Yanis Smits - He Finished Well

Listening to Yanis Smits tell his story of living through persecution from the Russian KGB was more electrifying than watching a two-hour movie about the Cold War. This was real life!

In 2007 I had the marvelous privilege of sharing a week with Yanis. He drove a car that I rented in Istanbul and we traveled thousands of kilometers on well-kept Turkish roads. As he kept his eyes on the highway, I kept my thumb on the recorder. After six days of travel, enjoying the ancient sites known as the Seven Churches of Revelation, I had thirteen hours of recording. He described in vivid detail how the KGB tried unsuccessfully to stop him from preaching throughout the Soviet Union. Time and again, heartless agents nearly caught him, but as the stories in the Old Testament, Russian soldiers were never able to capture him.  It must have been the Lord, blinding the eyes of KGB agents.

Then, for two months, I transcribed the life story of my friend and dear colleague. I never knew what a fearless preacher of the Gospel he was. And in many parts of the Soviet Union! The unpublished manuscript was something I wanted to complete for his 80th birthday. 

However, on April 23, 2020, Yanis' heart finally gave out. The years of intense labor, endless stress and his weakened physique caught up with him. The Lord called him home. "Yanis, it's time for you to end your ministry of love and compassion for Russian, Latvian, and English speakers. You have completed your work for your homeland, the country of Latvia that you love so much. Come now, my Son. Well done, good and faithful servant." Hearing of his home call, Cathie and I found tears flowing down our cheeks. We loved this wonderful man. We love his dear wife, Ruth, and their beautiful children. 

Yanis and Ruth had become close friends when we moved to Toronto, Canada. I visited the church where the family worshiped and thus began a beautiful friendship. Yanis and Ruth's children formed an orchestra and led a church with various sub-congregations. This reflected the city's multi-cultural and multi-lingual nature. Then, it was back to Riga, Latvia for the Smits family. 

They ministered to Baptist Churches there, and he was the pastor of the Salvation Temple. The massive building at one time held as many as 2,000 people for services, but under the Russian occupation, the church was turned into a sports center. For fifty years, the smell of beer and urine accumulated. As in everything else, Yanis brought this situation before the Lord. Two congregations emerged in the Salvation Temple. One was a Russian-speaking group, and the other the Latvian-speaking congregation.

The Smits arrival back in Latvia happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Whereas the Russians had the upper hand from 1945 to 1989, they were now a widely rejected minority. Yanis and Ruth, and several of their sixteen children, found ways in Riga to meaningfully share the love of God with Russian citizens who now had no jobs and no income. 

Upon the return of the Smits family back to Canada in his retirement, Yanis was not content to simply "retire." How could he? He loved to preach the Gospel! He never tired of telling people about Jesus Christ. He longed for each individual to truly enjoy the Lord. He spoke of sin and repentance, of hell and Heaven, or restoration and salvation. He preached with passion. When speaking of Jesus, his slim body was transformed into a dynamo of rare energy. 

I'm looking forward to the publication of his book. It is now in the hands of the Smits family. As I write these few lines, I remember cities in Latvia, places I had never heard of. 

I transcribed details of how he was able to get around the Soviet Union when he was forbidden to travel. Incredibly, in the id 1970s, pressure came from US senators, and he was invited to the United States. In Washington, he spoke to a joint session of Congress about the persecution of Christians in the USSR. My mouth fell open listening to the minute by minute account of his escape from Moscow. The Soviet authorities used every cruel trick to keep him from leaving Russia. How was it that Yanis kept on preaching and was never sent to Siberia? These events compose only a few of the chapters in the upcoming book. I'm so happy that I learned about his life as he kept his eye on the road and spoke into the microphone. 

Yanis Smits - we love you and miss you. You finished strong. You finished the race. There is a great reward laid up in Heaven for you. May we also complete the race and stay strong.