Campbellsville—Campbellsville University will host Robert Smith, professor of Christian teaching at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., as keynote speaker in a two-day evangelistic preaching conference “Called to One Hope” May 18-19 at the Louisville Education Center at 2300 Greene Way in Louisville.

Smith will be leading sessions along with Joel Carwile, pastor of Valley View Church in Louisville and member of the CU Board of Trustees; Eric Johnson, senior pastor of Greater Galilee Baptist Church in Louisville; and Jeff Eaton, lead pastor of Hope Community Church in Lawrenceburg.

At Beeson, Smith teaches Christian Preaching and other electives in homiletics. He received Beeson Divinity School’s “Teacher of the Year Award” in 2005.

Smith, an ordained Baptist minister, has served as pastor of the New Mission Missionary Baptist Church for 20 years. He is also a contributing editor for a study of Christian ministry in the African American church, “Preparing for Christian Ministry,” and co-editor of “A Mighty Long Journey.”

In addition, he has served as an editor of “Our Sufficiency Is of God: Essays on Preaching in Honor of Gardner C. Taylor.” He has written the book, “Doctrine That Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life,” which was selected as the winner of the 2008 Preaching Book of the Year Award by “Preaching Magazine” and “2009 Preaching Book of the Year Award” by Christianity Today’s preaching.com.

In 2010, “Preaching Magazine” named “Doctrine That Dances,” one of the 25 most influential books in preaching for the last 25 years.

Previously, he served as the Carl E. Bates Associate Professor of Christian Preaching at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He received Southern’s 1996 Findley B. Edge Award for Teaching Excellence. (CU)