About the book

“An engaging sequel to the Silver Poplar that fills out the spiritual journey, overcoming the stigma of an institutional upbringing, leading to an unexpected calling. The writing style and story also allows you to enter into some of the unexpected machinations of the Australian church that existed in that era.”
Rev Bill Medley
Author of best-selling Religion is for Fools.

“Pastor Eddie Smith belongs to that line of Christians whose witness and influence originates in the gospel that powerfully transformed him in his teenage years. This compelling autobiography documents the events that shaped an “unexpected” life from inauspicious beginnings in a children’s home in Melbourne to become an ordained Baptist pastor. It is a candid and sometimes raw account of how God in his mysterious providence uses both the good and even the really bad to bring us to a mature faith in Him.”
Dr. Tony Bird
New Testament Lecturer and Author of
Welwyn Commentary Epistle of James

Edmond Smith (B.D., London University) lives in Melbourne, Australia, with Kerryn, his wife of more than fifty years. Together they have three children and seven grandchildren. He is retired, having been at first a schoolteacher and then a pastor in Baptist ministry. Edmond has written four books: A Tree By a Stream, The Silver Poplar, Mirrors in Mark and The Scandal of God’s Forgiveness. Since retiring he has preached and taught in the Christian community.