Our History
Tab Smith Ministries was first named in memory of Tab Smith, Sr. who served the Lord as an evangelical lay-speaker all his adult life. His dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ had a lasting impact upon his son, Dr. Tab Smith, Jr. In the 1960s, Dr. Smith began an evangelical ministry that he sponsored personally. This ministry grew for years and eventually became the home of “The Bible Says…” radio and television programs, which have aired throughout the years throughout the world. Dr. Smith was also a very busy traveling evangelist, preaching almost every weekend at various churches and revivals. This ministry was dedicated to thorough Bible study in order to encourage a high regard for Scripture and an interest for living in the Word.
In 2006, Dr. Smith was ready to retire the programs and his extended travels and move towards focus on quiet study and book writing. However, Dr. Smith’s grandsons, Dr. Thomas (T.J.) Miller and Rev. Tab Miller, both in college at Georgia Southern University at the time, shared their interest with Dr. Smith concerning keeping the ministry running at full capacity and then some. In the early summer of 2006, the ministry held its first board meeting, and the board and officers all agreed that the name of the newly incorporated ministry should be Tab Smith Ministries, Inc. in continued memory of Tab Smith, Sr. and in honor of Dr. Tab Smith’s work that was now being carried on through this newly incorporated organization.
When the ministry began in this capacity, it continued to host “The Bible Says…” radio in West Africa and television in the Savannah area of Georgia. Even though the grandsons had a vision for expansion, and Tab Miller would take a salaried position (the only paid staff at TSM), Dr. Smith asked to continue the media outreach in the same spirit it had been done when he was fully funding the ministry. Never in the course of the Radio or Television program has the host (Dr. Smith or Rev. Miller) ever asked for donations. Donation request are kept to a minimum, usually consisting of a once per year support letter campaign. Even so, the ministry has been blessed financially over the years.
The ministry soon added a website and provided the television and radio audience, including large groups of pastors in West Africa, with study materials online. For a few years, this was the major focus for the ministry. During those years, T.J Miller pursued his medical doctorate and Tab Miller pursued his theological studies degree. The ministry steadily stayed the course during these years. However, a shift was soon to occur.
In 2008, TSM sent its first team to the Navajo Reservation. TJ and Tab went to see if there was any way TSM could serve this area. Over the course of the next three years, TSM built a relationship with the Navajo people as they worked closely along side Pure Water Ministry, Inc. Eventually, TSM and PWM would become full partners in this ministry. After years of relationship building, TSM now serves the Navajo in pastor training. Since 2012, TSM has served approximately forty pastors and Christian workers on the reservation. Our call to teach the Word shifted from large groups of people over television, radio, and Internet to a small group of pastors living in the high desert of the American Southwest. While “The Bible Says…” still airs locally and online, our ministry focus has shifted to teaching broadly through various media outlets, to becoming a servant ministry, focused on supporting indigenous Navajo church leaders.
