The Week That Changed His Life Forever | 180 Stories | Trinity Talks

Welcome to Trinity Talks podcast. This is the

podcast in between two services. I am your host,

Bill Crawford. We're starting a new podcast series

following the sermon series themed 180, the story

of Paul changed direction, changed life. Together,

we'll explore how we encounter with Jesus completely

changed Paul's direction and what his story might

teach us about how God transforms us today. So

over the course of the sermon series, we'll be

interviewing members of Trinity and talking with

them and investigating their 180 U -turn experience.

Today, our guest is Ted Smith. Hello, Ted. Thanks

for being here. So just to get to know Ted, a

little bit to start. Ted, how long have you been

attending Trinity? We've been about 13 years.

OK, that's great. And you say we? Oh, Carol and

I. Carol, your wife, Carol. OK, great. Thank

you. And do you live in the area? Well, we live

quite a long way away. We live over at Dixie

and Bloor. We used to live in Etobicoke. when

we first started coming here, but it's 20 minutes

if there's good traffic, half an hour if it's

tight. But it was great. And and you're retired

now or mostly retired and you're going to get

get into this as you share your story. But what

did you do for work? Well, I am a survivor of

Bay Street. I was 42 years as a Bay Street lawyer.

Great. Well, thanks, Ted, for giving us a little

bit of intro to who you are. Let's get right

into the topic of the 180 U -turn experience.

I'm going to ask you three questions. First is,

what was your life like before your conversion

experience? The second question is, what was

your 180 U -turn experience? So what exactly

that moment or that length of time that you had

that? And then what is your life like now as

a follower of Jesus? So let's get started with

the first question. And that's what was your

life like before your conversion experience?

Well, I was a I guess you could say I was a typical

nominal Anglican. OK. My parents brought me to

church when I was a little gaffer. I went through

Sunday school. I was confirmed when I was 15.

I played hockey for the church that we attended.

I attended the church largely to be able to play

the hockey. OK, that's great. And, you know,

we had the Anglican liturgy every week. We had

a boring sermon. It didn't mean much to me. I

did have a great experience with the minister

who led the confirmation class. But then a year

or so after I was confirmed, he was unfrocked

and went to jail for molesting little boys. So

I kind of horrible. It kind of put me off getting

serious about what the church was about. I had

enough Anglican connections to live at Wycliffe

College. when I was at U of T, which was the

cheapest place in Toronto to live. I just was

there as a resident. I wasn't involved in the

theology at all. Right. And I was fortunate enough

to meet my wife, Carol. She financed me through

my last year of law school after we got married.

And, you know, we had a. After four or five years,

we had our first child was born. We both thought,

well, you know, we should have him baptized.

So we went to the local Anglican church. And

lo and behold, within about two months, I end

up as the rector's warden at the church. Well,

I regarded that incredible. They needed it. Yes.

The minister was was Phil Poole's father. So

I knew Phil Poole, former Bishop Phil Poole when

he was a teenager. Anyway. That experience was

sort of bittersweet for me. The church was failing

financially, and I didn't find it a rewarding

experience, but I looked on attending church

as sort of being like a member of the Kiwanis

Club, doing something good. Throughout my life,

my dad always envied me with the ethic of giving

back. You know, being a church warden was giving

back. It was a good thing to do. But I really

was not into any kind of relationship with Jesus.

Right. So it sounds like for you, church was

more like a service club as opposed to a faith

organization. And so growing up and then into

some of your adult life, you're nominally involved

with the church, but it seems like you had ulterior

motives for wanting to keep up that connection,

like playing hockey or or getting your child

baptized and stuff. And that didn't really have

that personal connection. So what during that

time, what was important to you? Well, it was.

I have to admit my good wife is a faithful Christian

and she didn't push me. She steered me a little

bit. She was, of course, praying that I would

find faith, but she was very gentle with me.

And we moved to the suburbs and attended another

church where everybody was very happy to be there.

It was like a social club. The minister's sermons

were. seven minutes. He had a season's tickets

to the Blue Jays. And so frequently on Sundays

we had to get through the service quickly so

he could get down and watch the game. And I just

kind of felt that all of this was a good thing

to do. I was meeting with people from the community.

The social interactions were important. But again,

it was nothing about is this really Right. True.

Is this really do I really have a relationship?

