About

Find Out More About
Our Staff, Our Mission & Our Story

our STAFF

Dr. Tim Smith
Dr. Tim Smith

Founder, President, & Executive Director

bio
Maryl Smith
Maryl Smith

Creative Director

BIO
Bryan Bettis

Director of Ministry Development

BIO

our MISSION

Worship Without Borders exists to nurture, facilitate and release
joyous, faith-filled, grace-empowered and Christ-centered worship
in the church internationally through inspiring, equipping, training and releasing worship teams, pastors, leaders and congregations.

our STORY

WWOB IS BORN

Dr. Tim Smith founded Worship Without Borders in 2006 in Aloha, Oregon, after 26 years of ministry in the Portland area. While praying for direction early that year, Tim and Maryl both felt God calling them to ‘take their School of Worship on the road’. They established WWOB as the teaching arm of SongSmith Ministries  to equip and release worshipers globally.

Tim begins to curate content into a customized Worship Seminar format that will fit any style of worship and any size of church worship team across all denominations. He begins to serve in partnership with specific local churches around the world to revitalize and release their worship teams as well as refresh and reconnect congregations with the wonderful presence of Jesus Christ.

    • THE EARLY YEARS

    As Tim & Maryl said yes to God’s invitation to boldly step into a new faith-adventure, a capable board of directors is formed, and God opens doors and blessed the ministry.

    Their first weekend of ministry as Worship Without Borders was at The City Church in Kirkland, WA where Tim’s brother, Pastor Wendell Smith pastored. The City Church not only helped launch WWOB but continued to support them for many years!

    Tim & Maryl, along with many other team members, faithfully served, mentored and trained hundreds of leaders and ministered to, taught, and equipped local church communities both in the United States, and around the world to understand how to release biblical, Jesus-centered and Holy Spirit-infused worship.

    • NEW MINISTRY
    IN NEW NATIONS

    Worshipers in many nations, including Uganda, Russia, India, Malaysia, England, Brazil, Romania, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and others invite Tim to minister in their churches, and benefit from his insight and inspiration in the area of worship. Tim and Maryl love worshiping in the midst of all these beautiful cultures and worship settings. They especially enjoy singing in the languages of wherever God sends them which brings a very special connection with the people and church where they are ministering. His songs of praise and devotion such as Worship songs like Our God is Lifted Up, You Reign With Power, Mighty God, I Look to You (Laying Down My Vain Imaginations) and He Is Jehovah Mighty God continue to be favorites around the world and are being sung in many languages.

    • the team GROWS

    In 2013, Bryan Bettis, who was one of Tim’s students in the mid-90’s, joined the team as a ministry partner on a teaching team led by Tim to minister at a leadership development school in Asia.

    Over the next several years, serving and ministering together as a team became a recurring theme in various ministry contexts and in multiple countries.

    In 2023, Bryan said yes to an invitation to join the Board of Directors as the Director of Ministry Development.

    • the ministry expands

    Worship Without Borders began to expand by offering multiple Development Programs for current and future local church leaders, in partnership with local churches!

    Each one is easily accessible by people with varied skills and experience. They combine the focuses of teaching the theology of worship with mentoring servant-leadership, especially in the areas of Identity, Character, Competency, Compassion, and Mission.

    • celebrating god’s faithfulness

    To date, Worship Without Borders has been blessed with continuous opportunities to mentor and minister to local church leaders of more than 1000 churches, in over 40 nations. What a joy to worship alongside thousands of worshipers as we all discover the freshness and beauty of His presence.

    We have experienced the abundant life! We have discovered the riches of friendships and the wealth of meaningful purpose and Spirit-led adventures – and we give Him all the glory for the mind-blowingly great things that He has done!

    • what’s next

    We are so excited about this new season of ministry, both here in the United States, and around the world! We are looking forward to establishing a Worship Without Borders 2-year School of Worship Arts Program, as well as a WWOB Collective – a group of experienced. gifted, and highly skilled mentor-ministers who will help us implement a multiplication model of multi-generational proportions.

    Thank you for being part of God’s story – our story – a story of His love, presence, faithfulness, grace, and goodness that He has poured through this ministry. This is a story of the heritage we all have as His sons and daughters and the invitation He’s given us to collaboratively worship Him and serve the Church He is building. What an honor it has been and will continue to be – and what a joy set before us in this new fruitful season of ministry!

    Nepal
    Screenshot
    South Africa
    Romania
    Brazil
    Nepal

    • “It has changed and impacted OUR WAY OF THINKING AND DOING WORSHIP”

      “Worship Without Borders Summer Worship Camp was an experience filled with the fruits of the Spirit for me, my family and our church. Tim and Bryan truly love Jesus so deeply through the way they worship and the way they teach about practical worship, that it has changed and impacted our way of thinking and doing worship.”
      Fane Campean, Worship Leader, Agape Bible Church
      Portland OR

    • “A Much needed resource for today’s church..”

      “It has been my great privilege to have ministered with Tim for many years. Without a doubt, Tim’s heart and passion for the Presence of the Lord is clearly evident. His worship gifting, teaching, leading and experience abounds with wisdom, depth and sensitivity, a much-needed resource for today’s church worship expression. I highly recommend Tim Smith’s ministry to any church that has the opportunity to receive him!!!”
      Howard Rachinski, Founder, CCLI
      Vancouver, WA

    • “guidance from the Holy Spirit!”

      “Often musicians in churches pay attention either to musical professionalism or only the spiritual part of worship. But Dr. Tim Smith has a combination of professionalism and guidance from the Holy Spirit. After his teaching and coaching, our worship leaders started composing their own worship songs.”
      Nikolai Poliakov, Pastor
      Kamchatka, Russia

    • “amazing Summer Worship Camp”

      “Wow, what an amazing Summer Worship Camp Pastor Tim! Everyone was so kind and professional.. you were all such incredible instructors! You all were so rich in the Word, patient and generous with your time. Encore please!“
      Marla Strong, Pastor, Life Change Church
      Portland OR

    • “A GREAT BLESSING TO OUR CHURCH”

      “Worship music requires more than teaching – it requires an impartation because it is ‘caught’ as much as ‘taught’. Dr. Smith brings both teaching and impartation and has been a great blessing to our church. We know he will be a great blessing to your church family as well.
      Jonathan Guilloux, Executive Pastor, Eastside City Church
      Calgary AB Canada

    • “WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT WORSHIP INFUSION!”


      ‘Summer Worship Camp inspired students, strengthened our worship team, and elevated the level of worship in our entire church. Months later, we still feel the positive effects and are looking forward to the next worship infusion!’
      Andrew Cromwell,
      Lead Pastor, Koinonia Church
      Hanford, CA