouragement to the people they meet. They have reached out to youth, 
the homeless, and the disaffected. As the pastor of the White Cloud 
Empowerment Center Church of God in Christ they have traveled every 
week from Flint to White Cloud to hold services and minister to the 
people of that community. In addition, Pastor Smith has served his 
jurisdiction as Assistant State Sunday School Superintendent, District 
Superintendent (on 3 occasions), State Sunday School Superintendent, 
Chairman of Auxiliaries-in-Ministry, and presently serves as 
Administrative Assistant to Bishop P.A. Brooks, Jurisdictional Prelate, 
who is also 1st Assistant presiding Bishop of the Church of God in 
Christ.
  Their three sons are all ministers and they have five grandchildren. 
Retired from their jobs at Delphi and Hurley Medical Center, Pastor 
Smith and Mother Gilda continue to encourage and bring spiritual 
healing to their many ``adopted children'' throughout our Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in 
congratulating Pastor Robert E. Smith, Sr. and Mother Gilda Smith as 
they retire from ministry at the White Cloud Empowerment Center, Church 
of God in Christ and I pray they will find much joy as they enter this 
next phase of their lives.

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