Pastor helped church adapt to change

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff After 25 years, the Rev. Richard Smith is retiring from Trinity Presbyterian Church on Cranbury Road in East Brunswick.

East Bruns. spiritual leader plans to travel

in retirement

BY VINCENT TODARO

Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — He’s seen a lot of changes at Trinity Presbyterian Church in his 25 years, but now the Rev. Richard Smith is making a change of his own.

The longtime pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, located on Cranbury Road, is retiring to eastern Pennsylvania, but will leave behind a legacy of flexibility and care.

Smith, who was pastor at two other churches before coming to Trinity Presbyterian, said he and his wife have both reached 65, and it’s time to move on and relocate closer to his family.

He will leave behind a church that has seen its share of changes over the past 25 years, but has acclimated to those changes to maintain viability.

"The church has changed probably in the sense that now there’s more going on on Sundays," said Glenn Sandberg, the church’s clerk of session. "Attendance on Sundays is not the priority it was for folks. But throughout it all, Dick has managed to keep the congregation strong."

That congregation numbers a little less than 500 today, he said.

In fact, Smith said, the first thing that jumps out when he looks back at the time he’s spent at Trinity Presbyterian is the rapid change that has occurred there.

"The feature of the years I’ve been here is the ability of the congregation to change and adapt its ministry in a really changing area with lots of turnover of congregation and in an increasingly diverse community," he said.

"That’s been the key," he added.

As for his accomplishments during his more than 25 years as pastor at Trinity Presbyterian, Smith said he’s very proud of the major renovations that have been made. The church is also close to getting a new pipe organ.

"We’ve done a lot with the facility," he said. "We’ve had great involvement of people in our local mission, and relating the church to the community."

"I’d say he’s been a quiet and effective leader," said Sandberg, who has worked as the church’s clerk of session for seven years. "I think the best thing I ever learned from him is that before you say something, you think, ‘Can any good come from what I’m going to say?’ If the answer is no, then keep it to yourself."

As pastor, Smith conducted Sunday worship, Sandberg said, and also was moderator of the session, the governing board of the church.

"He’s done a lot of counseling over the years, both premarital counseling and counseling for married couples," Sandberg said. "Before I got married, my wife and I went to him."

He said it is somewhat rare nowadays for a pastor to spend 25 years at a single church.

"The norm seems to be closer to four to six," Sandberg said. "I think that in a lot of churches, they’re a little smaller, so a lot of ministers right out of the seminary [will] take a job and move on."

Smith worked in a church in Vermont and another in New York before coming to Trinity Presbyterian, he said.

As pastor, Smith had four full-time workers under him, including the minister of music, church secretary, director of Christian education and the sexton — the person in charge of the grounds and facility, Sandberg said.

Smith said he and his wife will travel to Alabama to visit some relatives first, then relocate to eastern Pennsylvania to be closer to their daughter.

"We expect in the early years of my retirement to do a lot of traveling," he said.

Leaving behind the relationships he’s fostered over the years will be the most difficult change for him, Smith said.

"Just being part of people’s lives during both good times and tough times. That will be vastly different, and I will miss that," he said.