So your story, as I'm hearing it, is not is,

you know, follows adjacent to the faith or to

church experience and things like that. But I

know from your story that early on, your focus

was very much on your career. You're very business

minded. Yeah. Yeah. So I I was quickly became

a partner in a midsize Bay Street law firm. doing

commercial work. It was a time of in the late

70s, early 80s, heavy inflation, lots of things

going on, and I was very busy. So my career took

up a large part of my life, probably 60 to 80

hours a week working on stuff. And so that was

a major focus. Right. And so. that took time

away from family, took time away from community,

took time away from church. Yeah. Yeah. So church

was we still went to church, but, you know, it

was like an hour, an hour and a half on Sunday

morning. That was it. Right. Didn't have to commit

anymore. Yeah, so I like some people's story

of being actively antagonistic against the faith.

That's not your story. Your story is more adjacent

to the faith, but definitely having a focus on

your career and on business and on lawyering.

that preoccupied you from experiencing faith

in a deeper way. And I did know some people who

were sincere about their faith, but most of them

had problems in their lives. And so I saw the

faith as being a worthwhile thing for them. You

could say a crutch. It's a bit crass, but. But

that was your attitude at the time. It was my

attitude at the time that, you know, I didn't

need this. I was able to keep control of everything

in my life. And so those folks who were who were

sincere about their faith. Well. That was OK,

but it wasn't for me. Yeah. And there's a lot

of very, very independent, self -motivated people

that have that sense for themselves and their

lives that they they can they can do it. They

can make it work. They just work hard enough

and and things will happen for them. And the

faith element doesn't factor in. Is it? Yeah.

All right. Let's move on to your 180 U -turn

experience. Tell us a bit about that experience

for you. OK, so I hope I can tell the story straight.

It's amusing and it's very poignant for me. And

it really is a 180. So we're attending this church

in Etobicoke and it was the summer of 1981. I

had not arranged a holiday for my family. Carol

was six months pregnant with her second child.

My eldest son, Jeff, was six. And, you know,

we talked about doing something, but I never

got around to booking anything. So I come home

from work one day and Cheryl brightly informs

me that she's been speaking to Betty Blake at

the church, and she's arranged for us to go for

a week to an Anglican Christian camp called Camp

Quinonia up near Perry Sound. I said, what? You

can't. This is crazy. I'm absolutely not going

to be involved in that. How could you possibly

do this? And I said, well, we're not going to

go. She said, oh, well, I've already paid for

it. I said, how could you do this? These people,

these holy rollers, we don't want to get anywhere

near them. They'll mess with your mind. Right.

Come on. This is this is our family. We don't

need this stuff. And I was quite angry. So time

goes by and it's time to go to Camp Quinonia.

So we're going to drive up on a Saturday morning.

And you did go. And I well, I drove her up because

I always had to drive the car. And so the station

wagons loaded up and we drive up. And I said,

OK, Carol, here's the deal. I'll leave you and

Jeff off at the camp. And I'm going golfing for

a week, OK? And I'll pick you up at the end of

the week. I'm not going to have any part of this.

So three hour drive up to Perry Sound. She's

quite quietly crying. I'm fuming. We're not talking

to each other. It was a bad scene. That was a

tough car ride up. It was. We arrive at the camp

and Camp Quinonia is rustic. It's on. It's it

was founded by a group of people from a particular

Bible group that gathered back in the early 50s.

It's on the side of a hill going down to the

Haynes Lake. And the people had constructed a

bunch of fairly primitive cabins to stay in.

And there was a big lodge down at the down by

the lake. We I arrived at this and I said, Carol,

look at this dump. You're six months pregnant.

You can't climb up and down these hills. This

is crazy. We're going home. Right. No. She was

bent and determined that we're going to stay.

So I get okay. We drive down to the lodge at

the front. Nobody is around I'm gonna unload

the car get out of there as quickly as I can

And so as I'm unloading the car out of the front

door of the lodge comes bounding Rob Wormald

We know we know Rob here who attends here at

Trinity, right? So as you if you know Rob, you

know how enthusiastic he is and now I had known

Rob all the way through school We were in, we

went to the same church. We'd been in the same

public school, the same high school, but I hadn't

seen him for years. We lost touch after we left

high school. And here he is. He's saying, Ted,

I didn't realize that you were coming. This is

fantastic. We got a great week here. John Spears

is speaking and the music's going to be wonderful.

