Curtis Smith spoke on plans, punches, and prayer at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast
By DAVE SCHULTZ
Curtis Smith is quite fond of a quote by former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
When Tyson was at the height of his powers, he was known for his ability to knock his opponents out early, often in the first round. One of those opponents spoke to a sports journalist and said he had a plan to defeat Tyson.
Tyson’s response: “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.”
That’s how Smith launched his remarks for Thursday’s Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Commerce and Visitors Center. His point was a simple one: Everyone will get punched in the face.
Smith is perhaps best known in the area for his 21 years doing the weather at WPTA-TV, Channel 21 in Fort Wayne. That didn’t end well. It was his metaphorical punch in the face, and his recovery from it was a test of his faith.
Smith was quite happy with his life at what was known as 21 Alive during most his tenure there. He liked his co-workers and he really liked doing the weather, even if he had to talk about snowfalls and tornados and whatever else came his way.
Things really got interesting when the station management allowed him to go on mission trips with an audiology firm to provide hearing aids for people who could not otherwise receive them. He talked about being in Jerusalem on one of the trips to Israel and reading from the Bible while standing in the Holy Land.
The station was sold, however, and when the new management took over, he was told in no uncertain terms that there would be no more mission trips, no more Bible reading, no more promoting local non-profit organizations, no more of anything along those lines.
This is what he was told: “Your job is to come in and do the weather.”
Several of his co-workers departed. That quickly, he said, the drive to work was nowhere near as happy.
He was the emcee for an event for the Parkview Health organization when he thought he was being offered a job. A conversation led to an actual job offer, and that fast, it was goodbye TV career, hello health career.
He was able to bounce back, even from a punch in the face. He was at Parkview and eventually left there for the job he has now — working at Lasting Change, which is an umbrella organization that includes Crosswinds Counseling and Lifeline Youth and Family Services, among others.
Smith dotted his remarks with quotes from Scripture, such as Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” And Proverbs 12:15: “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” He illustrated how those words had played out in his own life.
He ended his remarks with a question for his listeners: “What is keeping you from the promise of God today?”
“Don’t let a punch in the face keep you from what God has called you to,” he said.
It may have been the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, but it went on without Bluffton Mayor John Whicker, who was ill. Rick Elwell, the at-large member of the city’s Common Council, was the master of ceremonies for the event and Lyle Ewing, the retiring minister at First Presbyterian Church in Bluffton, gave the invocation and the benediction.
Smith did note that he looks considerably different now than when he was on local television. Not long ago, he shaved his head. He said his wife told him that he may as well, because God had already started the process.
Smith was supposed to be the speaker for the mayor’s prayer breakfast in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic canceled that one and the 2021 and 2022 ones as well. When Whicker invited him for 2023, he said, he was happy to accept.
daves@news-banner.com
