Lendon trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior at the age of six after his mother shared the "Good News" of Jesus Christ with him.

Lendon was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas, and graduated from Tascosa High School there in 1963. In 1964, he entered the United States Navy and served four years as an enlisted Hospital Corpsman. In 1967 he married Linda H. Glaser, and upon completion of his four years in the Navy, he and Linda returned to Amarillo where he entered West Texas State University. Shortly after graduation in 1971, Lendon entered the United States Air Force and was commissioned an officer. He served as a B-52 Instructor Radar Navigator, retiring with the rank of Major after 16 years of service.

While serving as a Sunday School teacher in a local church during his time in the Air Force, Lendon began to sense God's call on his life to go to seminary and enter the pastorate. Upon retirement from the Air Force in 1988, Lendon entered Dallas Theological Seminary and began work on a Master of Theology degree in pastoral ministry. During that time he served as Associate Pastor of a small church in Balch Springs, Texas where he was ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1990. He also served as a Student Chaplain at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas during that period. Upon graduation from seminary in 1992, he started Loneoak Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas where he served four years as Pastor.

In 1997, Lendon was called to pastor the First Evangelical Free Church of Warrensburg, Missouri where he now serves. He completed his doctoral work at Tyndale Theological Seminary in conjunction with Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary, and received the Doctor of Theology degree in 2004. Lendon and Linda have one child, Trace David Smith, who is grown.

Dr. Smith serves as Chaplain of the Warrensburg City Fire Department, and served four and a half years as Chaplain of the Missouri State Veterans Home in Warrensburg. His passion for ministry is divided into three areas; Bible exposition, evangelism, and discipleship. His deepest desires as a pastor/teacher are to lead lost souls to Christ and encourage Christian believers to grow in their faith, knowledge, and application of God's truth. His primary vehicle for effecting these goals, by God's grace and through His Holy Spirit, is the systematic, expository preaching and teaching of God's Holy Scripture. This is a distinguishing characteristic of First Evangelical Free Church of Warrensburg.