Self-proclaimed apostle overcomes demons

Cottrell Smith found religion while selling and taking heroin in South Central Los Angeles more than 30 years ago.

Since then, he has donned the name Apostle, traveling the country preaching about Christianity.

“I’m an apostle, and apostles are like groundbreakers. They go ahead as forerunners, and they do miraculous things,” Smith said. “They have a unique ministry, and that’s what I have.”

For the past five years, Smith’s pulpit has been the city bench outside of Starbucks at the intersection of Broxton and Weyburn avenues. He sleeps in a doorway about a block away.

His style is unorthodox. On any given night, Smith can be found facing the bustling intersection, yelling and singing at the top of his lungs, sometimes for hours.

During stormy weather, a group of students from UCLA occasionally purchases a hotel room for Smith to stay in. Smith said he had been “on sabbatical” at the beginning of June, which was his characterization of the periodic motel stays.

Smith said he used to work as a waste water treatment operator for the city of Los Angeles. Then, 18 years ago, he left.

Marcia Ruiz, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, said she could find no record of Smith’s employment with the bureau, although she said it is possible the information on him was lost.

“God told me to come out of the city, out of my job,” Smith said. “He said I want you full-time in the ministry. I want you to leave your position with the city of L.A. and trust me and go full-time for God, by faith.”

At nearly the same time that he quit his job, his wife of 12 years also left him. Smith said she was upset about him being on the road too much and thought he had been unfaithful.

“I still don’t know why the Lord said we couldn’t weather the storm,” Smith said of the divorce.

Before his job with the city, Smith worked on and off as a cook. He said he started selling heroin after being denied a benefit check from the unemployment office. A friend of his who had also been denied a check told him it would be quick money.

“I had to get somebody to test it all the time to see how good it was, if it wasn’t right and everything,” Smith said. “I thought I’d learn how to do it, and I’ll try it, and when it’s good, I’ll know it, which is a dumb thing to do. I ended up being my own best customer.”

Jason Judge, a local security guard, said he was surprised by the quality spiritual advice Smith gave him when he took Smith out to lunch about a month ago.

“I just wanted to see what he was saying, it kind of shocked me,” Judge said. “I didn’t expect him to give me good advice, I thought he was just going basically because I invited him out to get some food and he just wanted to eat.”

Before their lunch, Judge said Smith had been shouting, and this upset another homeless person enough to kick over all of Smith’s belongings. Judge said Smith hates violence and will go to great lengths to avoid it.

Mixed reactions to Smith’s loud yelling and preaching are common, Judge said. Because Smith is so close to the Starbucks patio, Judge said there are a lot of people who don’t like him because he is distracting.

But most of those in the homeless community like Smith, said Darlene Lanehart, a homeless woman who has been friends with Smith for nearly three years.

Lanehart said her favorite song for Smith to play on the guitar is “Jesus on the Mainline.” She said they have also prayed and held Bible studies together.

But a few homeless people are not fond of Smith. He has aggravated other homeless people by telling the public to donate to him and not others, Lanehart said.

Apart from the five years in Westwood, Smith’s previous 13 years were spent preaching in Arizona, Tennessee, Florida, New York and Minnesota. He said he’s expecting a change soon and that he doesn’t know where he’s off to next, but the move could happen as soon as tomorrow or next week.

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