And Pat and Liz White are going to lead the program.

And you're in for a real treat. This is wonderful.

So, as you know, you're not planning on staying.

Yeah. Suddenly, this is profoundly embarrassing.

So I said to Carol, OK, look. All right, well,

I'll hang around until lunch. OK, I'll slip away

after lunch. I'm still going. And so that didn't

happen. I. I stayed, I met these wonderful Christian

people, people who were not crazy. Bible thumping

idiots, like I expected. They were ordinary,

sincere people. Their faith was real. They didn't

beat you up with it. They would answer questions

when you asked. And I really found that they

had something that I didn't have. They had a

peace and, you know, they didn't have necessarily

wonderful lives. A lot of them made a lot less

money than I did. And that wasn't important.

And so through that period of time, I stayed

that week. Carol, I had packed my clothes, she

believing that maybe I would stay. She didn't

know Rob Wormwell was going to be there. Right.

And the net result of that week was I became

convinced that I should make a commitment to

follow Jesus. That's incredible. John Spears

was the leader. He helped me with a lot of issues

I had just very quietly leading me in the right

way. I was stretched. I mean, we had every every

morning the men, the women and then the men had

to gather in the prayer cabin and pray. And here

I am. being asked to pray out loud for the guy

next to me. I mean, this is like, what is this?

That's right. Outside of your comfort zone. I

did. And it was it was an amazing experience.

I came to realize that, in fact, you know, the

Lord really did want me to make a commitment.

So, after that, as often happens when you make

a commitment, I went on to attend the Anglican

Curseo in the following fall. The Curseo movement

was a big movement in the Anglican Church at

the time to bring people to Christ. That really

secured and locked in my commitment to follow

Jesus. And like anyone who suddenly becomes a

believer, I was enthusiastically getting into

all kinds of things. So pretty soon I'm leading

men's retreats at Camp Quinonia. Every summer,

our family attended there. We spent a week there.

My kids grew up at the camp. They all were involved

in camp activities. I went on to become very

soon afterwards. I was a board member of a Christian

mission. You know, later on I led Alpha. I led

Bible studies. I was a Sunday school teacher.

Yeah, let's get it. Let's get into a little bit

of that stuff early years of after that initial

experience. But it sounds like like Paul, you

you had a dramatic experience like Paul on the

way to Damascus. Your your dramatic experience

was on the on the hillside trails of Camp Canonia

go alongside these rusted cabins by the lake.

But and also like Paul, it sounds like, that

you had a number of months and years following

that initial experience of seeing or understanding

the love of fellow Christians and having that

turn you to. What was those early months or those

early years that changed you and your faith?

Well, I became convinced that First of all, I

had to learn and study and understand really

what the faith was. And over my entire years

as a Christian, I've grown. And there are many

things that I don't necessarily understand. But,

you know, I can continue to grow what my faith

is. It's been challenged many times. But I want

to tell you this key part of the story that really

gets me. Rob Wormald was our accountant. We reestablished

a friendship. Rob was our accountant. He did

our tax returns. I had some crazy investments

that were really stupid that I needed his advice

on. So at one occasion, years later, we're meeting

in his office and I said, Rob, you know, you

probably don't realize this, but, you know, I

came to faith through a coincidence and it was

because You were there and welcomed me to the

camp. If you had not been there, that would not

have happened. Right. You had turned around and

gone. I'd gone golfing for a week. Absolutely.

And he said to me, Ted, I had gone to Camp Quinone

since I was a little kid, and it wasn't a novelty.

And I usually arrived, came over from the cottage

about four in the afternoon. But all that week,

I had a dream that I had to be there early on

Saturday to beat suddenly. That was you. Mm -hmm.

So that convinces me to this day, God hit me

with a two by four. He wanted me to turn around

and follow him. Well, that is that is a great

story because it also kind of relates or mirrors

a little bit of Paul's story because Paul had

someone waiting for him in Damascus that that

God had prepped. to meet with him and to prepare

him and help him understand what his experience

was. And it sounds like that was, Rob was a bit

like that for you as well. That's incredible.

