Even though he has no children of his own yet, Pastor Jahkimmo Smith stands out as a shining example of the transformation fathers can create in the lives of others.

With Father’s Day tomorrow, the community group Imagine Bermuda is saluting local men who exemplify the greatness of fatherhood.

In Pastor Smith’s case, it was the love and mentorship of others during a childhood that wasn’t always easy that proved instrumental in changing his life.

“I praise God for my dad, who was and is in my life,” the head of the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church told The Royal Gazette.

“With that said, throughout my life there have been other father figures that have been tremendous in terms of shaping me and helping me to become the man that I am.”

Describing his upbringing as “humble”, Pastor Smith recalled how his mother struggled at times to make ends meet — but a close family friend, Eugene Simons, was always there for him.

“We called him Daddy Sie,” he said. “He was always present for us, like an uncle.”

The veteran Grotto Bay Hotel worker used to feed young Jahkimmo and his cousins with leftovers from the hotel.

“He took care of me at a time when my life was not as stable as perhaps it could have been,” Pastor Smith said, recalling how one night, when the family had no electricity, “Daddy Sie did not want me to go to school with wrinkled clothes”.

Stacking books on top of his uniform did not make the clothes fresh again, but the older man’s dedication to him still meant that the boy went to school with pride the next day.

Although he had not grown up in the church, Pastor Smith went on to experience a profound religious transformation in his teenage years.

Pastor Howard Dill, of the St John AME Church, along with his wife, Reverend Emily Gail Dill, became his “bedrock”, giving spiritual support, providing meals and, in time, helping him to become the first in his family to obtain a college degree.

“He always told me that if I didn’t do better than him, he would have failed in his job,” Pastor Smith said.

“That’s what fathers do. They prepare you — they lift you on their shoulders and get you to go farther and reach higher.”

Ultimately, Pastor Smith graduated with honours from Allen University in Columbus, South Carolina, and with honours again from the Interdenominational Theological Centre in Georgia, where he earned his doctorate.

Initially discouraged because he did not have the money to attend college, he was nonetheless told by the Dills: “Apply.”

After being like “the stray cat hanging around their church”, he started out as a pastor at the age of 23 for a church in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

“I wouldn’t have got there but for them not giving up on me,” Pastor Smith said of the Dills. “In my youthfulness and ignorance, they could have.”

The uplift, encouragement and help of Pastor Smith’s surrogate parents left him with a lasting lesson.

“We need dads to be actively present in our lives,” he said. “Children don’t do as we say — they do as we do: the example we put forward in terms of ethics and spirituality, how we handle crises in our lives, how we are towards women. If your daddy doesn’t provide that good example, you’re going to pick it up at the barbershop or from the brothers down the block, and what you get we might not necessarily like.

“It’s essential for fathers to be present and make their kids a priority.”

He and his wife, Reverend Lashonna Smith, are now having their own discussions about embarking on parenthood.

“At the end of the day, I think we’ll be amazing parents,” he said. “It’s so wonderful to have the opportunity to shape a life.”

Father’s Day will be marked by Mount Zion AME with prizes: the newest father, the oldest father and the father with the most children in church that day.

But there is a sobering message gleaned from the biblical story of King David and his men, who were away on a raid but returned home to Ziklag to find that during their long absence, warriors from the Amelakites had burned the town and carried off their families.

“Often in our pursuits, we can end up leaving our families exposed,” Pastor Smith explained.

“We must be careful of the choices that we make. It’s the time that fathers spend with their families that makes the biggest different.

“A lot of times we miss that. It’s in our nature to provide for our families, but we can find that in our pursuit of things to give our families we might end up not giving of ourselves.”