For 30 years, he also was board president of the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association, which served as a catalyst to bring hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and infrastructure to the area, including schools, new housing, a library, and an arts academy. In those years, the association also spurred the growth of locally owned businesses, dramatically decreased gang violence, and helped to support immigrant families with translation services and ESL programs. Drawing on his life’s work, Dr. Smith has taught urban ministry and urban development courses at Calvin Theological Seminary, Western Theological Seminary, and Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. In 2013, he was appointed by Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell to the City Planning Commission.
Dr. Smith was born and raised on Chicago’s West Side in the North Lawndale neighborhood. He was very active in his home church, Unity Fellowship Missionary Baptist. He was educated in the Chicago Public Schools and became the first in his family to go to college where he earned a bachelor’s degree from Culver-Stockton College in History and Political Science in 1984. When he felt God calling him into ministry, he moved to Grand Rapids to attend Calvin Theological Seminary and earned his Master of Divinity degree in 1992. He was ordained into the Christian Reformed ministry on March 14, 1993. Dr. Smith served churches in Chicago and Paterson, New Jersey, before becoming the Senior Pastor of Roosevelt Park Community Christian Reformed Church from 1994 to 2015. In 2004, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Theological Seminary.
In 2017, Dr. Smith was appointed Director of the Office of Race Relations and the Office of Social Justice for the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the first African American to serve as leader of both offices. In February 2020, Reggie was appointed to the new position of denominational Director of Diversity, where he worked with 300 multiracial and multiethnic churches and leaders to help their communities grow and thrive.
Dr. Smith also is an award-winning writer. He wrote a Grand Rapids Times weekly devotional column from 2010 to 2024 and was a regular columnist for The Banner, the Christian Reformed Church’s official magazine, from 2017 through 2019. He is a sought-after preacher and educator, often called upon to help communities explore urban ministry, racial justice, social justice, and community development. Dr. Smith is a co-host of The Antioch Podcast, named “New and Noteworthy” by Sojourners magazine in its May 2026 issue.
He and his wife, Sharon, have been married for more than 35 years. Together, they are committed to modeling a life of racial reconciliation in a cross-cultural urban setting. He is the proud father of three adult daughters: twins Katrina and Mariah and their older sister Janelle. The entire family attends Madison Square Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids.