For 50 years, music ministers and worship pastors from all over the state have been gathering regularly as the Alabama Singing Men.
And for half of that time, Tom Smith has been the one conducting it all.
“He has been the pastor, mentor, facilitator bringing those men together in the same room and on the same page for 25 years,” said Steve Pace, ASM president and music pastor at Summerville Baptist Church in Phenix City. “That’s pretty much unheard of these days. I think it’s just exceptional.”
So as he retires from that role, ASM gathered Aug. 8 to celebrate the musical community that he has fostered over the past quarter century. They honored him in a variety of ways, starting with an appreciation concert at Providence Baptist Church in Opelika, where he serves as minister of music — and has for the past 50 years.
At the concert, they surprised him with a choral anthem commissioned in his honor. Heather Sorenson, an accomplished composer, had set the text of “Like a River Glorious,” one of Tom Smith’s favorite hymns, to an original tune called “River Glorious.” A number of speakers including Bryan Blass, Don Campbell, Charles Kowen, Tim Hall and Johnny Kilgore also gave testimonies about his impact and presented him with gifts, including a book containing letters of gratitude collected for him.
An ‘authentic’ model
Then later that day at First Baptist Church Opelika, ASM held a joint concert with Sons of Jubal, Georgia Baptists’ men’s chorus — the first time the two groups have ever sung together. The 200-member combined chorus and orchestra sang to a packed house of more than 800 people from Alabama and Georgia.
At the concert, Smith was presented with a certificate for his 50 years of music ministry from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions by Karen Gosselin, SBOM coordinator of worship resources.
Pace said he and the other ASM officers agreed that Tom Smith’s was “a tenure of service worthy of celebrating.”
“Tom himself is just the preeminent example of Jesus-follower servant-leader,” he said. “He models it in and out daily across the board with everybody in the group. It’s authentic; he’s a gracious, loving, caring Christian gentleman, and that model is priceless and respected.”
Frank Jones, who has served as the ASM pianist since 1983, said when they were looking for a new conductor in the late 1990s, they wanted someone with strong choral skills and a pastoral heart, and that search led them to Tom Smith.
‘Right thing at the right time’
“We love Tom,” Jones said. “It’s been a great relationship between him and me as the accompanist and the rest of the Singing Men.”
Tom Smith said for him it was the “right thing at the right time.”
“Getting to know these guys who are music or worship leaders in their own churches, that’s been such a highlight,” he said.
He said another highlight has been to try to encourage them in their ministry as they’ve come together for retreats, spring tours and to sing during the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting.
“The Singing Men is more than a musical group,” Tom Smith said. “I’ve always been appreciative of that group and the heritage they have; to step in and be a part of that was a great experience. I’m thankful to have been a part of it.”
A ‘dynamic duo’
His wife, Gayle, has been a big part of it too — in 2002, she began directing the brand-new Alabama Singing Women and continued in that role until September 2023. The two groups have sung together frequently over the years.
Jane Burdeshaw, a founding member of ASW and the group’s first president, said Gayle Smith has done a “beautiful job” as director.
“Gayle is very, very gifted in directing and has done a beautiful job of selecting music that has ministered to us as members as well as to congregations that we have been able to visit and sing for,” Burdeshaw said. “She’s just been a delight to be with and sing with and praise the Lord with.”
She said over the years, Gayle Smith also encouraged the kind of relationships in the group that made it feel like a sisterhood.
“She has been right in there with us loving on us and guiding us through these years,” Burdeshaw said.
Together, Tom and Gayle Smith have been “a dynamic duo in leading choral music in Alabama,” she said. “We will miss them serving in this way.”
For more information about ASM and ASW, visit alabamaworship.org/asm and alabamaworship.org/asw.
(Debbie Campbell contributed)
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