Oswald J Smith was well-known as the founder of The People’s Church in Toronto in 1928. He was born near Odessa in Ontario, the first of 10 children. He experienced frailty as a child and even had to miss school for two years after he had pneumonia. Smith was saved at a Torrey Crusade in Toronto, after which he greatly desired to serve the Lord in mission work. He lived to preach the Gospel, but his physical condition closed all doors into mission work. He studied further to serve the Lord in the ministry, determined to serve God in every way possible and to support other missionaries. He attended the Bible Training School in Toronto, the Presbyterian in Manitoba as well as Chicago McCormick Seminary. In 1918, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. After this he retired from the Presbyterian Church and started his own in Toronto, later the People’s Church. Smith crisscrossed the world, encouraging people to commit to mission work and supporting them from his own church. During his years of ministry, he spoke in as many as 80 countries, preaching over 12,000 sermons. He authored 35 books, which were translated into almost 130 languages. He also composed 1200 poems and of these 100 have been set to music.