Definitely a change in your focus from career

minded or business focused to experiencing the

faith in a new way, a fresh way, a meaningful

way for you. And it just changed your outlook,

changed your trajectory for your life. It really

turned around. That's that's definitely an incredible

story. Let's let's move to more today. So what

what is what is your life like now as a follower

of Jesus? So go back to after becoming a committed

follower of Jesus, I, Carol and I came to the

conclusion that we had to manage our financial

resources in a responsible way. And so we we

adopted the discipline of tithing, which we've

always followed since. With respect to my work,

I came in touch with a good friend who was an

evangelist to business people. And so I have

a connection with a bunch of guys who worked

on the street in various business arrangements.

And we all met. We would meet every two weeks

for breakfast early downtown and talk about how

we could bring our faith to the marketplace.

That became something that really focused us.

In addition, I served on the board of a number

of Christian missions. I served on the board

of Quinonia, and I was able to use my. legal

skills to assist a number of organizations in

those sorts of things that they need to address.

Carol and I went on mission trips, you know,

we built the school down in a little place in

the Dominican Republic. We did a lot of these

different things, but what was more important

and as well, we have We have not stayed in the

same church. And this is something that I've

often reflected on. We've been since this happened

to me, we've been at four different churches.

OK. And what happens in in a church community,

we're all failed human beings. There are people

have their own personalities. There are rivalries

that come out. we get into disagreements about

various things and so on. And that happens to

all of us. And, you know, we're refugees here

at Trinity, as are a lot of the people. I've

been heavily involved in our life group really

since Alpha back right after we came here. I

led Alpha at my previous church. I ended up as

a Presbyterian elder for a number of years in

a Presbyterian church. OK. But in each case,

you know, my faith is growing. And so I find

the time we spend in our life group, which we

we we meet on a regular basis. I've been in that

life group now. since, you know, almost the 13

years I've been here. And every time we meet,

the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We all we all strengthen

each other's faith. I always come away from those

experiences feeling much more strengthened in

issues that I'm addressing in my life. And what

I find is I've been retired for 10 years now.

that and when I turned 80 this last spring, I

started to reflect a lot on this. What I find

is that people find to be their issues and problems

that people have. And I think each of us as as

Christians. have kingdom work that we do on a

day to day basis. And it doesn't have to be a

dramatic thing. It can be simply like in Rob's

case, showing up. You don't know what effect

you may have on other people. Sometimes it's

that easy. Yeah. Encouraging somebody, answering

a problem for somebody. These are all things

that these are things that God gives us to do.

And so. As I as I age now, I'm not not as active

in a lot of the stuff I used to do. But I find

that I have a chance to do that every week. That's

important to me. Yeah. And I found coming to

this church and this fellowship, what I like

about it is it has the right balance of worship

and outreach and concern for others. that is

really important. And that's something I just

want to have part of. So as I reflect on, you

know, I turned 80 in April. I'm a week older

than Rob. And I just want to finish well. I don't

know how long I have, but I want to continue

to serve in whatever way I can. Well, certainly

that's a good priority and good focus. I'm so

glad that you and Carol found a church home where

you feel comfortable and you feel like you have

a place to serve. But what is exciting and encouraging

to me about your story is the impact that you

have had. over the decades, and a lot of decades,

you said you just turned 80, so it's been a few

decades, but the changed lives that have been

the result of your changed life. is just incredible.

I started off with Rob in faithful obedience

to hearing God's call to step out and reach out

to you and encourage you to stay at camp for

that one week. And that was a turnaround for

you in your life. And it helped you to experience

faith in a new, powerful, amazing, meaningful

way for you. And that in turn has affected hundreds,

if not thousands of people in all the different

ministries and the different programs that you've

been involved in over the years. Bill, I think

you're exaggerating a bit, but thank you. I mean,

in faith, I think that is that the case. And

you said it yourself, is that sometimes you just

don't know the impact that you have on people.

But if you are seeking to be a faithful servant,

if you're responding to God's call, and I think

you have and the many things that you have done

over the years, that makes a difference in the

lives of people. And I think that's been true

for you. So thank you, Ted, for sharing your

story. And it's been great to hear your 180 U

-turn experience and how that affected your life

and benefited so many others. And thank you for

joining us on the Trinity Talks podcast this

week. And like I said at the beginning, we're

going to be following the sermon series over

the next few weeks and taking the time during

Trinity Talks podcast to hear from other members

of the Trinity congregation on their 180 U -turn

experience. Until then, take care and God bless.